Peeper~
Yes, that does sound like it was a somewhat stressful weekend
in spite of the fun.
I'd have been rather p.o.'d by the handling of the situation.
Why is it that we keep hearing of stupid handling
of these kinds of situations, and others that are
somewhat related? Lack of proper training?
Uhm.. anyhow.., well, perhaps the bears would have become an
even more serious problem after scoring food over the weekend.
It's definitely a problem when they find success and then keep
hanging around trying to get more goodies.
There have been just enough attacks that people are now
pretty twitchy about bears that don't have much fear of humans.
Unfortunately, so much of the problem is due to people leaving
food around.
I remember a couple of years ago, when I was with a friend,
going to put my canoe in at a lake in a very secluded location,
and finding a bunch of fresh bear tracks right next to the
launch ramp... and piles of fish bones scattered all around.
Obviously, someone had done some fish-cleaning and tossed
all of the fish parts on the shore right next to the loading ramp.
I have to say, it made me slightly wary knowing that there
was probably a bear lurking around in the woods right
where we were launching the canoe.
I've heard other paddlers bitching about this too... that people
toss out fish cleanings along shoreline near back country camping sites,
or canoe portages. I really don't understand what these people
are thinking.
Same for people who leave food easily available at campgrounds.
It just sets up the conditions for bear encounters.
Oh well....the main thing is that you still had some fun times
despite the down side of the weekend.
~croc |
