So how many times have I said on this blog, "Nature does not play by rules"? It is my way of saying, "expect the unexpected" while outdoors to protect yourself. Well, here is a situation where I had a hard time following my own advice. Admittedly, this was not one of my better moments, and I probably could have reacted better.
A few hours after I encountered those river otters (A few blog entries back) I went on another short walk right before noon. I remember thinking how I was going to edit that otter video for YouTube while I was walking. Then I was thinking of how I could link it to another wild animal video I did. Then coincidentally, like a gift from heaven, the other wild animal showed up in my view.
Quick disclaimer: there are some "quick word graphics" in this video. Not really quick flashing, and imo rather mild to other things on Youtube, but if you sensitive to that sort of thing then you should know.
As it got closer and closer to me I was thinking, "Seriously? Seriously? It does see me right? Am I going to have to defend myself or run away?" Looking back I probably should have said something or made some sort of noise. When it got just a few feet away I started moving away, and that is when it realized I was a real person. It jumped up, and did a 180 degree turn, ran away, and climbed that tree.
I was pretty sure it was a harmless young bear that probably had just left his mother a few months earlier, but the one bear you have to avoid for black bears is the "stalking bear" (predatory bear). Keep in mind that there was not any trail or reason it should have come directly at me like that. That is what freaked me out at the time. As I said in the video, I think it just caught my scent and decided to head toward it. Then when it realized I was a living person its youngster instincts kicked in which made it climb the tree.
As I said in the video, I was kind of sad that I turned the camcorder off when it ran back and climbed the tree. It was really cool to see that. After it left I kept my distance and tried to walk a nearby road to see if I could see it again, but it was gone. I could have followed it better than I did by going directly where it went, but after our little encounter I did not want to spook it anymore than I had already had done.
If you hadn't seen the blog(s) I did on my black bear encounter two years ago then go there:
Investigating Ursus (Part 1)
Investigating Ursus (Part 2)
The music from Incompetech used in the video is called "Aggressor".
