So, I have had LOTS of questions about this bear that was caught, so I thought I better answer them. I am home right now until Sunday, then I am going back up to the cabin! It is WAY too hot down here-I mean, how have I lived 31 years down here in the summer! It was 111' at 12pm! YUCK!! No more heat for us, we are going back up!! Haha!!
So, some bear questions...We have been seeing a bear up at the cabin for the past 2 weeks. We called game and fish and they said they wouldn't trap it until it became aggressive. Usually it would take down the humminbird feeders, bird feeders and break down the garbage lid and get in and eat from the garbage, usually making a pretty big mess! Well, last Saturday, about 10:30pm, My cousin, Kaylani went out on the front porch to use the internet and was about 4 feet from the bear. He was coming on the porch. Luckily, she got inside safely, but we have no idea how close the bear would have gotten. We have been sleeping with all of the windows open because it is so nice! Monday night the bear was back, and made a HUGE mess with the garbage so we called Game and FIsh, and still nothing. Tuesday night he was back, laying between 2 of my cousins cabins, eating peanuts, then went for the garbage. I called my brother and he started up (about 30 minutes away). He was going to come shoot it. I then called game and FIsh and told them he was coming to shoot it and we discussed it and argued for about 15 minutes, me basically telling him I was a mother bear, and I would not wait for something to attack my babies, I would attack it, so they would be safe, even if it meant Jail time! HAHA! He finally realized I wasn't going to back down, and came up and set the trap, but he didn't put it by the garbage, he put it up the hill...even though we told him to put it by the garbage. Well, the next morning, their was no bear trapped and TONS of garbage! Game and fish came back and
decided the garbage was the best bet (ya think??). Here is the trap and the garbage. You can see
left lid caved in-due to the bear jumping on the lid to get to the garbage.
Wednesday night, about 10:15pm we heard a LOUD bang so we all drove to the garbage and trap (it's about 200 yards from my cabin) and all of my cousins from the closer cabins were close to the trap too, but we were all nervous to look inside. We finally figured we had safety in numbers so we looked, and there was the little bear in the cage. He was VERY tame. All of the people who had seen the bear before swore that this bear looked lots smaller than the one they had seen. Game and Fish showed up and he also commented on how tame he was. That was why I got so many great pictures. I put my camera right into the holes on the back of the cage and we had 3 flashlights shining in as well and the bear did NOTHING!! My cousin even fed him a stick and he just took it like a puppy dog and chewed on it! Not the best example to my kids about how a real bear acts!! haha! THey thought he looked just like a BIG puppy dog! Game and fish figured he was about 3 1/2 years old.
Here we are after they caught the bear. You can see that he got into the garbage before he got into the cage! They took him away shortly after this!
The next morning, my cousin called and said their was another bear that came back and grabbed MORE garbage out of the garbage sometime between 2-4!! He drug it up the hill and made a BIG mess!
Game and Fish brought the caught bear back so we could all say goodbye! Here is a shot of him in the daylight. He was going to relocate him and then bring back the trap for the other bear.
Here is where the story continues!!!......................................................................
So this morning, around 3:15am I get a text from my cousin saying they are watching the BIG bear. He was in the garbage and then went into their sandbox to eat peanuts. While the big bear was in the sandbox with the peanuts ANOTHER small bear got into the garbage!! YIKES!! AND, Game and Fish hadn't come back with the trap, so they couldn't do ANYTHING!! She said the big bear would stand up and scare the little bear away, but as soon as the big bear was lying down the little bear would come back to the garbage!! They finally went to bed about 4am, and 2 bears were still outside!! 3 bears total!! Can you believe it!! 3!!! The bear also visited our cabin and got into some of the sand stuff by our garage, so the people at our cabin never saw him, but when I got the text I called them to close the windows. So, I guess Game and FIsh are coming to set another trap and they will keep setting them until they catch them all!! WOW!! This story will have to be continued!! You may ask why I would want to go back?? Well, the heat is killing me, and I don't want to miss all the action! Haha!
Until tomorrow.......
