Timberline: A second bear and her daddy visited camp.

Timberline: A second bear and her daddy visited camp.

(Timberline part 16)

Another year there were reports from the previous course that they had a bear in camp so I had packed my rifle in the van for the first (and last) time ever as I loaded my gear for camp that year. When we got there the other adults told us that they had not seen one but apparently the course before them had the week before their camp. Well we set up camp and put all of our food in the cabin down along the road in the lower part of the camping area. We closed and secured it a little so that nothing could get into the food. The next morning, Sunday, as we went down to prepare breakfast we were surprised when we opened the door to find that the part bread on the shelves had been taken. We were not sure what had happened until we found the bear tracks outside of the carpeted interior of the cabin. We followed some of the tracks up into the trees and found where the bread sacks had been torn open and all of the contents eaten. (Later in the week we found evidence that the plastic sacks were also partially eaten as we found bear droppings with plastic in them.) Anyway we then called the Wildlife Division and they brought us up a trap so we could catch the bear and remove it from the area. Tuesday morning when we went down to the cabin we could see from the hill that the trap had been released and as we approached it could tell we had ourselves a bear in it. The Wildlife officer came up and brought another trap just in case the mama was around the little yearling female that we had trapped. We set the trap and the next morning on Wednesday when we went down sure enough the trap was closed again indicating that we had another bear. We got down to the trap and were surprised by the fact that the bait was gone and the trap sprung but no bear inside. That concerned me a little and I couldn’t figure out why there was no bear other than maybe it was an old bear used to getting in and out of those traps. Well Thursday morning as Guy Chang and I went down to the cabin before we would let any of the boys were awake I took my rifle with me and figured that we might have to eliminate the bear since we couldn’t catch it. Well as we silently walked into the clearing above the cabin we both came to an instant stop as we could see a huge bear (for a black bear that is) standing between the cabin and a tree next to it. I took a mental note of where the top of the bears back was in relation to the marks on the tree and started to raise my rifle. The bear caught sign of our movement and before I could hardly blink had turned and disappeared past the small pond behind the cabin. We quickly went down to the cabin to see if we could get another look at him and we did as he stood near the edge of the water. However again he was gone in the blink of an eye. After some checking around we could tell the bar had still been keeping him from opening the cabin door and was interested when we discovered that he had been on the roof and even tried to dig through the roof to get inside but filed that way also. We went back to the cabin knowing that would be the last chance we had to see him that day. I stood between the tree and the cabin and the mark on the tree corresponding to the height of the bear as he stood on all four feet came to just above my waist. He was a big bear and most likely a boar. Well we went back to the van and I again hid my rifle since none of the boys knew I had it and wouldn’t if I could help it. We heard him again that night below camp and figured out that he had also been the source of the noise the boys had heard other nights near their camps. We were being protected by our Heavenly Father and the bear had no interest in us personally only in our food. So Friday afternoon as we prepared the patrols to go away from camp for their outposts we seriously considered keeping them in their patrol sites instead that night but after praying about it felt no need to take that course of action. Instead we felt that this would be a good way to teach the boys about camping in bear country and a good time for them to learn how to protect their food in bear country. So we instructed all of the patrols to hang their food at least 15 feet in the air between two trees and gave them each enough rope to accomplish that task. Well the outpost at the top of the camping area decided we were just trying to bluff them and merely pulled their food for breakfast a few feet into the tree several yards from their camp. Sure enough the next morning one of them came to camp asking for more food. As I went to check on their camp I could see where their food had been removed from the tree and in their sack was only a small orange drink and one pastry. I looked around the bottom of the tree and found the trail leading away from the tree where the bear had carried the food. Every few feet I would find a wrapper or split open plastic bottle with the orange juice all gone. The bear was carrying all of the 8 patrol members breakfast with him and eating part of it a few feet further down the trail. As the trail started to drop down into the canyon I decided I had followed it far enough since I knew I couldn’t run up from the bear if it decided the breakfast was inadequate. I returned to the boys and we had a discussion about obedience to instructions and that we always have a purpose for teaching what we do at Timberline. I think it was probably the lesson the bear taught them that night though that will always remain in their memories well after the ones we taught have been forgotten.