In June I had a visitor one night as it was just getting dark. I had already taken a nice relaxing shower and was laying on my sleeping bag with no clothes on to cool off. All of a sudden there was a loud "BANG, BANG, BANG" on one of the poles suspending the tarp over my tent. I was not expecting visitors, and they were inconsiderately knocking on the back of the tent. I quietly got my rifle loaded, slipped on a pair of boots, untied the tent door and stepped out. As I rounded the back of the tent, a black bear tore off up the knoll behind. In a few minutes I walked for a few hundred metres in his direction of travel, but he was long gone. I always wait for a bit to see if a bear immediately returns. If he does, you need to be worried about a human-habituated bear, even though you are far away from the closest garbage. He is the one that will not leave your camp alone, and there really is only one good recourse. I returned to the tent pursued by mosquitoes that had quite an expansive area of attack. Next morning I used duct tape on the underside of the tarp to repair the tarp. (Ironically, bears love to eat duct tape.)
In August, the blueberries were very abundant in forest-fire burns and along with them came many Black Bears from other areas. On one long portage I had cached some gear, including my laundry pail. When I went the next day to move on in my canoe, I saw that the gear had been knocked over and the plastic laundry pail, wrapped in duct tape for strength and durability, had been punctured by a bear. (I repaired it with more duct tape.) As I canoed to the start of the next portage, I saw a bear about 1km away on the shore moving towards the landing spot. I thought to myself, "He's going to come along the shore and pass this very location." I carried a load to the end of yet one more long portage. When I got back to my landing, sure enough the bear had already reached it and pulled down some clothing I had hung up to dry. Luckily, he did not tamper with my gear, probably because I returned and scared him off, although I never saw him again. As I carried the next portage load, I met the biggest Black Bear that I have ever seen coming towards me, so he was on the trail that I had carried the first load. I yelled at him to move on, and he ambled off to the side pausing for several seconds to study me before going on up and over the ridge beside the trail.
Interestingly and amazingly one morning I went down to the lakeshore where I was camped, and saw about 1km away a cow moose swimming across the lake for a distance of about 500 metres. Behind her almost the entire distance, was another animal swimming. I thought to myself, "That's strange to see a moose calf swimming so far behind its mother." When this animal got out of the water, and shook itself off, it was a bear! Amazing! Probably a coincidence, but I could not help but think, this year is crazy with bears, and "Is this guy following the moose just to piss her off?!"
I had a bear come into camp while I was eating breakfast several times. Bears are very quiet when they move; one moment no bear, the next all of a sudden there he is. I was sitting under my tarp one day quietly enjoying my meal, when I heard a noise about 10 metres behind me like someone would make when surprised, annoyed, indignant that somebody is sitting in their favourite spot, "HMPH!". I did not see the visitor, but it definitely had to be a bear! (A moose on the hard ground at that spot when running would have made "hoof" sounds. I did have a moose come to investigate my camp, then trotting off after detecting me.) Interestingly, a few seconds later there was a big CRASH, CRACK noise. This silly bear, had swatted a big boulder as he ran away, and I immediately thought he acted just as a teenager might get upset with his parents and kick a piece of furniture as he stormed out of the house. It made me chuckle. At the same time, seeing so many bears I do get somewhat concerned about camp gear and food being safe.
In August a bear went into my bug tent and seemed to have got a bit flustered on how to get out, causing him to claw the tent screen. Again, fixed with duct tape.
A picture of my SPOT device in its belt case. (Beside it is a bear skull.) The SPOT™ Satellite GPS Messenger is a small battery powered device with a built-in GPS. I use the SPOT on a daily basis to notify each of my family via their e-mail address that I am okay. It takes about 20 minutes to complete its task, and must be outdoors with a direct line-of-sight to the provider's orbiting satellites. It gives the contact a link using Google maps that shows my specific location. (The device also has an emergency button that will cause the nearest search-and-rescue provider to initiate a rescue helicopter to the location.) I have an arrangement with my family that if they do not receive a SPOT "OK" message for three consecutive days they will contact RCMP. (Aaah ... the good old days when my family did not "worry" about me until my trip was over if I did not contact them on the date specified. My wife has been asked if she worries about me on these trips. She says, that initially years ago she did, but I kept coming back.) I have always placed the SPOT in as large an open space as possible close to camp, as required when using my satellite (SAT) phone.
I was visited by a bear one morning while I was eating breakfast. The wind was favourable for me, and he approached within 15 metres before seeing me, running off into the bush. I went to the lakeshore and noticed that he had plucked a pack out from under my canoe but caused no damage. (If you have a heavy sturdy pack, with no loose gear and thoroughly strapped up, a bear is unlikely to carry it away, although he may rip it depending on the type of material.) I went to retrieve my SPOT device, and it was gone! The so-an-so bear had gone in that direction and in a crime-of-opportunity picked up the SPOT. Because it is essentially bite-size for a bear, I assumed that it would probably be swallowed. I had visions of having to use the SAT phone to notify my family on a regular basis that I am okay; SAT phone connectivity is often unreliable, uses a lot more battery power, and is definitely less convenient than the SPOT for that purpose. After about one hour of searching in gradually expanding arcs in the presumed direction the bear took, I did find the SPOT in the bush dropped on the ground. The belt case was gone and presumably eaten. (Bears and wolves love to eat plastic and rubber.) I did use the SAT phone to call my wife to test and confirm that the SPOT was still working properly. The SPOT is engraved with the bear's teeth marks. I now place the SPOT within sight, and use it in a location that may be quite small; it impressively just "works". I do not worry about using a "larger open-to-the-sky" space, as I must do with the SAT phone. Also, for the first time ever, since so many bear contacts, I kept my rifle loaded and handy to wherever I happened to be.
My last bear visit was in September, early in the morning as it was starting to get light. I woke from my sleep with a feeling that I had heard something outside that moved past the front of the tent. There were subtle noises nearby ... nothing specifically alarming ... but in more than one location. It was "different" than just a squirrel, or a small bird, or a grouse. I put on my boots, grabbed my rifle, untied the tent door, stepped outside. It was a very cool morning, around freezing, very misty and still being somewhat dark, kind of eerie. Maybe I had been dreaming? Then I hear a tree trunk being ripped apart. Another bear??! Sure enough I see one running away. I waited for awhile but he never circled and came back. I went down to the canoe, which now had just 3 paddles stored underneath. One of the paddles had been pulled partially out by the bear. So I may have awakened to that noise. The more I reviewed everything that happened I realized I had actually seen the shadowy form of the bear walk past the tent door after coming up to the tent from the canoe, moving a water pot sitting outside, then walking behind the tent and ripping a small tree trunk apart to look for ants.
This was definitely "the year of the bear" for me.
A typical scratching post of black bears, on a spruce tree causing sap resin to seep out. The scratches are about two metres above the ground, on a tree near one of my camps.
WOLF Day 1. One morning in mid-September, I noticed fresh wolf poop, full of hair, within about 40 metres of my camp. I thought "That's interesting. Was it there yesterday?"
WOLF Day 2. The next morning, there was another scat in the same place, with even more hair in it. Now I knew that this was definitely fresh, and so close to camp! Where is the kill that the wolf has been eating? That evening a wolf howled repeatedly over a period of one hour, in an arc around a semi-circular area within 100 metres of camp. Now the plot thickens. What is going on? I love to hear wolves, and usually hear them at least on one occasion each time I am in remote Northern Saskatchewan. But this is kind of close. Between bears and now wolves, it is all a bit disconcerting. As darkness set in, there was an answering wolf call from far away, barely detectable. After that, no more from "my" wolf. I assumed they were connecting with each other, and now I know there are at least two wolves. Are they connecting here, or at the distant location?
WOLF Day 3. One of my favourite northern birds is the raven, related to and as "smart" or smarter than the crow. This bird is a survivor, living permanently everywhere in the north even in the harsh conditions of the Arctic. There are often two to four in a group in remote areas, flying near camp, but never very close unless surprised in which case they sound an "AWWK", quickly veering away. They rarely land in a tree very close to me. They keep in touch with each other by short crow-like "CAW" calls. On the third day ravens were quite raucous, calling all day long somewhere near camp, but I thought maybe several kilometres away. So now I know there is carrion, probably from the wolf kill; I assume a moose.
WOLF Day 4. Just after breakfast, a raven lands in a tree directly above my tent about three metres up. He talks in full "sentences" with many different "words", gesturing just as a person would, his head and neck moving, occasionally taking a piece of a spruce branch in his beak. Wish I knew what he is saying. I talk to him, but I at least do not understand what he is trying to tell me. I have NEVER seen a raven get this close, and certainly not one who talked to me. According to my journal, the raven talked to me for almost 30 minutes! Bears, wolves and now ravens flock to my door.
I go out in the canoe to catch one or two pike for two meals. I see the ravens focusing on an area less than one km from camp so I know where the presumed wolf kill probably is. One raven dives into the bush of fairly open black spruce near shore. I stop and detect a long piece of bone, but a search in the immediate area shows nothing. A raven has carried a piece of the kill from the kill site, presumably not very far away. The ravens are now their usual selves, no raucous cawing, dispersing to look for food elsewhere.
WOLF Day 5. I walk to look for the wolf kill. After some searching, I find it less than one km from camp, a lot closer than I thought. I am thinking I will find the remains of a moose. There is evidence of struggle and a kill over a spot about 40 square metres, in an area of fairly open jack pine, some black spruce near the lake shore, Labrador tea and alder brush on the surface throughout. I start seeing pitch black hair ... not brown and white moose hair. I find a few rib bones that are narrow and only about 100 cm long ... again not moose, two relatively small vertebrae very much chewed, a little bit of intestine. This is a black bear kill! Well, well ... amazing. I also find one pile of bear scat containing blueberries. What a surprise. Wolves have been recorded killing black bears, but it is the first I have seen and I doubt that the incidence is known.
WOLF Day 6 (... and ever after). I continue to think about the raven that talked to me. In retrospect, I think he was telling me that the ravens were finished cleaning up the wolf kill and that the wolves were gone. I really wish I knew what he was telling me. I also continue to wonder about the wolf that spent at least two days near my camp. Why? Was he just curious? I found no evidence of old wolf scat in the area, so I do not think it is a denning area. Was he evaluating me as prey?? I think the bear was probably killed the day before I saw the first wolf poop, the wolves fed for two days and then the ravens took over.
I am often asked how I come to see and experience happenings such as this. It is simply that you have to be out there long enough, be somewhat observant and inquisitive and catch things happening. Just one more reason that I love it out there.
