Thars B'ar In Dem Woods

August 28
Anchor Point, AK

Up until this point, in my two years of living in the foothills of the Appalachians in southeastern KY, three months in the mountains of NC, and last years travels throughout the west and now AK, I have not seen a bear in the wild. That changed this Sunday morning. I've been staying at a different farm this week (more on that later) and I heard of a neighbor sighting a couple of brownies (grizzlies) a few days ago on his way to go fishing in the river. So armed with my camera, and a newly acquired can of pepper spray I bought last night at the Gear Shed, I headed off through the brush to the Anchor River. It is said that when hiking in the back country you should wear bear bells and make noise, and shout "hey bear!" to alert the bears of your approach and scare them away. I scoff at such ridiiculousness for I WANT to see a bear so I quitely slipped along game trails along the river, coming upon fresh digging in the dirt, bear sign! A little ways farther where a side stream flowed into the river I spotted some buzzards and crows; a fresh kill! I found a good place to sit and wait along the bank against a cottonwood tree, but before I could even clear out a spot to sit a big brownie appeared at the kill sight and started eating. He stayed there a few minutes while I snapped some pictures and then picked up a piece of vertabrae and strolled into the bushes. Shortly after he playfully ambled back to the shore and ran a few steps in my direction, at which point I started second guessing my choice of the cheapest pepper spray and was wondering if I should have gone with the industrial strength, S.W.A.T. approved, 25 blast brand instead. Luckily though he veered back off into brush never to be seen again. On my walk back out after seeing the majestic beast, I whistled, hummed, talked to myself, and I may have even hollered "Hey bear!, hey bear!" a few times. I also couldn't help wondering about the carcass at the kill site. Was it a moose? Or perhaps a poor, foolhardy, midwestern tourist bent on seeing his first wild bear...