Mike, Terri, Billy and I spent the first weekend of Sept 2001 at camp. No projects were scheduled or done. Mike had pulled all the porch ceiling drywall 2 weeks before. What we did do was try to keep out of the way of the bears. Mike and Terri were there Thursday afternoon (1 Sep) when 2 young bears rounded the end of the camp and headed for the edge of the yard where table scraps have been tossed now for years.

This is a bad deal now. The bears are programmed to prowl thru the camp looking for food. We think these were the two that were with their mother when Mike ran into them at the edge of the yard one night last October.

After a while they left. I got there Friday around noon and Bill showed up around five. No bears that evening but one came back Saturday. This was the scary one. The damn thing was not afraid to come right into the yard with four people standing there. No amount of noise (gunshots, air horns, yelling) bothered it.

When it headed across the yard to the fire pit and our supper, Mike fired a .357 across it's nose and that spooked it a little. I threw a shoe brush from the porch and hit it in the rump, then it moved off towards the salt lick and I peppered it's butt with some fine bird shot from a .44 Magnum. It ran up towards the Green Camp but we kept an eye on it.

Needless to say, the rest of the night was not pleasant. We didn't know where the other bear was or their mother for that matter. Going out at night to take a leak was not a happy time!

Sunday morning I was packing my truck to leave and a bear came down the trail from State Line direction, cut through the ferns and headed for the grill right across the yard.  It went front feet first into the ashes to lick the grease off the grill. After about 10 minutes we were able to chase it away. It also was not scared.

I'm afraid the situation demands NO MORE scraps or leftovers be thrown out. Once a bear is programmed to obtain food at a place they will ALWAYS remember it and visit often. Now, what worries me is the mother. She was not around, maybe she has already forced them out for a new breeding season.  <link 

I suspect this is why they are running around on their own. However, come next Spring she'll remember where she took her last cubs to get a snack, our Camp back yard. Do some reading on bear behavior here link> Understanding Bears. I feel a little better after reading this, Black Bears aren't as aggressive as Grizzlies or others but I still would rather not confront them.

Bill also took some pictures of the path cleared by the gas well drillers to plant explosive charges for seismic exploration on the spring side of the camp heading up to the Green Camp.

Here are pictures that Billy took over the weekend:

Bill's and my FJ's	Contemplating bears	Gas blaster path	path	path
Blast site ribbons	Camp from Sping side This was before the bear paid a vist	Rose of Sharon down	Bear comes from behind outhouse	Bear in front of outhouse
Bear	Bear comes closer	Bear on logs	Bear eats spaghetti This practice stops now!
Bear behind Rose of Sharon	Mike and Steve guard supper Keeping away any dadgum Yogi wannabes.	Sunday morning bear licks grill	Bear leaves heading up towards Dug Road Trail