Close encounters of the bear kind....

[Glacier]

Today is my last day of holidays so I spent it paddling on a river not far from home. I've posted pictures of it. Usually all I see is ducks, muskrats and eagles. This afternoon on my way back to the boat launch, I stopped to feather my paddle before coming around the last corner. It's easier to paddle into a headwind with blades feathered. Thank goodness I stopped or I would have paddled right into a Black Bear!!! When I looked up from my paddle, there he was just a few yards in front of my boat in the water!

Unfortunately, I was trying to figure out the safest path out of his way and never even thought to grab my camera! He was a young looking bear so I didn't want to stick around and see if Momma Bear was following him!

[Corinna]

Wise choice , we had a simular case a coulpe years ago only with a 5year old Moose. I think a bear would be perferred.

[Glacier]

Wise choice , we had a simular case a coulpe years ago only with a 5year old Moose. I think a bear would be perferred.

I'd take a bear over a moose anyday, especially if my dogs were with me. Moose are my biggest fear when I'm out with the dog team.

[Iilo]

Moose are scary beasties. Tho I'm a big fan of the "night danger" signs in Ontario -- makes me think of them as super heros rather than anything else.

We've run into a few on our way up the Gunflint trail. Thankfully they were all very well off to the side of the road and not having angry days. I've heard lots of horror stories bout moosies though. I'm just always afraid there's going to be one standing in the middle of the road after we turn a corner in Gunflint and he's gonna get real angry about the car being on HIS road.

Black bears are my favorite. They seem to follow me around, them and white tailed deer -- but deer are way more common up here. At our last house, we had two bears that dug through our garbage (kind of annoying) and just wandered around. It's scary having them around, but they're also really fun to watch (from a safe distance!!). These days we just have one occasional black bear who just kind of ambles through on his way to better places. Rien isn't toopid enough to even say "boo" to the bear, so we've never had any issues.

The big wild aminals are always so scary but yet so intriguing. It's hard for me to decide which emotion wins -- watch the bear, or run (walk calmly) inside.

[Killearn Kitties]

I can't believe that you didn't grab your camera. You take such fantastic pictures, and when I saw the title of the thread I thought "Oh great, there will be a lovely picture in here". How very disappointing.

[G535]

We are so lucky down here as we can walk in the bush all day and not have to worry about dangerous animals (apart from the human variety).