Our First Visit

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Our First Visit

It was cold this morning.  It was down near 20 degrees and the wind was blowing relentlessly.  I rushed around the house getting the paperwork to bring my truck through emissions.  Beyond that, I was planning on picking up another rabbit or two afterwards, as you read in a previous post.

I headed out the front door and was immediately confronted by the wind.  I shaved my beard off two weeks ago during a warm spell and I have to say that having no fuzz on my fizzog (Gramp's old word for chin) instantly made me pucker my face.  I always shave it off too early. 

I stopped cold in my tracks when I saw this:

Bear proof can, tested on Griz.  The prototype withstood 12 hours of abuse.  I might add that this one is holding up very well, considering that during the spring, summer and fall it gets hit by Mr. Bear about once a week. 



I ran inside and grabbed my camera.  This is the first time that I've seen tracks in the snow or dirt.  Here is what I found:

I saw two bears last year.  One was about 150 lbs., the other, probably closer to 350 lbs.  Here is my hand beside the track:

I'm thinking that this is the smaller of the two.  I've never tracked bear, mostly because I wouldn't hunt them, so I don't know how to calculate or estimate weight by paw size.  I won't hunt what I won't eat and these are trash bears. I'd have to be pretty hard up before eating a greasy, tough old sow.  I know that there are people out there that love bear steak, I'm just not one of them.

This one was interesting.  Looked much like a naked human foot.  YETI!

Apparently, he had a good look around my shed as well.

From here on out, we're going to tie the can to a tree in hopes that he'll lose interest.  Perhaps even tie on an ammonia soaked rag from time to time.  In addition, we're getting the solar charger for the chicken fence.  Before we get the chickens, I'm going to turn the juice on full for a few nights and hang some bacon on it.  That'll learn 'em.  For now, I'll be more careful with where I leave food-related things and keep my eye out.  They're smart.  They come when we don't readily see them.

Pax Domini Sit Semper Vobiscum,

Mike, Oscar, Hotel......out.