Sometimes I see something so amazing that I feel compelled to share. This is one of those things. I ran across this on Facebook. I've never seen a bear up close, or even at a distance, other than in a zoo. I can't imagine holding something like this. Look at the size of the paw, versus the size of her hand and fingers. Those claws are humongous. https://www.facebook.com/7511267283...1126728349968/753630154766292/?type=1&theater
That's why I slept with my rifle beside me when I was camped in the mountains in Montana and Idaho. I slept pretty lightly too.
Oh wow! The bear's paw is gigantic. Living on Oahu we don't have anything like bears here. We got wallaby's in the mountain that came over via boat long ago. http://www.kitv.com/news/hawaii/rare-wallaby-photo-taken-in-kalihi-valley/20557110 Wallaby is the only big thing we have on land at Oahu. The bear's paw is so huge!
I had no idea t here were Wallabys in Hawaii! It's so interesting to learn new things from y'all! @Ike Willis No doubt, I had no idea they were that huge. I can't imagine encountering something like that out in the wild. I worry about the wild hogs here while I'm walking on the nature paths.
Most of the bear that we saw in idaho were just the smaller black bear; but even they are pretty large and tall when they stand up on their hind legs. One day, the kids and I were taking the garbage cans down to the dumpster and when we pulled up beside it to unload the cans, a huge bear that had been digging around behind the dumpster stood right up and was giving me a bad look. I told the kids to get back in the truck quick, and we left, full garbage cans and all. I gave that big old bear plenty of time to finish his dinner before we came back again to empty the garbage cans. What part of Idaho and Montana were you in , @Ike Willis ?
I roamed an area west of and between Missoula and Salmon. I had places marked on a topographical map so I wouldn't forget where I'd been, but I forgot the map when I left a camp. Was in Utah too. Would have liked to look that state over better.
My family didn't fare too well with bears. My gramps remembered a cousin while he still lived in Slovakia. The cousin was home on leave from the army. He went off into the Tatra mountains with another fellow. They came across bear tracks in the snow and followed them to where they disappeared under a tree that had snow covering it like a tepee. The other fellow started walking around the tree to see if the bear came out or was still in there. Cousin couldn't wait and poked the branches apart with his rifle. Bear killed him before his friend could get a clear shot. Gramps said an uncle of his was traveling across the same mountains and while rounding some huge boulders, came face to face with a bear. The bear knocked uncle's rifle out of his hands and swiped him across the top of his head. Uncle played dead and the bear finally left after batting him around a bit. The uncle's scalp was peeled back and hanging by a flap of skin at the back. He placed the scalp back on his head, tied his scarf over it and headed down the mountain toward the nearest village. There, someone sewed his scalp to his head and it took. Gramps said he still had hair when gramps left for America.
Always hoped to one day go back to western Montana to live and prowl the Bitterroots, but that'll never be.
Although I lived in northern Idaho, I also worked as far south as Riggins when I was selling life insurance for Combined Insurance. It is some amazingly beautiful country down there, and huge mountains. @Ike Willis.... PS I have a friend who lives at Salmon, and she would love to have a roommate to go out riding on the 4-wheelers and maybe even kayaking on some of the lakes out near there. She has a swimming pool and a hot tub, and is a good cook , as well. So.....maybe.....? ?
I love looking at nature on television. I wouldn't mind visiting, or maybe even living somewhere more remote than I do, but only if I had some money, and decent transportation. And, I'd want a better camera. Perhaps someday that will come to pass .
Would you do this? I doubt it! Wrestling A Grizzly Bear In My Garden https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nSWc43TLaI