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Warning: The experiment described below should not be attempted by readers in their homes. It's just not a good idea to let wild bears in your house. Only REAL Mountain Men should have close encounters with bears.
I knew it was going to be a great July Fourth Weekend when two immature male bears ran across Highway 136 near Amicalola Falls just after sunrise. My canine buddies and I were headed to the rugged mountains northwest of Dahlonega, GA to hike a former Indian trail over a gap in the Blue Ridge Mountains, that is now a US Forest Service Road. The area around Dahlonega is where the nation's first major gold rush occured, in 1828. When a group of Georgia gold miners were leaving Dahlonega to go to the California gold rush, the editor of the Dahlonega Nugget Newspaper (still being published!) came out to the street and pleaded, "Why thar's gold in them thar hills. Don't go to California!"
Once in this remote section of the Chattahoochee National Forest, I quickly unloaded my gear, pitched the tent and put up a cooking shelter. It had started to drizzle. I then cooked us a breakfast feast of grits, sausage and scrambled eggs with cheese. Shortly after breakfast, the rain stopped so we headed up the mountain.
About a half mile from my campsite, my herd dogs suddenly became excited and dashed like bolts of lightning into a brush. A huge Papa Bear - probably around 400 pounds raced across the trail about 20 feet in front of me. I yelled as loud as I good to get the dogs to come back to me. That Black Bear's claws could tear them to pieces.
I continued to hear all sorts of commotion going on in the rhododendron thicket in the ravine below me. It sounded like human toddlers were crying. Then I caught site of a BIG mama bear running parallel to the creek. She was followed by her cub. Then another mama bear ran by with her cub. The cubs were very young, not much bigger than cats, Well, the cute little things looked like teddy bears, literally.
The second mama bear stopped directly across the creek from me and stared at me. I tried to communicate with her that I meant her family no harm. It must have worked, because she walked at a normal gait aferward.
Then an immature female bear raced across the trail left to right, I guess she was running to be with her Mama and kid brother. Just as she had crossed the trail, she saw us and panicked. She did a perfect 180 degree turn, and took off to the left- back up the mountain. My dogs couldn't resist the primal temptation of the chase, and took off after her. Their barking frightened the big mama bears. They bolted up the mountains, leaving their tiny cubs behind,
I could see one cub climb about 40 up a tree, crying like a human toddler all the way, with her mother answering back with a soft "bwa" sound.
The second cub mistook my black and tan herd dogs as being other bears. Her eyes latched onto those of my female dog. My dogs assumed that the little ball of black fur was a puppy or a stray lamb. (Most young lambs have black wool). My female dog and the little cub touched noses. Then my female dog began to lick and groom the cub, as if it was one of her puppies. My two males stood by the "little black puppy" to comfort it.
Meanwhile I was frantically screaming for them to get away from the little bear. Female bears kill anything that gets near their cubs, including humans. However, the Mama Bear was afraid of me. She kept on staring at me from behind a rhododendron bush, not the dogs and bellowing loudly, "Buh--h-h-h-h"
That means "get the hell outa there you stupid little cub!"
Finally, the cub with the confused self-identity climbed about 40 feet up a poplar tree. She was no bigger than a koala and equally as cute. It was an amazing experience. I never kept my eyes off the Mama Bear and slowly moved away from the scene in lateral zig-zigs.
Once we were about 150 feet away, we stopped so the dogs could watch the cubs in the trees. My dogs all had big grins on their faces , , , which means "DANG! That little puppy is one helluva tree climber!"
I had seen many bears at a distance through the years, but had never been so close. Normally, bears behave like the Big Papa Bear and quickly run away from me. If alone without the dogs, I would never gotten so close. However, my breed of dogs, do not have a dog scent. That confuses wild animals. I think perhaps the Mama bear was confused as to what I was also . . . because I behaved like the top of the food chain, but did not try to harm the cubs or her. Very interesting.
Later that day, we saw lots of deer, a family of wild boar, eagles, turkeys, a Copperhead snake and a Timber Rattler Snake. A good time was had by all.
I also talked with a dozen families, who have no place to live other than the National Forest. That's the next blog.
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| Thar's Bars In Them Thar Hills or Close Encounters of a Bear Kind |
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