The life of a cabbage. (Picture intensive!)

[Jeff]

I'm not bear hunting this year, so had not put out any cameras, so Lou put one out across the road from my place on a trail on his property. He tossed out a few old cabbage he had, and this is just a smattering of the photos from that 1st week iof this October the cabbages existed on the trail.  When we tell people we don't have many deer because of the predators, some scoff. "Where are the pictures" they say. Well, we don't usually try to get photos of the predators as we are deer and bear hunters.  The goal this time was to get some idea of the deer that might be here. We didn't get many deer photos. Maybe a dozen or so photos out of a couple hundred photos were of deer.

BTW, the cabbage meets a fate that you might not expect. ;)




















































A few close ups

[isawlogs]

  Thanks made me smile... 

[giant splinter]

That camera does a great job, wondering what brand and model it is as I could use one here on the ranch.

[WmFritz]

Never thought about using a brush hog to make coleslaw :D :D

[clww]

"It chops! It cuts! It slices! It dices!"

[SwampDonkey]

More animals than the local zoo. ;D Looks like a family of 3 yotes. That seems to be what I have is a family of three because I see their tracks in winter. I never did put of a trail cam here, always intended to because the main path is an animal highway. Nice to see a few grouse around, they seem to like cedar woods as much as birch. But that might be because there are yellow birch in the cedar (after the seed). ;D

Wow a bobcat to, they are scarce here.

[Magicman]

Good pictures and who could imagine the great variety of animals that travel by.  I suspect that those DanG coyotes are keeping the small game numbers down, and maybe even the deer by being predators to the fawns.

[Ron Scott]

Great pictures of wildlife in the wild.

[Paul_H]

Proof on film that nobody likes cabbage.

[Mooseherder]

 :D :D

[Jeff]

They must like slaw.  These pictures are all from yesterday after slaw making. Sure was surprised to see a very nice buck.



  

  

  

  

  

 

[Magicman]

Do I see a place for a blind?

[Jeff]

I wouldn't shoot him.  First sign of anything worth spreading it's genes in quite sometime

[Autocar]

Amazing pictures how cool that must be to live and see so many different kinds of critters.

[Jeff]

It's one of the reasons why, that when I'm up here, its always hard to go home.

We also have wolves, cougar (documented by the DNR), Lots of bear, otters, beavers and many other assorted animals.

[isawlogs]

I need make myself a cabage patch photo taking center!  Getting a pic of the bobcat is cool, now getting a pic of a cougar , that would be super kewl   8)

  Have cabage , have bushhog, have tractor, have wildlife, have road.... Can I get permission from the boss.. I'll take my chances when I get home and just doit.  ;D

[Magicman]

I understand the comment about "not shooting".  As abundant as our deer are, restraint must still be used.  The 1996-97 season was the last time that I took the buck limit, (3) and I have never even come close to the doe limit. (5)

Until this past year we have abided by a self imposed one buck limit, but we did start allowing two last year.  Nothing to do with what is allowed or legal.  We are just managing our deer herd as we see it.

That 12th picture is a cat, but I do not see a tail.  Must be a bobcat.

[Jeff]

Yup, bobcat. If you look back at the first set of photos, you can see the bobtail. No way of knowing if it is the same cat.  I'm kind of curious if that trail corner has traffic like this all the time, as nothing really has eaten the cabbage.

[fishpharmer]

Proof on film that nobody likes cabbage.

:D :D


Jeff, thanks for Proof pics. 8)

[SwampDonkey]

We used to box trap snowshoe hare and they wouldn't touch it or carrots.  They would apples. :D But domestic rabbits would eat cabbage and carrots and we fresh cut grass (by hand) for 'em to. ;D

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

You keep putting food out there and sooner or later you'll see a member come by. 

[SwampDonkey]

I like cabbage. Steamed, boiled, fried, coleslaw.  ;D

[Jeff]

But is it alien season?

[Mooseherder]

Seeing sure is believing, and that is one busy area!
The game cam is earning its keep.

[fishpharmer]

Add a little mayo, relish and pinch of onion you might get a pic of poston or me eating coleslaw. ;)

[SwampDonkey]

When they stop delivering bananas, avacados and mangoes to the stores, there will still be cabbage. :D :D

[Mooseherder]

Redneck Cabbage is good fellers!
It's got some Bacon and butter in it for ya. ;D

[isawlogs]

 I copied that pic and will bring it to the docs office, see if I can have it put on the ok list....  8)

[Left Coast Chris]

With that many animals it looks like potential for a mutual of omaha documentary......     It would be interesting to put out a predator call with one of those wiggling tails and see what the camera picks up including interaction between predators.    On second thought that might not work too well because you would have to be in the vacinity to turn it on.   Would not want to have a Red Green animal control officer moment and end up coming out on the wrong end of the stick... 

[bama20a]

Yup, bobcat. If you look back at the first set of photos, you can see the bobtail. No way of knowing if it is the same cat.  I'm kind of curious if that trail corner has traffic like this all the time, as nothing really has eaten the cabbage.

I also noticed that they didn't seem like any thing was eating it,But it sure was bringing them in.Must be the smell,Was the cabbage fresh or rotting when the pics-was made?
Sure would like to have some of the coyotos hides in a few months,When they go to getting there winter coats.
Jeff have you eat any of the bear meat? I've alway wanted to try it ,But we don't have them here.
Bet it would go good with Grits. digin_2

[isawlogs]

I've alway wanted to try it ,But we don't have them here.
Bet it would go good with Grits. digin_2

  It is really tasty, one must be carefull to take all the fat off of the meat. 

Why in the world would you want to mix that stuff in with real food is beyond my comprehensivity   : ;D

[thecfarm]

Go get 'em isawlogs. He may not be feeling well,but he can get up out of his hospital bed,wheeling his IV bag beside him to to stand up and fight our battle against grits.  You would make any Yankee proud.  :D
I'm just about ready to dump my pumpkins into the back field. Jeff so does have a lot of critters that like to eat.

[Mooseherder]

RCRC,  Reduced Calorie, Redneck Cabbage. ;D
The reason there are two?
It's purty DanG good and one just ain't enough.



 

[doctorb]

I'm curious....no bear and no fox?????  Certainly you have them there too, unless the coyotes have run off the fox.

What is the reason your deer population is so sparse?  Harsh winters??  It's hard for me to envision that the UP has been overhunted, but maybe that's another possibility.

[thecfarm]

That's one thing I enjoy hearing some of you guys talking about deer and showing pictures. Not that many deer around here to let one walk by because you want a bigger one.Unless you want to wait until next year. We have deer and I see deer,just don't see the big ones,even with a game camera.

[Jeff]

Doc, we have bear in abundance as well as fox. Just none have showed up on that camera.  It is in my opinion that our deer herd is low, firstly because of a huge hit to it almost 17 years ago. Up until the winter of I think 95, there were boat loads of deer here ( ;D)  but a couple of very severe winter storms here, one that was 54" of snow in one weekend, decimated the population. Since then, they have never been able to rebound locally here due to the large numbers and variety of predators.  We have many species here that will eat fawn deer, and a few that are capable in the winter, of taking adults.   We have seen a marked upswing in the number of deer in the last two years, but we lag behind areas just a few miles from here.

Hunting has very little effect on lowering the deer herd where there are healthy numbers. Here, if you shoot a doe, you may have killed a measurable percentile of the local present and future population.  Again, in my opinion..

[doctorb]

Jeff-

While I don't hunt, I allow some friends to hunt my property.  I have had multiple conversations with these very knowledgeable people, and they tell me that, in a mature deer population, hunters need to remove up to 60% of the herd each year to have a chance at decreasing the total number of deer.  I can't corroborate that number, but these guys are really studious about deer hunting, so I bet they are correct.

[Jeff]

I'd not disagree with that.

[Texas Ranger]

Down here the majority of hunters only want to kill bucks. so the doe population explodes.  On managed property, by the state on private land through biologists, they are required to kill a certain number of does, and keep records, there is also a size requirement on bucks now, 13 inc minimum between the horns.  Records must be kept.  Many hunters think these requirements are foolish, yet these managed ranges have really good bucks showing up, and a continuing number of does.  Also hogs and coyotes.  seems to work.

[Magicman]

Many of our organized "hunting camps and deer clubs" require that the members kill a doe before they can take a buck.  That makes our season opening mornings very musical.

[doctorb]

Magic-

From the reading I have done, the number one problem with the use of public hunters to control any deer population is the reluctance and/or refusal of the hunters to take antlerless deer.  They hunt for trophies, which is understandable, and do not think it's very sporting to shoot a doe.  Our state, like many others, has varying rules about taking a doe befor shooting a buck, doe only seasons, etc..  These have not been sucessful in holding down the rapid rise and continued persistance of a large whitetail population.  While venison is loved by many, the rack on the wall still wins out over the dinner table.

[thecfarm]

Here in Maine there is something to do with doe permits and any deer permits. If you get a doe permit,that is all you are allowed to shot. I'm not a hunter,but hunting is allowed on mine land.

[Jeff]

Lynda just came into the cabin all excited. She just saw a wolf cross on to my property from Lou's. She knows what coyotes look like as we see them all the time. This was very large and very dark. Definitely a wolf.

[Claybraker]

From what I've read, generally you want to keep around 2-3 does for every buck, and the total population at 50-70% of the carrying capacity of the land. If the doe population gets much higher than that, the inferior bucks get a chance to breed, and if the population exceeds the carrying capacity, they'll over browse before they starve, causing a long term drop in the carrying capacity.

Not sure how accurate that is, but the guy that wrote the article had a Phd in Deer.

[Jeff]

Well, I'm here to bow hunt, and tonight is probably my last night to stay before I head back to Harrison, so I'm heading out with a little bit of trepidation since I didn't bring a handgun with me this trip. I don't have any issues with walking in my cedar thickets due to bears or coyotes, but wolves and cougars are a bit different in my way of thinking.

Oh well, its probably no different than it has been any other time out there other than Lynda happen to see him heading in right where I'm hunting tonight.

[SwampDonkey]

I have no doubt she saw the wolf. 

[SwampDonkey]

I was working a cut block a few years ago in BC. Staying on a boat off shore. The path to work was an old logging road growing in with red alder. Some of the crew were stalked a couple times. One time they were real close to it and ran like heck back to shore. That was the end of that nonsense for us.  >:(

Wolves however never bothered us and their were tracks many times near some of our camps, never heard as much as a squeak.

[Paul_H]

We were bothered by a cougar in Dec 79 on one of the last days on the cutblock.We were over a bluff,yarding uphill and we could hear an awful caterwauling below and it got closer and closer in spite of the noise and crashing the rigging was making.Late Dec,getting dark around 4:30 pm so we headed up to the landing because it was getting really close(100') and the three of us stayed side by side all the way up the hill.Nobody believed us until the next day when they saw the cougar tracks all over the landing. :
We would see wolves on the way to work sometimes in the South Creek area and hear them howling occasionally when all was quiet but they never came close enough for concern.

[isawlogs]

 I Would not be bothered by a wolf, but that cougar thing would get my attention.....  Big time 

[Magicman]

   I would be tempted to look back over my shoulder.

[doctorb]

I don't want to sound like I have spent my entire life in the great northwoods with these wild animals as partners in my paradise, becasue I have not, but predators are VERY, VERY good at weighing the risk / benefit of taking prey.  This is not the time of year that food is unavailable for wolves or cougars.  Such attacks when other food sources are plentiful and available would be considered very unusual.  They may watch you, even stalk you, (instinct) but you are large prey for them and, because of that, carry the risk of injury to them that they probably will not take, unless feeding their young or under starvation stress, IMO.  Many of us who have spent significant time in the northern wilds probably have no idea how many times we've been spied on by these predators.

[Shotgun]

I'd bet that Jeff would make a pretty tasty morsel though.   :D   Just think about it.  Pretty well fed, and entirely grit s  free.

Keep your eyes open, Jeff.     ;)

Norm

[Jeff]

I'd bet that Jeff would make a pretty tasty morsel though.

That's beyond a shadow of a doubt. ;D

Non-eventful evening other than I wish I would have had my movie camera ready rather than my bow.  a hawk of unknown species came flying down the powerline just below me at slow speed, in a parabolic type flight, the full length of the powerline. As it flew past me, it looked right over at me, and continued on. It had wide white bands on the top of the tail feathers. It was the size of a redtail, but It wasn't a redtail. So far I've not found anything online that was close to what I saw unless it was a a broad tail hawk.

[WDH]

You should have given it a good talking to like Dang did to that hawk yesterday  :D.

In Georgia, the deer season goes from the third week of October till the second week of January.  Does are legal any day of the season.  You can take 12 deer total, but no more than two bucks, and one must have four points on one side.  You can take 12 does.  The does definitely are more tasty than the rutty bucks.

[Mooseherder]

I never realized you could take that many.
You must have a real bad Deer over population.
That is a great State if your into hunting for sure.

[thecfarm]

WDH,How big are your deer? Kinda as big as a big dog? 80 pounds dressed? Ours are about 120 dressed for does.

[Paul_H]

Such attacks when other food sources are plentiful and available would be considered very unusual.  They may watch you, even stalk you, (instinct) but you are large prey for them and, because of that, carry the risk of injury to them that they probably will not take, unless feeding their young or under starvation stress, IMO.

Unusual but painful just the same.A friend of ours(80 at the time.) was was dragged down the stairs and had his leg torn open a few years back by a Black Bear.His dog got the bear off of him.
A faller I know was attacked by a Cougar in Pemberton and a woman jogger in the same town was attacked and bitten by a Bear as was a native indian on the reserve near us the same summer.My friend Bill in Squamish had a Racoon rip his hand apart about 15 years ago.
My Dad worked with a catskinner in Squamish that had his leg torn by a cougar and a section man for the railway was mauled and buried by a grizzly in the same town and era.(he lived but was seriously injured)
A man my cousin went to school with in central BC lost his 2 year old to a Black Bear right on his porch several years back.
Some fallers I knew well in Pemberton were harrassed by a black bear to the point of leaving the block about 10 years ago and straight across the valley from there at North Creek,two of our engineers were treed by a Grizzly while they attemped to lay out some road into a new block.
I believe attacks are not always reported and while they make one more cautious,they don't deter people from enjoying the woods.

[SwampDonkey]

I worked with a guy who was grabbed by the head and drug down through the woods. He and another guy were using a wildlife trail at work, that was a bear path. A grizzly. Basically that old bear was stalking them for days and finally made it's move. The guy lived and had a big scar across his cheek around to the back of his head. His cheek was ripped wide open. His partner took an axe to the bear and it took more than one crack for that old boy to let go.

Now you fellas are going to have nightmares. :D

[WDH]

Paul,

You never know.  You have to always pay attention when you are in wild country like yours.

Ray,

120 pounds dressed for a doe is a little big.  Maybe more like 100 pounds here for a fully mature doe.  The fully mature bucks, 3 1/2 years old or older, go over 200 pounds live weight.  Probably not as big as yours, but not small either.

We have a game camera set up on a big food plot on my property.  Over the last four nights, there were 180 pictures.  7 different bucks.  Bunch of deer for sure.  They like all the prescribed burning as it really promotes early successional plants that the deer like to eat.  We have a very good acorn crop this year, probably because of the oak's response to three years of drought stress. 

SD,

I cannot imagine being comfortable in Grizzly country.

[Magicman]

We have a massive acorn crop this year.  We do not have any food related stress factors, but with the acorn crop, they will really put on some weight.

[Paul_H]

This is a quote from Ron Scott in an earlier thread

I was attacked by a bob cat in the spring of 1957 in the western U.P. near the Michigan-Wisconsin border. Had my left hand chewed on, teeth went through my hand and tore the nail off my left index finger and my chest was scratched up.

A doctor in Phelps, Wisconsin did some stitching and gave me a shot for pain and possible infection. The story may be on here somewhere in an early thread. I somewhat provoked the attack though with a run in with a large female cat and 3 cubs.

That would have been a very intense encounter.

[Norm]

Just a couple of weeks ago they shot a cougar in a small town in Iowa. Someone spotted it in a wooded back yard and called the local police. What was kind of funny was they were waiting for animal control to show up but the cougar made a run for it and they shot it. Can you imagine trying to tranquilize a full size cougar....not me!

[chevytaHOE5674]

Here on the other end of da UP we seem to be over populated with deer the last few years. We've had a couple of easy winters with early springs and the deer population has just seemed to explode. Every night I go check on the cows and I see a minimum of 12 deer hanging out in the pastures, one night I counted 32 between 2 pastures.

Trouble is there are no doe tags being allowed for rifle season, only allowed 1 doe during archery season. I've invited everybody I know to come shoot a doe with their bow, but not too many archery hunt. So I'm meeting with the DNR about crop damage permits next week to see if we can take care of the problem.

[doctorb]

I think bear are a little different.  Grizzly are never to be approached.  Period.  They are destructive and life-threatening and aren't part of my comments above.  Black bears rarely attack humans, but encounters around houses and camps while they look for non-human food are the most common reason for human injury.  Black bears don't stalk and ambush humans.  In a sense, we ambush them by interupting whatever they are doing. Obviously, as seen above, mothers protecting their young don't need much provocation, regardless of species.

I agree that many attacks are unreported.  Cougars are different as well, Lots of stalking and suprise in their instinctive attacks. 

My belief, whether viewed as naive or not, is that if you keep your eyes open and make some noise while you go, the chance of a traumatic encounter with a predator is quite remote.

[beenthere]

My nephew lives close to the shooting of a mountain lion (cougar) in Iowa earlier this month.
This one anyway, as there may have been another. Pics in this link.

http://wqad.com/2012/10/04/mountain-lion-shot-by-des-moines-police/

[Claybraker]

WDH,How big are your deer? Kinda as big as a big dog? 80 pounds dressed? Ours are about 120 dressed for does.

Gotta brag on my home state.

Deer were almost extinct in Georgia around 1900. They were limited to a few small pockets here and there, mostly on the coast. Those deer are real small body sized. The first efforts at restocking involved capturing them to relocate within the state. That led to the development of the tranquilizer gun.

Later, they figured out it was cheaper to buy deer from areas they were plentiful and easier to trap, so many of the deer in Georgia have Wisconsin genetics, a much larger body size than our original native deer.

It's really amazing to look at what we had for a deer herd in 1900, basically none, and what we've got now.

[Paul_H]

  Black bears don't stalk and ambush humans.

http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/lone-predatory-black-bears-responsible-most-human-attacks?page=full

Read the book by Dr Herrero,it's a great read not meant to strike fear but to educate.My wife worked a season for him back in the 80's in the lab examining bear scat.He rewarded her by taking her along during the winter when they pulled a sow and cubs from a den and weighed and collered themSomewhere she has a pic of her holding the cub to keep it warm.

[doctorb]

Paul _H-

Interesting stuff.  here's a portion of the article....

"The study examined 59 fatal encounters between black bears and humans in Alaska, Canada and the Lower 48 during the 110 years ending in 2009. Some 88 percent of the 63 deaths were caused by a bear that exhibited predatory behavior, and 92 percent of these predatory black bears were male.

Of the total fatalities, five occurred in Alaska and 44 in Canada, with only 14 spread among the Lower 48 states -- including several states with thousands of black bears and millions of residents. 

"There were 3.5 times as many fatal attacks in Canada and Alaska, but there were only 1.75 times as many black bears and much less human contact (due to fewer people in black bear habitat) for black bears in Canada and Alaska," wrote Herrero and four other authors.

We speculate that many black bears in Canada and Alaska had less contact with people because the human population is about 10 percent of the population in the Lower 48 states. Most black bear populations in Canada had far less hunting pressure. Also many black bears in Canada or Alaska existed in less productive and less diverse habitat with periodic food stress, perhaps predisposing some bears to consider people as prey. All, some, or none of the foregoing factors may have contributed to the greater proportion of fatal attacks in Canada and Alaska versus the Lower 48 states."

So there were 59 recorded fatal attacks by black bears in a total of 110 years in the North American continent, with only 14 of those occuring in the U.S.  I think your chances with a black bear are pretty good.

[SwampDonkey]

Like I have said before about black bears. They are different in their behaviour in remote areas versus areas of lots of settlement and human activity. I've seen both ends of the spectrum.  Can't just go grouping statistics on these bears in one big pot and from your 2nd and 3rd paragraphs it becomes more obvious. ;) I've encountered remote area black bears that were not one bit afraid and we made noises at them like bear banger caps going off and they were more curious than scared. :D At one camp, a tent camp that we call a fly camp, we had a 12 gauge on hand. And yup we used it. When your camped on a remote creek it's only a matter of time. And all refuge was kept burnt and buried

[chevytaHOE5674]

Just UP the road from here there used to be an ice cream shop. Out back they had a 4' tall chain link fence that connected to the building on one end and was just open to their lawn on the other. The big attraction to the place was you would buy an ice cream cone and feed it to the bears through the fence (nothing stopping them from going over or around the fence). In all the stories I've heard and my experiences there nobody was ever threatened by the bears. They were forced to close down because the DNR said they were "illegally baiting the bears". I miss that place...

That said I work/live/play outside almost everyday in an area that is populated by bobcats, bears, wolves, coyotes, cougars, etc. I go about my live and don't worry myself with the thought of being attacked. I'd rather enjoy my time outside than be constantly frightened if I'm going to be attacked.

I figure I'm much more likely to die in a car accident if I spent my time driving, than I am to get attacked by something in the woods...

[Paul_H]

Excellent post Swampdonkey and it's the point I was trying to make to DrB.
I had a bear bother me for 10 long minutes in the bush while working in the early spring.We were logging and I got the bears attention while he was a ways off but he kept coming until were within 15-20 feet.I had to stand my ground and he challenged me over and over,Then he turned,walked a few feet and challenged me again.
He knew exactly what he was doing in that encounter.

[Paul_H]

I should add that while were were living in Mt Currie,we would almost daily have encounters with bears in our yard between June through Nov because of the fruit trees.We had to take action once in awhile but rarely.Being too close to a bear with a bad attitude will get the blood pumping and clear the sinuses quickly.

[doctorb]

My read on all this is that we're not that far apart in our opinions.  I think we agree that each incident must be treated with respect.

[Jeff]

All I know is, that I have respect for anything that has the ability to treat me as lunch.

[Paul_H]

I have respect also for anyone that treats me to lunch ;D

[Sprucegum]

My daughter-in-law asked me why I shoot the bears that come into camp. I told  her its because they don't take the one chance I give them to run away. The ones that run immediately are free to go - just don't stop and look back.

[VT_Forestry]

I'd bet that Jeff would make a pretty tasty morsel though.

That's beyond a shadow of a doubt. ;D

Non-eventful evening other than I wish I would have had my movie camera ready rather than my bow.  a hawk of unknown species came flying down the powerline just below me at slow speed, in a parabolic type flight, the full length of the powerline. As it flew past me, it looked right over at me, and continued on. It had wide white bands on the top of the tail feathers. It was the size of a redtail, but It wasn't a redtail. So far I've not found anything online that was close to what I saw unless it was a a broad tail hawk.

Maybe a red-shouldered hawk? 

[terry f]

    The chance of being killed by a wolf or cougar in the lower 48 is a little higher than being killed by a hummingbird, and a lot less than being killed by a bee. That being said, its still a little unsettling when you see one, just for the fact they could eat you and not much you could do about it.

[beenthere]

And all refuge was kept burnt and buried

Oh no, SD

You burnt the refuge?  Tent and all?

[chevytaHOE5674]

and a lot less than being killed by a bee.

Funny you mention bee's. This summer a forester buddy of mine was out marking timber when he stepped on an underground bees nest. He got stung and swelled up and couldn't move, luckily he had cell phone service he was somehow able to dial 911 and they located him VIA the phones GPS. He thought he wasn't allergic to bee stings but apparently when you get stung by hundreds of them your in for trouble. 

[Den Socling]

I may have told this story before. I was riding a mountain bike down a steep, twisty trail. I was looking down at the ground for rocks. I happened to glance ahead and saw that I was about to run into a sow Black Bear with three cubs. She was standing and kind of rocking side to side. I just about wet my pants as I slid to a stop. The cubs went up trees. The sow dropped down to all fours and continued her rocking. I picked up the bike and held it between us. I don't know what that was supposed to do but she didn't attack. I backed uphill until I rounded a turn and she was out of sight. I waited a long time before resuming my decent. There is no doubt in my mind that I was very close to being a statistic - very rare or not.

[terry f]

    Statistics are all good, until you become one. I don't think anyone has been killed in the lower 48 by a wolf, but I don't want to be the first. I don't think anyone has been killed by a cougar in Oregon, but I think a mountain biker or bow hunter will be the first, both being quiet and hard to identify.

[chevytaHOE5674]

    Statistics are all good, until you become one. I don't think anyone has been killed in the lower 48 by a wolf, but I don't want to be the first. I don't think anyone has been killed by a cougar in Oregon, but I think a mountain biker or bow hunter will be the first, both being quiet and hard to identify.

So you worry about being wolf or cougar food every time you go to the woods?

Every time you turn the key on your car do you worry about dieing?

One of those scenarios is much more likely to happen than the other. Both are just risks of life that we have to accept should we choose to participate in the respective activities. IMO.

[Jeff]

So you worry about being wolf or cougar food every time you go to the woods?

I certainly don't, but then again I think it stupid to be oblivious to the fact they are there. I went ahead and went bow hunting with out a sidearm and wasn't a bit fearful, but at the same time I was alert and honestly wishing I'd see the wolf, but knew it was already probably miles away. I'm more wary in the woods in the spring than in the fall, as in the spring mama bears and cubs are out and I go places where I could easily run into one.

[terry f]

   Never think twice about it chevy, if I walk through the woods I'm looking for critters and at trees. Wolves are new to us (I've never seen one), but you'd be suprised at what you walk by every day. Look at this cabbage trail cam, you could probably walk that area every day for a year and never see those animals, but you know they are there. When my trail cam gets a guy with a hockey mask and a machete, then I'll worry.

[Paul_H]

So you worry about being wolf or cougar food every time you go to the woods?

I don't but keep in mind what to do if and when.Sometimes to retreat and other times to stand.
Going to the dentist scares me and now apparently we got to watch out for hummingbirds too. ;)

[SwampDonkey]

apparently we got to watch out for hummingbirds too. ;)

I sure do in the summer. They buzz my hard hat. I have to wear eye protection. ;D

[Mooseherder]

I'm not in the woods often, but when I am.......I make plenty of noise.

Nice Cedar btw. ;D

[Magicman]

I startled a mama black bear with two cubs last year and was easily within 5 yards of them.  The sow woofed and the two cubs instantly hopped up on the side of a tree, just hung there.  The sow was then really upset because the cubs were with me and not her.  She was popping and woofing big time. 

This ole Southern Redneck Country Boy that knows nothing about bears started talking and backing down the trail and putting some distance between them and me.

[Paul_H]

There was a fella from Tennesee that could grin them down.

[Ron Scott]

Bear Kills Contracted Employee

A contracted tree thinner of 10 years for the Sitka Ranger District was killed by a brown bear last week. The investigation into the attack started Oct. 14 when a vessel spotted an unattended, beached skiff. When the boaters went ashore to investigate, a brown bear sow and two cubs behaved aggressively toward them. When authorities arrived they found a campsite with evidence of a struggle. A trail of disturbed vegetation and articles of clothing led responders to what appeared to be a brown bear cache that contained the tree thinner's remains.

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