A little bit of caution and a whole lot of luck

Sadie

I can't recall many "Oh, sh*t," moments in my life. I do believe most of them came about during winter driving. However, my most recent "Oh, sh*t" moment happened Christmas Eve while walking in the woods with the dogs. 

For about a week before Christmas Eve, Gus was excitedly exploring some timbered treetops along our route. In one area, he stopped and barked.

I kind of ignored his barking for a while and called him back to the path. I figured it was a deer bedded down in the tree branches that he couldn't get to.

On Christmas Eve, I decided to go check out what he was fussing about. I was a little concerned that it could have been a porcupine and didn't want him to get into trouble.

​I climbed the bank and went over to the downed trees. I held the dogs off just in case there was some kind of critter in there. 

There was a large hole formed in the branches. I peered in, but not too close.
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Just I as I stated, "Gus, I don't see anything," a bear head appeared on the other side of the hole.

It actually took me a few seconds to recognize that it was a bear. It had never crossed my mind that was what Gus was barking at. I would have never gone anywhere near the area or let Gus there either. 

I was way too close for comfort and being in the timbered area, there wasn't any great escape path. 
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"Oh, sh*t.... no, no, no. We have got to go!" I exclaimed.

I quickly gathered the dogs and back down the path toward our trail. Thankfully, there was no attack.

​There was no growling and no pursuit after us by the bruin. 

We avoided the area for the next few days.

​Nonetheless, my curiosity and stubbornness of not wanting to shorten our walks, led us back to the area.

Gus went into the vicinity. He was using his nose but was not as excited as the time before.

​I have trouble deciphering the difference between squirrel excitement and bear excitement.

He went to the den but was just sniffing around. I guessed that the bear vacated the den in search of a quieter area to hibernate.
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This incident made me recall how the canines acted on the day after the incident.

​On our Christmas Day walk, the dogs were increasingly interested in trailing something onto neighboring posted property.

​I surmised that said bear moved into an area where we don't traverse. This was a win-win situation for all involved.

Gus Gus

I marked the area of the bear den for future reference.

The late Kyle (black and white) and the late Kennedy.

The Christmas Eve event was a close call, but it was not the norm.

I have been walking dogs daily for at least 15 years. This broke down into 5,475 days, give or take a few for a couple of skipped walks.

​I could count on 10 fingers the times that we have run into or experienced bear sightings. A good number of them were in our own backyard. Some didn't even involve the dogs, but mostly the bird feeder. 
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Thanks to an alert neighbor, we avoided a situation that probably would have been more than an "Oh, sh*t," moment several years ago.

​The dogs, goats and I were headed across the field toward home. My mom summoned us from her back door and said the neighbor across the road warmed her about a bear in our yard.

​Even though it was during daylight hours, the bruin was snacking on a suet feeder and couldn't be spooked off. We could have really been in trouble, as from the angle I would not have seen the bear and would have sauntered unknowingly into the area with two dogs and two goats.

Thankfully the bear left, and we returned home. However, upon entering the yard, the late great Kyle, immediately alerted to the bear's scent. Kyle had seen bears before in the yard and wasn't happy.

​I think if Kyle had been on our Christmas Eve walk this year, I definitely would have been alerted to the presence of a bear in the near vicinity. 

The late Buford

Coyote

Fisher

Fisher

Coyote

Over the years, there was one time the dogs treed a bear. I called them back and the bear left. This was back when the late Buford was on the trail.

Sadie

When we first got Sadie, the Newfoundland, I kept having to remind myself that I had a black furry dog and I wasn't seeing a bear. However, on one walk, I saw something black ahead and thought, "What is Sadie doing up there? She was behind me." Upon further observation, I exclaimed, "Oops, not Sadie." It was a smaller bear fleeing from my rambunctious posse of pets.  

Fisher tracks with dog remote for scale

We've been pretty lucky as far as wildlife encounters over the years. Perhaps that may have been due more to some divine intervention than luck. While trail cameras picked up coyotes, foxes, fishers and more. We don't usually see them.

​To date, we have never run across a coyote even though their tracks often cross our paths. Recently I spotted some fisher tracks. However, tracks were the only thing we saw of the critter. We may have seen the tail end of a fox or two over the years as they hightailed it out of our way. 

Mostly we encounter deer. The dogs are not allowed to pursuit deer. I don't wish to have to travel to the next county to locate my wayward canines. They have been instructed to "stay" over the years.

Nonetheless, one year a small buck was bedded down right were we entered the woodline. Of course, instinctively the dogs were ready to go. I yelled, "No." Everybody stopped, including the buck. I told the dogs to "stay" and instructed the buck to slowly leave the area.

​Surprisingly he listened. He swished his tail and cautiously walk away.

Gus and Clem

I wished I could have said this would work for all wildlife situations. However, I am more of a realist than that. 

The moral of this story is to be alert and aware. One should also be very cautious. Most importantly, one shouldn't trust Gus.

​That's just the nature of things 'round here.