Last night around 8 pm: Bob says that he hears some noises coming from the laundry area. Our thought is that perhaps an ermine has found its way into the house through a pipe. We are carefully looking around and then suddenly Inde starts barking (Inde never barks) and Bob turns to look out the side door window into the face of a big brown bear! It was scratching at the door and then stuck its head into the dog door. We make a mad dash for the guns and some bullets. At this point the bear came around to the porch and started pawing and slobbering on the windows. Inde was able to get a look at the nature of the commotion and boy was she scared! Bob went upstairs to shoot the gun out the back door but it had little effect. The bear came back to the side door and stood up and began to push and shake the door (which we had just locked for the first time). After a few more shots the bear actually headed to the back door towards Bob. At this point we noticed there was another smaller bear in front of the house too. This one was scared away by the gunshots. Bob and I switched places and he shot from the side door while I monitored the bears actions from the upstairs door. The bear was scratching the window and trying to chew on the window sill. It was amazing to see the bear inches away from my face! Then it headed away from the house to the chicken coop and began to try and tear down the fencing to the outdoor run. I yelled to Bob, who came running upstairs and shot the gun towards the bear. No matter, he proceeded to collapse the side of the chicken run. Bob now had to take real aim at the bear and struck it in the backside with bird shot. It jumped up and took off running.
We went outside and down to the beach to do a full reconnaissance. No other damage. According to their tracks the bears headed away on the beach in opposite directions. We came back to the house and let Inde out. She had to do a full inspection as well and did not want to come back inside. She wouldn't eat dinner and all day today she has been on edge and is currently on guard out on the porch. I don't think I have ever seen her so protective, I wasn't sure she had it in her!
3 comments:
Scary!! I'm glad you guys were safe. Sounds like you knew exactly what to do and kept your cool. AND still thought to grap a camera to document the excitement. Kudos to Bob's trigger finger. bang! bang!
speaking of awakening i had dream the night before you sent the email out about the bear...you called me and sounded really sad and said "liz, i just wanted to call to tell you good-bye." and i asked why and you just said "its been really good knowing you." and i tried asking what was going on and you hung-up - then i guess i woke up from that dream into another one where i was walking around with lil trying to figure out what this dream i had of you meant ...and then i woke up for real- and later that morning got the email about your bear visitor - anyway to tie it all up - please don't let any bears eat you. no need to turn my dreams into reality. and word on m's grateful thoughts towards bob's itchy trigger finger...sometimes boys and their guns do come in handy
I'm glad you're prepared for wilderness living, and what beautiful photographs you have posted. Thank you for sharing your experiences on this blog, and I'm looking forward to seeing more.
Post a Comment