Mermaids JUJU

I usually leave the hunting to the hubby. I go with him, on the hikes, to the camp, and I participate, but the actual hunting I have done, but don’t enjoy that part so much.

We have some recreational property that we love to facilitate in the Summer months. But there are bears up there. Some of the bears have become a problem in neighboring camps, and the population of them has out numbered what the local Department of Natural Resources considers acceptable. Therefore, this hunt.

It happens in the early Summer, you start a week before the hunt opens and if you have drawn a tag to hunt them, you establish a bait site, where you leave all kinds of old food, to attract the bears into the designated sight.

Bears love donuts! When donuts are old they have a pretty pungent sweet smell. And they have an excellent sense of smell, Bears are thought to have the best sense of smell of any animal on earth. For example, the average dog’s sense of smell is 100 times better than a humans. A blood hound’s is 300 times better. A bear’s sense of smell is 7 times better than a blood hound’s or 2,100 times better than a human.

We have set up game cameras to gauge the amount and the size, and possibly the biggest bear, that is coming around, and see what the habits of the bears are. So far, we have seen about a half dozen bears, ranging in sizes and colors. My husband would like to harvest a light colored bear.

So opening weekend of the bear hunt and they are up there in a tree stand waiting for the bears to come in. The only bear that came in to the bait sight was the cute little baby bear that we have named Goldilocks because of the light blonde coat he has. Can’t possibly shoot that one, he’s too small and we have become attached. Almost as if he is our pet bear.

See how darling this little bear is?? So they watched this little guy come in and gorge himself on all the sweets that we left to attract all the bears in the canyon.

My son had to go home Sunday morning, and the hubbs and I are left in camp by ourselves to hunt bears. Not part of the plan!!! I don’t want to be the one thirty feet up a tree on a seat that is worse than any coach seat in a plane. (The seat in the tree is actually comparable to the jump seats that the flight attendants sit in for take off and landing.) I don’t mind sitting still, I am , by nature, a calm quiet sort. That’s not the part I mind… The thoughts of  a bear wanting to share the tree stand with us is what I worry about. In this situation I’m sure I would lose my natural calm and also my bladder function.

But I went with him. I faced my fears and sat there for 6 hours. Watching the squirrels.

Scott was so proud of me he took this picture of us. I actually love this picture!! And the night was uneventful so I was saved from losing control of my bodily functions.

So far the big bears have not come in except in the middle of the night and early morning hours, and so the hunt goes on. I will have to follow up with a post on the hunt if he happens to get one to come in at the right time and is able to harvest a bear.