Bearwood

Yesterday, after spending a few weeks away from Deerwood, it was nice to get back to some sugar maple milling with my brother-in-law, Scott. He helped me sort through some milling details which will make for much better cutting in the future. Thanks, Scott!

Anyhoo, I took a break from milling to grab a sandwich. As I walked back to the milling area, I surprised a big momma bear with three baby bears at the edge of the clearing. These curious bears were eating insects from a decayed log momma bear had clawed into. The bears, about 20 metres away, looked at me and I at them.

I put my hands up into the air and hollered, "WHHHHOOOOOOO!"

Momma and two of the black bear cubs skedaddled 180 degrees into the forest ridge while the brown cub ran sidelong into some bush.

Seeing as the most dangerous bear is a mother bear with threatened cubs, I decided to backtrack slowly - away from the separated brown cub - and give the bears some space for a while.

Now the official bear count is five in Deerwood: Momma, three cubs, and a two or three year old bear about the size of a large Rottweiler dog. Looks like I'm gonna become a full-time forest yodeller now, boy.