General Discussion Thread

[viola]

Not into the trailer, thank gods. But into the fenced area surrounding the trailer, yes. We had to call site security to chase it away with air horns. :Va

Oh, and one time I was delayed from coming through the security gate for like half an hour because there was a bear hanging around there. Good times. ;p

One time I went camping and a bear got into the girls showers.

[Juniper]

Ah man, I don't have any fun bear stories except when I lived by Lake Superior one time a bear was in a tree somewhere in town so they had to close down the road and get the DNR to come get it and re-release it back into the woods, that was like six years ago. We only get black bears in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and they're usually not that aggressive so in that case I was more worried about the bear than anything and glad for its sake that it got put back out in the woods.

I do have the much more exciting story of how one time a moose broke into one of the laundry rooms for the dormitories. Poor thing was wandering around campus and saw its reflection in a window and decided to fight itself and wound up inside the laundry room. That was years ago though before I even went to that school so I wasn't there for that incident . . I also hope that moose was alright because crashing through a glass window with screens and metal frames would be painful even for a moose probably.

[Sunflower]

Three swedes are moving into the barracks today....

I will try not to compare them with emil.

Regardless this makes 8 americans 1 texan 1 australian and now 3 swedes living on the same compound.... and the state forestry crew hasn't even started their season yet.

Ooh!  Will they be tall, golden-haired, and good-looking?  Can you ask 'em how many toes they have?   

[Laufey]

I've seen bears at a distance several times, but Finnish bears are quite harmless as long as you let them know you're around (the guards on this video were on the wrong side of the wind so the bear didn't notice them until they began to make noise) and you don't end up between a mum bear and a cub. The moose however...

[Helia]

I would have had a heart attack if I found myself so close to a bear 
The thought of seeing a bear freaks me out; I plan to spend my holiday in Slovakia and all I can read about the High Tatras is how the bears are wreacking havoc in villages even in broad daylight.

[Yuuago]

Yeahhh, generally bears are not so bad, they just want to be let alone. But it's typical for them to wander within city limits here (there have been reports of people coming home and finding one sleeping on the porch, for example) so sometimes one comes across them accidentally, and that can cause problems.

And somebody was killed by one here a few years ago, so people have taken to being extra careful - especially now, because the wildfires have caused them to come into human areas more than usual, due to being displaced. D:

[urbicande]

One time I went camping and a bear got into the girls showers.

Was it at least a female bear?

[viola]

Was it at least a female bear?

I have no idea, and I don't think anyone else thought to check

[urbicande]

I have no idea, and I don't think anyone else thought to check

Because a male bear in the women's shower...that would be bad.

[Kiraly]

Hehe...these bear stories remind me of a time when I was a kid and my family went camping. A black bear broke into a nearby cabin (while they were gone) and ate all their food. We found this out because some other people saw it and came over to tell us, so a group of us ended up standing around outside the cabin, watching the bear pop up in the windows with different food in its mouth. Then a young couple thought it would be a great idea to get a picture of themselves standing next to the window where the bear was (not, like, right next to it, but probably closer than was wise). So they stood near the window and waited for the bear to show up, and my mom waited with a camera pointed at them. Well. The bear didn't pop up, and after waiting for a while my dad wandered around to the other side of the cabin...where the bear was looking out another window, and saw him. It got scared and bolted out the front window. So now we have a souvenir photo from that vacation of a bear plunging out a window, and the arm and leg of a random stranger running away from it.  :'D

...and I'm not sure if this was the same vacation or not (we went to this campsite several times) but when I was a kid I was scared of walking all the way to the outhouse by myself because I was worried about bears. My dad decided it was a great idea to scratch on the door of the outhouse and make bear sounds. I was not amused.

[urbicande]

food in its mouth. Then a young couple thought it would be a great idea to get a picture of themselves standing next to the window where the bear was (not, like, right next to it, but probably closer than was wise). So they stood near the

These are the same sorts of people who take bison selfies and get gored at Yellowstone 

[Kiraly]

These are the same sorts of people who take bison selfies and get gored at Yellowstone 

Right? I don't know what they were thinking, but even as a kid I remember thinking "this is a really bad idea."

[urbicande]

Right? I don't know what they were thinking, but even as a kid I remember thinking "this is a really bad idea."

Just reading the stuff that goes on in Yellowstone and Grand Teton NP makes me want to close them off for a few months until people can learn to be smarter.

[Iceea]

Ah man, I don't have any fun bear stories except when I lived by Lake Superior one time a bear was in a tree somewhere in town so they had to close down the road and get the DNR to come get it and re-release it back into the woods, that was like six years ago. We only get black bears in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and they're usually not that aggressive so in that case I was more worried about the bear than anything and glad for its sake that it got put back out in the woods.

From the times I vacationed on the UP I remember going to the town dump on Saturday night to watch the bears come by to see what was for dinner...

[Tr]

Just reading the stuff that goes on in Yellowstone and Grand Teton NP makes me want to close them off for a few months until people can learn to be smarter.

Agreed. This sort of stuff is what caused my friends and I to create what we call the Law of Human Stupidity:
If it is possible to do something that is really stupid, then someone somewhere will do it.