Bill Draves reports that he was canoeing on the Presque Isle
River, north of Marenisco, on August 31st, where he had incredible encounters
with black bears---and lived to tell the tale. Here’s his story, in his own words:
“As I paddled on the Presque Isle River, I saw some bear
cubs up a tree. I canoed further and
then saw what I thought were the same bear cubs on the other side of the river
up in a tree. This was wonderful. I haven’t seen bears ever while canoeing.
“So I turn around to go back. And once again I saw the two
bear cubs, this time with the mother bear, up in another tree. I’m taking photos. I’m trying out my new telephoto lens camera
Julie gave me a few weeks ago for her birthday.
The big black areas in the two photos are bears.
“And then the mother bear sees me. And she runs down the tree, face first,
straight down this thirty foot tree in about two seconds. And then I hear her breathing. This causes me to shut down the artsy side of
my brain, and to activate the archioallium part of my brain, the primitive part
that deals with self preservation and aggression.
“I now remember the river is only six inches deep, that bears can also swim, and that mother
bears are not dangerous unless they are protecting their cubs. I am now thinking
fight or flight. In this situation,
flight certainly seems to be the best choice. So I start madly paddling down the river, away from the bears.
“And now I’m fine, except I look to the other side of the
river next to me and there are more bears up in a tree. These are different
bears. More bears. With more mother bears wanting to protect her
cubs. I’ve never seen so many bears. I realize I am in the middle of a bear
convention.
(In a clarifying email, Bill tells us that despite the
possible exaggerations just above, he knows he was close to at least five
different bears in eight sightings in four different trees. He also thanks us all for letting him “bare
his soul” to us. )