Went Hiking Today in New Hampshire and ended up Killing a Bear with my Hiking Stick (Newton: live, law)
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Well actually, it was an old ski pole that I use as a hiking pole.
This is simply un-flippin believable.
I feel like the luckiest person on the face of the planet right now.
I am also still very shaken up, so please don’t mind if I misspell or fat-finger a few words here. My hand are still shaking a bit and I am still trying to absorb the highlights of this event
It began like any other hiking trip. Me, the pack, the dog, and of course my hiking stick
I have several hiking sticks, some that I made, some store bought, some that were giving to me, and one that I found.
The trip today was one that we’ve done before. In fact, the reason I picked it was because I noticed that we had done the same hike the year before with my son and daughter in law.
I thought that it would be a great way for me to commemorate the day since they have now moved out of state and we haven’t seen each other since.
As I put on my pack on at the bottom of Mt. Israel, in Sandwich, NH. Hannah, my two yO cocker spaniel was already headed up the trail. She usally runs back and forth in front of me so I don’t pay much attention if I don’t see her for a minute or two.
I remembered a few spots from last year and also that the trail seemed a bit narrower then most. There were the typical man made “swales” that the AMC, (Appalachian Mountain Club) had built to direct running rain water off the trail, and the 3 gigantic boulders that seem as if they would be rolling down the mountain side at any minute.
But then at about mile 1.7, we entered a raspberry grove that didn’t “ring a bell.”
It was a small grove, about an acre or so and I didn’t pay much attention except to notice the extra sunlight and the absence of raspberries.
There were spots that looked like something had lay down and rolled over here and there, but I see this kind of stuff all the time in the woods
Hannah was either ahead or behind me, but I wasn’t worried and figured she’d pop up in a minute or two.
Now this is the part that scared the crap out of me and why I will NEVER, EVER, EVER, FORGET this day.
As I got to the end of the raspberry grove, I started to hear what I thought could only be Hannah, crashing through the bushes and coming my way.
I glanced in the direction of the rustling bushes and whispered, Hannah, Hannah, Hannah, as I usually do.
But it wasn’t Hannah.
What emerged from the brush was the most frightening thing I have ever seen in the woods in my life, and it was coming at me, “Full Steam Ahead!”
I knew that I only had a second, but for some reason time slowed way down. Maybe it was so that my mind could calculate the situation at hand. Or, may be just a cruel trick of the mind to let me see how I was going to meet my maker. For what ever reason, I didn’t dwell on it until later that day.
I remember vividly, seeing the animal raise up right in front of me and let out a snort as it left the ground in my direction. “The circus bears,” for some reason is what I thought, as instinct took over and I stepped back while raising my ski pole towards the beast.
Then, I felt the point stop as if it had hit a tree trunk; and it began to push back.
I tumbled backwards to the ground just as a huge paw came swinging by. Claws extended and coming so close that I could feel the breeze as it passed by my face at the speed of light. I felt my backpack hit the grassy ground and the handle of my ski pole squeeze between my right side and my arm.
Now, the bear was directly over head, the height of my ski pole, and I was only four feet from certain death
This is it! This is how it’s going to end I thought. OMG! I hope it doesn’t hurt. I hope It doesn’t eat me alive! Please Lord, don’t let this drag out.
And just as that thought entered my mind, something gave way. I felt the ski pole loosen, as if a great weight had been released from it.
I guess you could call it, “that sinking feeling.” because that’s just what it was.
Newton’s 3rd Law I guess they call it. "Every action has an equal and opposite reaction."
In this case. A 400 pound Black Bear and 400 pounds of gravity, balanced on the end of a pointed stick, resting on top of a 6,600,000,000,000,000,000,000, Ton planet.
I rolled to the left and felt the weight of the Bear fall onto my legs.
And that my friend’s was the last thing I remembered before blacking out.
It was Hannah’s warm tongue that woke me, and I remember thinking that my legs were
trapped.
In a daze, I tried to remember what had happened. Did I slip and fall off a ledge? Was I shot by a hunter? Why can’t I move my legs?
And just then I realized, “why God gave dogs ”Wet Tongues” and “Bad Breath.” Whew!
It was all clear now. The hike, the raspberry patch, the Bear, and all that happen. And! How lucky I was that day
As I squirmed out from under the weight of the bear I thought, “No one will ever believe this.
So I pulled out my camera and shot this picture, so you all wouldn’t think that I was pulling your leg. >>>>Here’s the Proof>>>> Image of Dead Bear - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting
Wow, those bears in Sandwich sound nasty! The last time I ran into a black bear while picking raspberries, he just kinda looked me up and down, and then lumbered off. I think he was more startled to see me than I was to see him!
Well ! Did you ever stop to think that MAYBE, the bear had Iron Poor Blood? Huh! Did you? Geeeze.
Actually, not if he had just eaten all those raspberries:
Raspberries contain significant amounts of polyphenolantioxidants such as anthocyaninpigments linked to potential health protection against several human diseases[5]. The aggregate fruit structure contributes to its nutritional value, as it increases the proportion of dietary fiber, placing it among plant foods with the highest fiber contents known, up to 20% fiber per total weight. Raspberries are a rich source of vitamin C, with 30 mg per serving of 1 cup (about 50% daily value), manganese (about 60% daily value) and dietary fiber (30% daily value). Contents of B vitamins 1-3, folic acid, magnesium, copper and iron are considerable in raspberries[6]
My last run-in with a bear was several years ago when a big huge bruiser ripped a hole in our wooden garage door so he could get inside and forage through our trash.
Is this your dog? Seems too shaggy to be a Cocker...
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/db/Alf2.jpg (broken link)
(Public domain image)
Hmmmmmm. Could be. Ask her if she found a unconsious man laying under a Bear anywhere.
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