Big follow-up

[The Tiny Fisherman]

You have the wolves killing all of the deer and now the bear are after the muskies. Flambeau Fluffy and I were out muskie fishing and we had this follow-up. Who knows what's next, the moose after the loons?

Talk about a great weekend and to be able to see this big bear.

Catch the big one,

[George]

What a great set of pictures. Hope you had a good zoom on your lens so those pictures aren't as closeup as they appear!

Excuse me Mr. Warden...would you mind checking the length on that fish? ;)

[Mark Benson]

Tiny Fisherman:

Great stuff, that is a nice bear!!!

Mark

[beelzebob]

I hope that one swings by my bait for a visit. I have never been in a place that had so many bears running around, I've seen 3 this spring and they aren't shy about coming right on in to camp. I've been keeping a very clean camp as a result, but I think they smell the Schlitz and are powerless to resist.

[The Tiny Fisherman]

Thanks for the replies,

I got a bear kill tag this year, so hope this is a good sign. This is the second bear I've seen in the last few weeks.

Ya George, I was ways off from this big boy. My camera has a pretty good zoom 10x optical and 24x digital. This picture will show how far away we were.

Have a great day,

[George G]

Hi Tiny, I was up the week after Memorial Day and I saw deer swimming, had conversation with the new ranger and he had just seen the day before a bear and a deer swimming on the flowage. Unusal for me but got to see it and it was great.

[George]

Good zoom on that camera Tiny. Always a good idea to give those critters a wide berth!

[lund1700]

My dad and I were drifting on the flowage when we saw a bear on shore and we were drifting to it. The bear saw us and started swimming after us! I got it on tape and put the vid on youtube. In the end we caught a sucker and feed it to the bear "barney" and it was happy.

Here is the url to the video the bear is about 10ft away! It is about 2min into the video. I also have some other videos of the TFF.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSQwlIeADdw

[micropterus dolomieu]

We saw a bear in Merkle Lake during our visit last week, with the bear swimming from one island to another about 50 yards away. Another bear came right onto the resort property and peeked in a few of the cabin windows.

[George]

Great pictures guys! Love the video especially with those potentially famous last words...Let him get closer Dad!;)

[BlueRanger]

I can understand what made Lund1700 and his dad want to let that encounter with the bear continue as long as possible and capture it all on video. At the time, I'm sure it seemed like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Unfortunately, other people have to share the TFF with that bear after they went home.

Watching a bear while it's minding its own business is one thing, but if it starts to approach you, you need to immediately do everything you can to make sure it leaves with its tail between its legs and doesn't try again. Bears are quick learners, and "Barney" got the wrong lesson from that encounter. The last thing TFF residents and campers need is a bear that isn't afraid of people and regards them as a source of food. They were safe in the boat, but think about what's going to happen if that bear walks into somebody's campsite and they can't scare it away. I've had it happen, and believe me, it can really ruin a trip, not to mention a lot of expensive gear. People need to remember that this isn't a petting zoo. Bears that lose their fear of people end up having to be relocated or killed.

[Mark Benson]

I watched a couple of black bears in a documentary on the discovery Channel destroy a minivan in about twenty minutes looking for food. The scientist was inside a protective glass bubble watching it happen and was quite concerned about his safety. Barney would have tried to get into the boat if he had caught up to it. Lund1700, not only will that bear make it miserable for someone else, but your experience could have been a much bigger calamity had you allowed it closer. Was there any consideration to it being a sow with cubs that you never saw??? I have seen a sow charge a man that was less than 200 lbs and while he was lucky... My two cents...

Mark