Hi, sorry I haven't been able to write but the system has been down for two days. So while you have been waiting for me to write I have been going through bear training. I started the whole training giving a bear biology lesson to all the new summer staff. I think I did all right and I got no negative feedback from the boss so I guess that was good.
Next up was bear behaviors. We spent two hours learning about the expressions, sounds and moves a bear makes and what causes them. I thought I would share some cool facts and some facts that may help keep you alive. Cool facts first: #1 cubs when they are nursing actually purr like a cat only very loudly. It was pretty cool to listen to and I hope I get to hear it in person but not too close. Second cool fact, bears are attracted to anything made of plastic, rubber or foam, especially the sub adults which are bears that are separated from thier mothers but haven't reached sexual maturity yet. Females reach maturity at 5 years of age and males at 6. It is common for the sub adults to chew on the tires of the float planes. Which I think is kind of funny but it is not funny to the pilots as tires cost $3,500 a piece. Male bears have a certain walk called a cowboy walk, think of John Wayne, which they use to impress females and other males.
If a bear yawns it doesn't necessarily mean it's tired, bears will yawn if they are under stress. It is the first sign you need to watch for. If you see that happening you need to move away. Bears level of agression has stages. First will be yawning, then they make a houghing sound, next they will do a hop charge, which is a small hop on their front legs, then there is the bluff charge, which is,a bear will actually run towards you but stop just short of you. His ears will be layed back and he will show his canines. These are all the moves a bear will use to protect himself or protect cubs. Of course if you surprise a bear he may skip a few steps and just charge you. If you run from a bear run around a tree of larger size. He can not turn corners as fast as a human but make sure it is wide enough because bears have been know to knock over small trees. If you meet a bear and he keeps coming towards you and you try to evade him but he keeps following you, take this as an aggressive move and know that he thinks your on the menu.
We watched two movies on bear behavoir then we watched a 20 minute video of BB, who is a dominant male bear, take down a less dominant male. It was quite vicious. It was of course what happens in real life but it was kind of hard to watch. BB actually was eating the other bear while he was still alive and fighting for his life. I could not believe how long the other bear fought before he finally lost the battle. We watched the movie to remind all of us that bears are dangerous and not to get complacent around them. Next of course was lunch. Well planned don't you think.
After lunch we talked about the steps to protect yourself from a bear. What to do if you see a bear but he doesn't see you and what to do if he sees you first. I have all ready talked about these so I will just go on.
From protection we talked about how to camp in the backcountry and keep save from the bears. For most of the park it is highly suggested, and my boss said he would not go without, electric fencing. They make it now to carry with you in your pack and it runs on D batteries. I am not sure how many but I will find out when I go into the back country at the end of the month. (The only part of the park you don't need electric fencing is in the valley of ten thousand smokes because there is no vegetation or bears there) You use the electric fence around your tents. You are to keep the tents in a straight line. The reason you do not put your tents in a circle is in case a bear gets in the middle, it won't have a safe exit out. If the tents are in a line he has two sides to escape from. When your out camping it is a good idea to use the triangle method to set up your tent. The tents and fencing is one point of the triangle, 100 feet away you set up your cooking stage, which should be down wind of the tents. The third point of the triangle should be your food storage. In Katmai, all food must be stored in bear proof containers. You can't hang them up as the trees are not big enough to get them high enough away from the bears. This should also be down wind of the tents. So ended day one.
Day two started with questions and answers and war stories. Just to let you know Katmai has had only four fatalities from bear attacks since it opened in 1918. The last one being Timothy Treadwell in 2005. Timothy Treadwell had spent 12 summers along Katmai bears. He wrote a book called "Among the Grizzlys". It is a good book to read. He knew the bears, which ones were habituated and which ones were dangerous. In 2005 he was attacked and died along with his girlfriend. That was the last fatal bear attack.
On to pepper spray training. We talked about the making of pepper spray which uses the chemicals found in very hot peppers. We were taught the proper way to use it and what happens after the spray has been released. By the way, after a bear has been sprayed and deterred, the area where the spray was used will attract other bears as it will smell like food in the area for a few hours. Then of course we learned about the paperwork involved if you use your bear spray. Even if it acciddently goes off. Last but not least, we had to holster a can of inert spray and go through the scenario of being attacted and using the spray to deter the bear.
In the aftenoon it was gun safety. We will be using Remington 870 12 gauge shotguns. We went through the classroom work then out to the range. I haven't shot a shotgun in 5 years. We had to shoot ten rounds in 50 seconds. When a bear is charging you need to hit it in the center of his mass or his chest area, hopefully his lungs or heart. A bullet to the head will probably not kill him just piss him off more. You had to get seven hits in that area to certify. I had six shots on target and one that just missed. I get to try again on Monday. I did however get a nice bruise from the experience.
So that's whats been going on. By the way food has been arriving every day and we are eating normally again. We still haven't seen anything bigger than the red fox. It is fun seeing the snowshoe hares as they are changing from winter white to summer brown. They have a mixutre of both right now and it makes for strange looking hares.
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