(meteorobs) SIMPLE & VERY CHEAP SOLUTION for animal hazards.

[GeoZay at aol.com]

>>But I wouldn't give up my close connection with bears, cougars,  and 
coyotes for the world. <<
 
I like the wilderness myself, but I get quite squirelly over mountain lions 
 and bears. I've never had an encounter with a bear while observing...just 
the  worry that I might. However, I've had quite a few bear encounters while 
doing  other endeavors...such as back packing and gold prospecting. I worry 
about  bears mainly on account they often just mess things up. Over the 
years, I've had  them tear tents up, chew water bottles up, chew plastic gas 
cans up, eat dirty  underwear up, tear my back pack to shreds, raid food sacks 
that were properly  hung and the list goes on. My last bear encounter was 2 
or 3 years ago while  gold dredging along the Yuba river in california. I 
woke up to a loud shredding  noise when a large bear was tearing into my 
partners tent. They were gone at the  time...luckily. After shooing it off, it 
came back 2 hours later to the same  spot...Last year, a bear stole a 
backpack off my partners quad and ran off with  it. Most of us would write the 
backpack off, but it just so happens that they  had 2 ounces of gold in the 
pack. So...needless to say, they did about 45  minutes of searching and found 
the pack...and the gold. :O) As for coyotes, I  never gave them much thought 
and kinda enjoyed their presence really.
GeoZay