Grizzly Intelligence; Milky Way

Grizzlies in the West no doubt cleaned up Wooly Mammoth remains that hunters killed 10,000 years ago, according to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Wayne Kasworm.

Now they have learned that a shot from a hunter may mean a fresh meal of elk or deer guts, and stories are told of dinner bell bears, that "trot in to elk kills like a house cat coming to the sound of an electric can opener".

Grizzlies are not dumb. According to the article one learned to associate bow hunter blinds with a fresh deer kill, and "That bear followed bowhunters to the bottoms of their tree stands and waited nearby for them to kill something."

In Montana’s Yaak Valley, Grizzlies will patrol hunters’ favorite roads at night, cleaning up the remains of moose and white-tailed deer. They have been known to follow pack strings of mules, loaded with elk quarters.

Check out this sequence of photo's taken by photographer Richard Smith, of a game warden releasing a Grizzly, who turned and pulled him and the trap out of the bed of a pickup:

http://www.agpix.com/photographer/portfolio/A0223430_1_caption.html



4:28:10 PM comment [1]


When is the last time you were in a place so dark at night that you could look up and see the white band of the Milky Way?

Probably a long time, since we are working people and so darn responsible, but knowing how short life is, the smart thing is to get out of town, up a mountain trail, to get lost in a hidden wilderness, to sit and listen to how quiet a forest can be at dusk.

And that is what this thing will be about; because that is pretty much what I do, at least once a month. If I go longer than that I start wondering what the heck I am working and being responsible for.

And this will be about Ben and Maggie - the Colorado dogs, here a couple of weeks ago at a lake them and me camped above:

(click to enlarge)