AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 1 9 6 6 double issue - Desert Magazine of ...

y Eugene McAllister
BEAR FACTS
PERHAPS IT was a foolish thing to
do, but it was not an act of bravado.
I never could stand a show-off and besides
there were no witnesses. I was not
trying to impress anyone, except a big
bown bear. My sole purpose was to test a
theory.
During many summers I had observed
bear behavior in the garbage dump of
one of our National Parks. I had witnessed,
through the windshield of my
car, a series of performances which
rather consistently followed this pattern:
Bear A occupies a favored spot among
the leftovers from the campground garbage
cans. Bear B aproaches. There is a
brief pause for mutual appraisal. B makes
a short, stiff-legged jump a few inches
in A's direction. A ignores the challenge
and B withdraws, or, A withdraws and
B moves in.
Once I saw a photographer approach a
feeding bear, pause, raise his camera and
then depart rather hastily without a picture
when the bear made that characteristic
short, stiff-legged jump in his direction.
I was convinced that he was bluffing
and that he would have retreated had the
photographer returned jump for jump,
or perhaps have initiated the procedure.
In that case he would probably have
snapped a rear view. The question tormented
me until midnight.
It was then that I awakened to the
familiar sound of a garbage can lid clattering
to the pavement. A few of the
bolder bears did not wait until the cans
were emptied at the pit, but made nocturnal
visits to the campgrounds where
they noisily pawed over the iceboxes and
cupboards of careless campers who left
food on the tables, in tents or in open
cars.
Prominent signs throughout the Park
warned campers that "teasing, touching,
feeding or molesting" any bear or deer
was prohibited.
My purpose was not to tease or molest
when I crawled out of my sleeping bag
and put on my heavy hiking shoes. It was
a cool, crisp night. There were few
campers in the area. They had long since
abandoned their campfires for tents and
trailers. Brilliant moonlight filtered down
through the branches of tall lodge pole
pines to reveal a very large bear standing
erect, pawing through the rubbish in the
can nearest my camp. NX hat better timeto
test my theory?
I advanced to within 30 feet of my
subject. We eyed each other for a moment.
Then I made a truly bear-like
jump a few inches in his direction. He
did not move. This was my signal to
withdraw and I certainly entertained the
thought. Instead, I tried two jumps in
rapid succession, landing heavily, clumpclump.
He responded promptly by removing
his forepaws from the can to
stand on all fours. I made a hasty decision.
I seemed to have gained on the
double jump. I would try three. It was
the magic number.
He took off in the direction of the
river and did not look back until he had
reached the other side. There he paused
briefly, shook himself vigorously and
strode in a most resolute manner toward
the cabin occupied by the Chief Park
Ranger.
I had a strange feeling that he was
determined to report me. Or was he just
bluffing? D
i