The Bear and the SRAT at Northwind Lodge

Right in the middle of frying some Jasper Lake sunnies that my dad gave me, I looked out to find the insolent Cookie (who refused to come inside) barking her round, stubborn, Pekingese head off at a nice-sized bear who was wandering into my view from the brush. The bear grabbed a chokecherry tree in front of the main doors of Red Rock and began daintily eating away at the nice plump cherries, deftly and efficiently stripping them off their stems. If it weren't for the dog ratcheting up the anti-bear rhetoric, I would have simply let him eat peacefully. After all, I was right in the middle of wrapping up the last batch of crispy fillets, flame on, oil hot. Of course, Cookie wasn't about to back down from a 200 lb. bear who was simply being a bear and not bothering anybody. She became more bellicose and started to approach the pitch black invader with the indignant, chest-forward stance of Pekingese determination and bravado. This bear was going down.


"Sure. Isn't THAT special!", I'm thinking. Cookie, you just can't back off from the bear for just another two lousy minutes while my fish get done! As she approaches, he begins to move and so do I. I shut off the burner so I don't light the house on fire, and call for "back up", I did, To prevent Cookie from becoming the furred snack of an avowed wild omnivore, I tell Delilah to get the bear, and down the basement steps we barreled full blast. In those 3 seconds it took me to get to the walkout door, I told Delilah again to "get the bear!" and noted that Cookie actually managed to turn him up the drive way. His slow pace took off into a trot when a crazy little brown animal took off after him, snarling and barking with tail up rigid and back fur pointing to the sky. The bear must have thought, "Wow - that's a scary rabbit!" and "Since when do rabbits bark!!!!?" He bolted into the woods and both mini-defenders of Northwind Lodge wisely stopped at the road's edge, neither being crazy enough to fight the bear on his own turf.  

The bear a few minutes later, then appeared at my mom & dad's house. He was tall and well-proportioned. My mom called and I finished eating quickly (never can take my time-ever in the resort business) and brought the Scary Rabbit Attack Team (SRAT) with me. The bear was already gone in the 6 seconds it took me to cover that distance. Delilah nonetheless put on a show of speed, agility, and bear-scaring prowess as she smelled the air and ground that he walked on barking wildly. Cookie stood like a barrel-chested avenger and let out the occasional bark of righteous indignation. My dad then called them both into the house for bear-attacking treats and praise, but neither was all that interested. The adrenaline was running high and the bear was still out there...somewhere.
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I'm got ready to go out and boldly light the Wednesday evening campfire at the waterfall. Looked like it was going to rain but it didn't. Both dogs remained snoozing indoors in the afterglow of an exhausting evening defending all that is right and good for the sake of Northwind Lodge.

At the fire, I heard from Hank in Cabin 7 that after he and his wife ate dinner, he was sitting on the deck reading when he looked up from his book to notice a bear standing about two feet from him. The bear was close enough to reach out and pat on the head. Hank jumped up and yelled which made Hank's dog jump up and yell from inside the cabin in response. Hank's wife Eileen came running from the inside to see what was going on outside. With all that commotion, the bear took off to the ash trees at the back end of the cabin. Positioned like a big letter V, the bear stepped up into the crotch of the two large trees and posed briefly like a centerfold model in a men's magazine. I think he was startled by Hank's golden retriever or maybe, Hank. Then the bear got out of the V and faded into the brush, Hank finally caught his breath. He said he's never been that close to a bear before.

One of the guests from Cabin 6, Joseph, observed that same bear on the back deck of Cabin 8, over at Cabin 5 raiding their garbage can, and by Cabins 4 and 3. The bear was covering some ground this evening. Hopefully, the bear will go away on his own. Unfortunately, he's not looking like he's extremely bothered by people which can be a problem. Fortunately, we have the SRAT. I may have to release the hounds yet again, tonight. After driving a 9 hour, 460 mile round trip to Atikokan, Ontario to pick up two new Souris River Canoes, it's been a long day.
I'm going to bed. Hopefully, so will the bear.