Anything bigger than a cat that isn’t a dog is a no go for me. Basically nothing that I couldn’t kill with my bare hands if I had to to save my life.
Official Off Topic Discussion Thread #1
- Thread starter Chrisplosion
- Start date
Hello; I live not too far from the Smoky Mt National Park. Over the decades I have been there several times. I have three stories about bears worth telling. I will tell only two. The earliest is from many decades ago, probably the 1950's, and is about my mother. The family was riding in our car on one of the national park roads. Traffic had stopped because of some bears. My mom walked up toward a bear with my younger sister in tow to get a picture. I was back a ways with my dad. Suddenly a park ranger slid his truck to a screeching stop and flew from the cab with a stout wooden pick handle or some such. He ran toward the bear banging the pick handle on the pavement and shouting. The bear ran off. Then he turned to my mother and gave her a good chewing out ( rightly deserved as I think of it now). She had put herself and my little sister in harms way by approaching the bear.
A side note. Back in those days it was not uncommon to see road side attractions with black bears in cages. Shops would have black bear fur rugs on sale along with bear feet, heads and such. I was a kid and even then did not much like it. At least some decades ago those practices were stopped. For that matter you could buy baby alligators back then also.
The next good story was maybe twenty years ago and I am an adult by then with a liking for fly fishing. I was fishing a small pool in Abrams Creek just off Cades Cove a ways. At the other end of the pool maybe 30 yards away a small black bear cub walked into the stream, soon followed by another cub. Trundling along was the mother. I stopped fishing and started backing up slowly. The moma gave me a glance and the family went on about their business of crossing the creek and going into the woods. No harm. No foul. It is my take the black bears can be big enough to do a person harm but do not seem to be generally aggressive.
I do not know about the brown bears in Ulu's pictures. My guess is they get bigger than the black bears. Not sure if they are more risky to be around.
One more Smoky Mt story. Back in the early 1980's I like to tent camp in the Smoky Mt park. Back then you could just drive in and I always got a campsite. Later it got to be you had to get a reservation and had to pay a lot more. Anyway it was common when sitting around a campfire in the evenings for skunks to wander thru the tent sites. I am saying close enough you could touch one as it walked by your chair. Some number of them all around. If you stayed calm there was not a problem. The skunks would wander off soon, especially if there was not food to be found.
So one late night there was the noise of a dog in distress from near by. The next morning as I was fixing breakfast two young girls were walking a dog. The dogs was on the end of a long rope. Yep the dog got sprayed and that was the commotion. The girls and their family were going to have to ride home in the same vehicle with that dog. I do not go camping in the park anymore. I stopped going long before old age stopped me.
A side note. Back in those days it was not uncommon to see road side attractions with black bears in cages. Shops would have black bear fur rugs on sale along with bear feet, heads and such. I was a kid and even then did not much like it. At least some decades ago those practices were stopped. For that matter you could buy baby alligators back then also.
The next good story was maybe twenty years ago and I am an adult by then with a liking for fly fishing. I was fishing a small pool in Abrams Creek just off Cades Cove a ways. At the other end of the pool maybe 30 yards away a small black bear cub walked into the stream, soon followed by another cub. Trundling along was the mother. I stopped fishing and started backing up slowly. The moma gave me a glance and the family went on about their business of crossing the creek and going into the woods. No harm. No foul. It is my take the black bears can be big enough to do a person harm but do not seem to be generally aggressive.
I do not know about the brown bears in Ulu's pictures. My guess is they get bigger than the black bears. Not sure if they are more risky to be around.
One more Smoky Mt story. Back in the early 1980's I like to tent camp in the Smoky Mt park. Back then you could just drive in and I always got a campsite. Later it got to be you had to get a reservation and had to pay a lot more. Anyway it was common when sitting around a campfire in the evenings for skunks to wander thru the tent sites. I am saying close enough you could touch one as it walked by your chair. Some number of them all around. If you stayed calm there was not a problem. The skunks would wander off soon, especially if there was not food to be found.
So one late night there was the noise of a dog in distress from near by. The next morning as I was fixing breakfast two young girls were walking a dog. The dogs was on the end of a long rope. Yep the dog got sprayed and that was the commotion. The girls and their family were going to have to ride home in the same vehicle with that dog. I do not go camping in the park anymore. I stopped going long before old age stopped me.
Hello; For a time while the fresh blacktop is still very dark it will show traces of footprints very well. Also the red clay soil makes long lasting marks when muddy. I went walking again today and near that cornfield are a lot of new footprints. I saw a lot of deer track today. The bear tracks are still clear. There were lots of other tracks I cannot name. My guess is some are skunk since I smell them often. There are groundhogs common around here also. Maybe racoon?
It has not rained for several days but that soil can last a long time as a footprint. I discovered this on my own driveway. It takes along time to wash away even afyer several rains.
It has not rained for several days but that soil can last a long time as a footprint. I discovered this on my own driveway. It takes along time to wash away even afyer several rains.
For me it has been just black bear, and mule deer. They say there are whitetails here too, but I have only seen mules in the wild. For this I have to drive an hour up the mountain, as we live in the well developed suburbs.
We also have big cats but I've never seen one outside the big cat sanctuary, again nearly an hour up the mountain.
That looks like clear aquarium air line!! I suppose it's better than cutting a length from that orange electrical flex from your mum's hoover, lol.
What’s the use of having 200’ of airline tubing if I can’t use it for other stuff?
Also that’s just a long extension cord lol.
