....And more wildlife encounters:
John and I have lived in this house full-time for 22 years now, and another ten years before that as weekenders. I've hiked the same fields and woods here for all of those years, but experienced a first just a couple of weeks ago.
Zoey and I were on our regular morning off-leash hike through the meadows at the top of our street. She happened to be a few feet in front of me as we approached the boundary between two large open fields - a boundary defined by a stone wall that has since been overgrown by shrubs and saplings. My view of the field into which we were crossing was momentarily obscured by those shrubs, but I knew something was up when I saw Zoey suddenly take off running towards the left and out of view as she cleared the opening.
We've encountered hikers, mountain bikers, hunters, turkeys, deer, pheasants, and even horseback riders in those fields over time (and of course skunks, as I reported last month), so in the split second before I was able to round the corner, I figured that she was off to greet and/or chase after one of those familiar targets - but then something else came into view.
What I saw emerging out of the woods about 75-100 yards away was a black bear, and Zoey was running right towards him. Having only seen a bear in this area once before, my initial reaction was along the lines of "hey, how about that - a real bear!"; it was kind of like watching a movie. I'd say that Zoey got within about 50 feet of him, but she fortunately stopped and came running back to me when I yelled to her (good girl, Zoey!).
As for the bear: he stopped about the same time that Zoey did, then quickly turned around and went back into the woods from where he had come. Maybe he has a thing against Labradoodles, or maybe he's like most black bears who generally just don't have much interest in dogs or humans, other than our bird feeders and trash cans (or backyard swing sets, like this 2017 video from East Granby). As mentioned, this was only the second time that I've seen one around here, and in truth, my relatives in Connecticut have had more sightings in their neighborhoods than I have.
They say that making noise when you're out hiking in the woods is a good practice, so as not to suddenly come upon and startle a bear. From now on, I think I'll put a bell on Zoey, and I'll make sure to sing loud and clear on my morning walks. I'm just glad that we don't have alligators around here!
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| The red arrow shows more or less where the bear emerged from the woods. Sorry, I didn't have time to take a picture of him - he fortunately didn't hang around to pose for me. |
Here's the Vermont Fish and Wildlife website, with recommendations about how to handle black bear encounters, for those of you that live in bear country: Black Bears.
