Today started at 02:30 AM.
My friends next door have three of the greatest kids that I have ever known. I have watched them grow up and they have considered us to be old Grampa Bubba and Gramma Lin.
The family have two carillian ?? bear dogs that they raised from puppies. One is Dolly and the other is Striker, her three year old pup.
Those two dogs have chased the big brown bears out of our yards many times over the last few years.
I have written old stories: Bad Boy Grizzly, Here We Go Again, etc. in old posts about the problems we have had with the brown bears.
Our town has had many bear problems again this year. Three weeks ago the police had to kill a 1200 pound, 10 feet brown bear down town.
Also, there is another giant bear ripping up stuff behind the hospital and knocking over fences, as we speak.
The fact is, we have far too many bears here on the Kenai Peninsula. The local Fish&Game officials have failed miserably to control the bear population.
I am in the process of going to war with those greenie officials to get them to reduce the population of bears before they kill or hurt anyone else.Our moose herds are almost wiped out due to wolves and those starving bears.
This is the time of year that the salmon are gone from the Kenai River. The frosty nights have destroyed the remaining berry crops and the bears are out trying to find something to eat before they hibernate for the winter.
This is the time the big brown bears come into our subdivision 4 miles up river from town.
We live just across the road from the Kenai Wilderness Reserve, which is stocked full of those hungry bears.
Since we live with the bears, we always try to keep our yards free of garbage or anything the bears might want to eat.
I even have an electric fence at the bottom of my stairs to keep the bears off of my porch.
Otherwise I will have big nose-smears on my sliding glass doors in my kitchen.
Dealing with those bears is just one of the things we do if we are going to live in a wild place like this. We certainly don't have a grudge against those bears. Actually we kind of like to see them wandering around the yard once in a while.
What I'm saying is we have learned to co-exist fairly well over the years.
However, once in a while we do have bad experiences with them. Today was one of days to have a bad conflict with them.
Early this morning two very large bears came up from the brushy river bottoms and entered my neighbors yard.
The two dogs came out of the "doggy door" and made an attempt to herd them back out of the yard.
These are the same two dogs that I watched stand between a cow moose with two little calves, and a brown bear who was trying to kill them.They fought the bear for hours until the moose left the safety of the yard. Then the bear killed the cow and one of the calves.
These two dogs have done many very heroic deeds to protect the kids and the property from the bears.
Today Dolly and Striker once again tried to protect the yard from the bears. I don't know what actually happened, but Striker never came back up the hill. It looked like they had cornered him in the heavy brush and killed him. Then they carried him off into the dense brush and probably ate him.
I understand that my neighbor noticed that Dolly had been barking an aggressive bark, and then she began to bark like she was afraid. I'm sure she had watched the bears kill her pup, and carry him off into the brush.
We looked for several hours in the brush until it was just too dangerous to proceed farther into the tangled willows.
After we gave up searching, we returned to their house to find all three kids waiting to see if we had found Striker.When they saw that we did not have Striker, the look on their faces broke my heart.They had counted on us to bring him back and we had failed them.
It was hard to tell them that Striker had died trying to protect them.
It will take a long time for them to cope with the loss of their dog.
I'm having a hard time of it myself.
George"Bubba"Hunt, walking "The Wilderness Trail".

I just learned that the I-5 blog zone will be taken down at www.redbluffdailynews.com
So, I won't be posting there in the near future.
Above is my web site, and I will be posting there.
If you still want to read my stuff, you'll have to go there.
I will keep posting as usual until they do take it down.
PLEASE , no comments from "business" addresses. I get thousands of comments a week and I don't have time to read or post business comments.
George "Bubba" Hunt
www.shadowmountainoutdoors.com
Book: thewildernesstrail.org

Recently I wrote this article about one of my Irish hunting neighbors who lost his cooler to a black bear in the lower Caribou Hills, during moose season of 2010.
Well, I happened to run into old Boom Boom Mahenny's parents at a restuarant in Homer, Alaska.
I questioned them about Boom Boom's loss of his cooler and found out that Boom Boom had actually managed to find his cooler after all.
It had some fine big bite marks in it from the bear and some of it,s contents were in fact missing.
It turns out that the bear only chewed up a couple of cans of the red bull. It does appear that the bear liked the coke much better.
I have to conclude that bears will drink coke more often than red bull.
I know some of you red bull fans may be a bit heart-broken, but the facts clearly show the "bear" truth.
A few years ago my wife set out a large plastic garbage bag filled with coke cans for me to take to the recycling folks.
I didn't get to doing the job over a few days, and a bear found it in his heart to drag the bag out of my shed and scatter cans over half of an acre.
He also snooped around my shed and ripped up a twelve-pack of coke and chewed up all of the cans.
The rascal also dragged another six pack across the yard, and down the bank into the brush.
I discovered that he managed to open my freezer and eat all of my frozen clams. He topped it off by eating a whole frozen tube of hamburger.
That was bad enough but he bit the handle on the freezer almost off, and done a very nasty thing of leaving a large load of digested blueberries mixed with cranberries just in front of the door.
I guess that was his way of saying thanks for the feast.
A few days later he made the fatal mistake of trying to steal from a neighbor and found himself in "bear heaven".
I guess that the moral of the story is bears who steal red bull from old Boom Boom Mahenny are much safer than stealing coke from Bubba.
I must also say that it is far safer to carry red bull on hiking trips than coke.
Just thought you could use the safety tip.{:
Bubba Hunt, walking "The Wilderness Trail". (www.thewildernesstrail.org)

There!! I am back!!
George"Bubba"Hunt, walking the wilderness train, and not tired yet!!

If you happen to be one of the millions of outdoor enthusiasts, sooner or later you will be faced with the real need of a "bathroom, restroom, lavatory, outhouse, can, privy, or what ever you want to call it." That's just they way it is. How you handle it, is quite another matter.
I have heard of some people "backing" up against a tree. I have heard of some who look for just the right log. I know a lot of folks who won't go into the woods, because there are no "facilities" out there. That's the reason they never venture more than 200 yards from their motor homes. What a shame!!
Personally I prefer the old "hunker" method, but it too, has its weak points. Before you ask if I would demonstrate it, forget it!
It seems that the old "suspenders" always get in the way, and it can not only be embarrassing, but it can be down right ugly. Many of a fine woodsman has had to put up with a ton or "ribbing" from his fellow hunters, because of a simple oversight. I brought this subject up because "YOU" thought that you were the only person that was plagued with this curse.
The only way I can write this subject, is share some of my own experiences. This subject isn't something that most enjoy telling around the camp fire. My Owner (wife) tells me that I'm a "sick dog" for even finding any humor in it.
Most hunters find a good place where they can watch out over a good area to watch for game to pass. I have found that to be the worse thing to do. I had a big buck to go crashing out of a thicket behind me two times. I never got a shot off either time. I learned to never lay your rifle out of reach! I never get caught looking down hill either. I can't tell you why, but deer always wait until you are at a big disadvantage before they make their break. Another good point to consider is when you are in grizzly country; you must be able to shoot at all times.
I will "never" know how those mosquitoes, with such a small brain, can be so smart. They wait until you have your garments all gathered up, then dive-bomb you like a squadron of Kamikaze pilots. I guess they have figured out that you can't put up much of a fight with both hands full. About all that you can do is "blow" at them and call them precious little names, neither of which seems to slow them down. The worse thing is getting caught scratching those bites. I've had others say, "Got a little itch there, Bubba?"
The whole point to this story is to better equip you with some of the more important issues. I can't stress enough the importance of this next valuable lesson. "When you are in the woods, NEVER think that you are alone." Always believe that if it is hunting season, others are out there too. I learned this the hard way, as I learn most things.
The ill-fated day was during an early fall deer hunting adventure. I had been eating one of those late evening "mulligans," the night before. It had consisted of a can of beef stew mixed with a couple of can of chilli beans. When you are a kid, that's what you ate in camp, due to the lack of proper cooking skills.
I was out before daylight heading for a good vantage point where I knew that the deer were going to pass. Being young and dumb, I had failed to acknowledge the pain in my stomach, until it was almost too late. I then ran for the nearest brush thicket. At first I heard a muffled kind of a sound. Then I looked all around to see where it had come from. I could see no one, anywhere, and felt safe. I managed to gather up my garments and head back to my ground blind, when I heard it again. I looked up to see a bow hunter sitting up in a tree stand, not 30 feet from me! He had been sitting there watching a stupid kid, who thought he was hiding from the world. He had tears in his eyes and a red face. I think that I must have had a "sheepish" look on my face, because I could hear him laughing for a half of a mile.
During a mule deer hunt in Wyoming, a friend of mine was walking on a ridge a half of a mile away. Al had been walking for some time when it became necessary to take a break. I had my 60 power spotting scope set up watching for deer, when I spotted Al heading for some brush. I thought he was going to hide and watch for a while. I noticed that he began taking off his coat, and laying his rifle on it. I told my wife that Old Al was about to take "care of business" over on the ridge. He thought that the distance was far enough to be safe. She snapped something like, "What are you going to do, watch him?" I said, "Naw, I was just going to see if he was dumb enough to do it."
When I brought it up around the camp fire that evening, he had a "sheepish" look on his face too. That happened many years ago. I thought I would share it with you so maybe you won't make the same mistake, then again, I'll bet you already have.
Bubba

Moose Hunter's don't Scrub

I have been in hunting camp since I was about 5 years old. This year I am knocking on the big 62. There has been a question about hunter's that has been running through my mind all of these years.
I know that this practice is done by almost all of the people that I have hunted with, and it bugs the heck out of me. I even find myself with the same problem. I really don't have the answer to this problem, but I thought I would share it with you in case you are smarter than I am.
Most of my camping life has found me doing the unpleasant job of camp cook. It isn't that I particularly enjoy cooking; it is that my hunting partners never seemed to like the duty. I am a pretty good cook and I do enjoy eating.
I think the biggest reason that I take on the job is my partners never seem to practice the simple rules of sanitation that I consider normal. I always wash my hands before I begin to prepare the meal. It's not that my hands are any nastier than any one else in camp, but I wouldn't want anyone to go hungry because they thought my food was contaminated. Besides, I wouldn't want to eat food that one of my nasty hunting partners cooked.
I don't consider myself to be persnickety, and I'm not one to throw out food that may have a few weeds stuck to it. I do expect the one who is cooking to at least wipe off the mud, dirt, grease, and dried blood from their hands before making me a sandwich.
I remember a few years ago when I lived in Sacramento, California, my neighbor invited me over to have a barbequed steak. I could just picture that big juicy steak sizzling on the grill.
I accepted the invitation with glee and scurried over to his back yard to get in on the feast. He had a barbeque grill that was made of brick. It stood about two feet above the ground. He also had an old long-haired dog that looked like it had a bad case of the mange. Most of the hair had fallen off and left big sores on the poor old dog. The problem was the old sick dog used the grill for a bed. It was covered in all of the hair that was missing from the old dog.
I would never hurt his feelings for anything, but this was surely about "anything!" Some how I managed to keep my mouth shut as he fired up the grill, burning off most of the hair. As you can probably figure, I had a hard time choking down that steak. That was the last time I accepted any more invitations.
I know people who would never even think about sitting down to eat without scrubbing the crud off of their hands. Some folks are so "germ conscious" that they have a hard time of eating in a restaurant, because they don't know how sanitary the cooks are who cook their food. Those same people go to hunting camp and never bother to wash dried blood from their hands after field dressing a moose or deer. It is like they have all of a sudden decided that those old mean, nasty germs stayed in town.
I have heard them say, "Well, this is camp, so we don't need to be so particular." They will reach down and flick a bug out of their stew, yet at home they would howl if a fly flew across the table.
I have tried to give these people the job of cleaning the dishes. I figured if I do the cooking, then someone else was going to do the dishes. That usually was a mistake too. The only thing clean when they were done was their hands.

I have heard these same people brag about drinking water out of a moose track. The moose's feet were probably cleaner than they were. Actually, I can't say that I have ever seen a moose with smelly feet, and that is a lot more than I can say about some of those moose hunters.
Maybe I am just making too much of a deal about all of this. We can all agree that there are very few places to scrub in the woods. Maybe common old sanitation is only necessary when we are at home. What ever the case may be, none of us need to be getting sick because of failing to keep things a bit tidy. I came down with a mild case of food poisoning three days traveling back in the mountains. I have never forgotten that little episode. I thought I would die, and then I was hoping some one would kill me to get me out of my misery. I almost missed a good sheep hunt because of it. It's one thing to be sick, and it's another thing to be sick where you can't get help.
I have conquered the problem myself. I take my wife every time I go camping. She is an avid hunter and a great cook. I still get the job of washing the dishes most of the time, but I don't have to be concerned about one of my nasty hunting partners trying to cook without at least washing their hands.
The only real problem with her is she thinks that she should be the one to do all of the shooting. Since we only need one moose, I have had a lot of "dry" years. Last year, I sneaked out of camp and shot a nice bull. I had to feed myself for a week. The wrath of a scorned woman moose hunter is something to behold.
I only made the mistake one time of asking her about whether or not she washed her hands. She said, "I have been cooking your grub for a lot of years, and you are still alive, aren't you?" It wasn't so much of "what" she said; as it was the way she said it. She also kind of scowled at me out of the corner of her eye. There are just times when you should keep your mouth shut.

George "Bubba" Hunt

Living in Alaska provides me with a lot of material to write about. I find that about every time I go out, I manage to stumble upon something interesting enough to write about.
As you all know... I don't actually write "blogs". I just write short stories about things that happen to me.
These many posts will be cut up and installed in my next book, " The Missadventures of Bubba".
That is why I don't really want others to use my posts to promote whatever they are doing. I know a lot of my material has already been "borrowed".
They will look kind of funny when it shows up in my book!
Having said that... I already have a book about my life in the backwoods. It is " The Wilderness Trail". www.thewildernesstrail.org.
If you enjoy my posts, you will enjoy my book. It is also available on Amazon and "books on line".
You can google my name..George"Bubba"Hunt, and find a lot about me if you like.
I do go through the hundreds of comments each day. It takes hours. I usually only post the original comments. I certainly don't have space to post all of them.
Some of you have asked for my contact info. It is" oldbearhunter@alaska.net."
I also go through hundreds of those e-mail comments each day.
Anyhoo, I'll keep on plugging at these posts as long as I can find something to scribble about.( Here is a big secret... I can't even type!! I am fairly good a two finger pecking though.)
For those who may be interested, I teach seminars on back-woods survival, and "Bear Safety" seminars for those who do hiking and other outdoor activities. Actually my seminars cover not only bears, but mountain lions, mad moose or about anything else out there that you may run in to on a hike.
Yeah, I did do a love-sick cow moose call to impress Ed Asner on the Jay Leno show a couple of years ago.Ed will never forget me!
Hope that answers some of your questions. If not, e-mail me.
George"Bubba"Hunt, walking "The Wilderness Trail"