"I have no ambition to govern men; it is a painful and thankless office."Thomas Jefferson
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Container Gardening Indoors and Outdoors
For years people have been gardening in containers, mostly because they lacked space. For some it was because they lived in climates that wouldn’t allow them to grow year round. Container gardens afford you the option of planting outside until the cold ...
Oil Painting Supplies - Guide For Beginners
When I first began painting some 10 years ago, I remember my first trip to my local art supply store. I recall my feeling of utter confusion as I perused the aisles. This particular art store had every tube of paint, brush, medium and canvas known to man, ...
Rock Climbing - Preserve Your Experiences
Rock climbing is a great way to escape the rat race, live on the edge and get a heck of a view. Alas, your rock climbing experiences can fade with time. The best way to prevent this is to keep a rock climbing journal. Rock climbing Journals Take a ...
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Black Bear Chase
Peddling as fast as my aching legs could move, I came to an abrupt stop. My shocked eyes followed the big black bear as it veered off the old brush road into the dark forest, just a few feet in front of me.
Camping With My Friends
It was early summer. A couple of friends of mine and myself had just finished a week end camping and fishing trip at one of our favorite lakes in the area, where we lived.
As I can remember it was a very long bike ride, even for three 14 year old boys.
Bear Country
The road we took to get there and back hadn't seen any traffic for a few years. It was a good bet we would run into something back there.
Sure enough I did, my buddies missed out on all the excitement, they had trailed behind and missed out.
Spring Bear Hunt
Since that time I've seen many a black bear in the Ontario Northland of Canada.
With the cancellation of the annual spring black bear hunt, I expect to see many more of these magnificent animals.
Black Bear Population
For the tourists, this is good and bad news, for the Northern Ontario resident, just bad. Ontario has a growing black bear population that is one of the largest in the world.
Bears In Politics
The spring black bear hunt was cancelled in 1999 in a pre-election move. The thought was that the government's decision would reduce the number of orphaned cubs.
The number of orphaned cubs in shelters rose.
Happy Tourists
Residents now have to put up with nuisance bears. Too many for their liking. The tourists have good news because they will get a better chance at seeing one.
Bad, because campers will need to keep a keen eye for
nuisance bears. Now nuisance bear complaints are the norm.
Bear Control
Some municipalities have now hired bear-control officers, but many municipalities cannot afford this.
Without trained staff, municipalities must rely on law enforcement officers, with no background in bear management, to respond to nuisance bear complaints.
One day the Ontario government will come to their senses and bring back the spring Black Bear hunt again.
The Bear Facts
The black bear is also seen in other colour phases, chocolate and cinnamon brown are also common.
Black bears can reach weights of up to 700 lbs.
Black bears roam a very large area even as much as 500 square miles.
Black bears have been know to run as fast as a horse.
A bear can bite through a tree as big around as a person's arm.
Litter size may range from one to five cubs, but two is average.
Male black bears regularly kill and eat bear cubs in the spring; biologists say as many as 50% of bear cubs lose their lives this way each year.
Life span in the wild is 20 to 25 years. Mother black bears have not been known to attack in defence of its cubs.
A large number of fatal bear attacks in Ontario have occurred in areas not open to hunting.
As a tourist, I enjoy the site of seeing one of nature's rare sights. As a resident, black bears are seen, heard and feared all too often.
The black bears future depends on how well Ontario Northland residents understand manage and tolerate them.
Val and Robin Shortt are experienced campers and own three outdoor websites For more tips like these and to register for their Free newsletter visit:Good Night Camping Equipment
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