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Re: [RC] Wildlife Sighting Yesterday - Bear - heidiAs we got near the top of the moutain above our horse yesterday our horses both stopped and pointed. We looked to see a good size black bear looking over his shoulder as he retreated through the woods. The horses resumed their gallop up the moutain once they saw the bear was retreating. This was our first actual in person sighting on our local trails. We do live close to a bear sanctuary but I suspect the bears do not read the boundary signs. My best bear story happened when I was a kid riding range. I was coming home after dark (good training for future 100s <g>) down this open ridge trail, trotting along. There was no moon, but in this desert country up at 6000' feet or so, the starlight is pretty powerful on a good clear night. There are cottonwoods along the creeks, but the rest of the country is steep open sagebrush hills. There was a knoll in the ridge, and the trail went around one side of it. There were grade trails coming up out of the creek from around the other side of the knoll. All of a sudden my mare boogered, and I heard this "whuff" and a bear stood up full height, silhouetted in the starlight. He must have been coming up the grade trail around the other side of the knoll, and we purtnear ran into him head-on. He must have high-tailed it right back down, because we didn't see or hear any more of him--but in the dark, I sang REALLY LOUD all the rest of the way home! (It was late August, and he had likely been down in the creek bottom loading up on chokecherries...) Heidi =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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