You know the guy that let me shoot geese on his feild? Well he thought his troubles were over for the winter at least with the wild life. He is going bankrupt because between caterpillars and geese his veggie crop was wiped out. The vegetables are certified organic so he can't use pesticide to kill the bugs and what they didn't get the geese did. In one night the birds destroyed his whole broccolli crop right before it was to be harvested. That was too much for him and he called me to chase the geese away back in Sept. He's actually had to put his farm up for sale if anyone is interested in an organic farm in the bush north of 60. All he needs is $450 000. Call me...

Anyways, the only other thing he has for income is a herd of purebred Herford's, which are certified organic and well treated and all that. The other night he phoned me in a panic because a bear was trying to get to the calves. His dogs were doing their best to keep the bear away, but loosing the battle as the bear was getting more and more aggressive. A bear out and about in Dec around here means one thing - Probably and old male, 25 years plus, not enough fat for nap time and he knows it. Man what a hide he'd have on him!

Garreth the Irish farmer doesn't own a gun, doesn't like guns, and his good looking hippie from Ontario wife didn't want to shoot the bear anyways. She gave me a pretty hard time for the bear I shot in Sept. But after two days of drama and not being able to go out of the house - they have two little kids out there, and the cows and bear are right up by the house - they have changed their mind. Heidi had a close call when she went outside to start the car and the bear walked out of the bush to within a 100 feet of her. It seems insistant on wanting the cattle, but is interested in people as well.

I called her this morning and she has arranged for a neighbor to bring a gun over for breakfast and see what happens. I don't think she has slept much the last two nights. I guess its kind of like being under seige. The dogs chase him away, but he keeps coming back. She has lost some of her romantic hippie aura about her and I'm afraid she's on the verge of becoming practical.

I'll let you guys know when the bear is dead. I hope they get some pictures. I bet he's a whopper.

Mike

So, do you guys have DLP (defense of life or property) rules in the Yukon like we do here in AK? It sounds like everyone is OK with popping the bear. Is there a wildlife warden type that can do it? If it is taken in a DLP situation can you keep the hide and skull? We can't over here, we have to skin it and take the hide and skull to F&G and they keep it. The hides are usually auctioned off in the spring during a state fur sale where they sell off all the illegally taken game from the previous years as long as the cases are closed.

Heidi the Hippy may be OK with DLP at this time, but is will she be OK with hunting since the two concepts are vastly deferent in purpose even though they require the same tools and skills?

Lance "Ray" Raymore



"Where all men think alike, no one thinks very much......It requires wisdom to understand wisdom: the music is nothing if the audience is deaf." -- Walter Lippmann

Send Mac over with his jack knife and sic him on that bear.

I can relate to the type. I've got an organic farm behind our house. We are in the sprawl so it beats the heck out of having another subdivision back there.

He finally got over his squeamishness and started shooting rabbits that are eating his lettuce. But he hates the hawks that prey upon his chickens. I figure he needs to give up on the chickens, and let the hawks go to town on the rabbits.

Now he's got coyotes running back there...If he'd just cut the weeds that problem would run it's course.

The things that happen when city folk decide it's cool to be a farmer.



"A little learning is a dangerous thing;
drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:
there shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
and drinking largely sobers us again."

A. Pope

don't forget to tell her that the bear is also organically grown and perfectr for eating too! I can imagine anyone living in the bush and not owning guns. The last one I knew of was eating by bears along with his girlfriend.

That bear needs killin' anyway. Did you get my envelope yet?

Dave

I love it when the luxury of the environmentalist treehugging vegetarian ideology is dashed on the rocks of practicality

Cracks me up when "nature lovers" get hosed by nature.

Ray aka Lance,

I would seem to me that the defense of life and property law would make this a clear cut case, but our Dept of the Environment is in a state of beaurocratic constipation these days and couldn't organise a piss up at a brewery. I helped with a probelem bear in the spring that got shot and we got a hard time from the CO about it. In the end, he confiscated the meat and hide and took it to the dump. What a waste.

IN this case the advise I got from the dept was that the property owner is allowed to defend his property but I am not licensed as a agent of the crown to help him out. I could hand him the gun I suppose but Canada won't allow that under the gun control legislation we have right now. If the bear was shot in defense, Garreth may have to prove that the bear was an actual threat, not just hanging around. ie: standing over a freshly killed and still steaming calf. That's a bunch of crap if you ask me. Non of the CO's seem to want to be involved. So if I get a chance at him, he's dead and no one at the dept will know. You can't have a hungry bear and a 5 year old little girl sharing the same yard.

When I killed the bear for fun in Sept, Heidi's arguement was that the bear was just doing his bear thing and I killed him just beacause he was a bear. She's right. But what is different about this case? I don't think I'll bring that up with her though. : ) SHe's a little stressed and morally conflicted.

Chuck,

I know what you mean, and they have a pack of wolves that hangs around but has never caused a problem. They don't want me to shoot them, but I bet if a goat or two went missing I could get permission. Is goat edible? : )

DAve,

No letter yet, but I don't get to the mail everyday. I know - remote farm surrounded by bears and wolves, and no guns. Weird. If a tree falls across your lane a chainsaw is pretty handy and if 100 geese are in your veggies a shotgun works wonders.

Jason,

Well put. Sometimes you just gotta take care of things yourself.

Mike

Oh well this sounds familiar I've seen a lot of this kind of attitude, but at least they are having an adventure. And probably exicited about living in the wilderness, which is more than I can say about a lot of folks who come to the north country.

Sometimes it takes an actual an actual encounter to really understand Hope nobody gets hurt, especially the kids.

Take care,

MPD

PS how come no pictures of the good looking hippie wife from ontario? You take great pictures of everything else and they always add a lot to the story. In order to fully understand the complexity of the situation we really need pictures, hot tub pictures would be good.

As they say in Montana about errant Yellow Stone wolves on ranches: Shoot, Shovel, and Shutup.

I find it strange that a Territory with even more remote folks than Alaska would have any kind of an issue with DLP situations. One dead livestock and the bear is gone over here. One false charge on a kid and its paper work time.

I remember way back in the fall of 1983 when I was in school at Fairbanks. A very old griz had woken up and walked through the northern part of "town" in mid November. He walked through several neighborhoods right down the streets about 15 to 20 minutes before the buses came by in the Farmers Loop area. He was never seen but the kids noticed the tracks in the roads. In mid morning a guy on the other side of town shot him with his .223 while fox hunting. It walked right up to the truck as he was getting back to the road. It had no teeth and no fat. I think it was aged at 14 years, but am not sure.

And I am with Matt D. Pics for a petter understanding of the situation.



"Where all men think alike, no one thinks very much......It requires wisdom to understand wisdom: the music is nothing if the audience is deaf." -- Walter Lippmann

Mike, I think you ought to point out that the bear is just doing what bears do, and they are the root source of the problem...an isolated farm that brought in cows and goats...hm... They are getting a hard lesson in Nature 101; hope they are fast learners.

Kinda odd that it would happen in the Yukon of all places, but hey, ignorance is at all four corners of the globe, I guess.

Makes the earliest settlers look like some tough SOB's, doesn't it? They've lost a crop to pests and predation, now livestock are being threatened...but at least they have running water, electricity, central heat, etc.

Let us know how this turns out...I'm making popcorn to sit and watch.

I could grasp the story much better if we had pictures of a good looking woman. :)

---

Carl
Mobile, AL
DHBP Member since 1998

"Life is too short to drink bad beer."
Disclaimer: This post and/or report is not a substantiation of or reflection on the true accuracy of the present surveying methods. It is only a report on or comment concerning local observation and/or results. Your results and observation may vary based on your location, local water conditions, food supply, weather conditions and migratory patterns "

Ok, here's the answer. Organize a montgomery gentry concert... let them sing Daddy Won't Sell the Farm (from the first album) to raise funds for him to keep his lifestyle, farmaid style. Let troy boy sit with a gun over the cows and shoot yogi when he comes out... troy's looking for some new bear hunting grounds at the moment anywho... Win Win situation, for everyone but the bear.

Oh, and send pics of the hot hippie wife. I think shes safe from troy. travis
rowdydogg.com

The possibilities of this are getting real interesting. But what about those pix of the hot hippie wife?
Kevin
Imagine, these birds, wonders of beauty all, which may have flown thousands of miles, now come to my decoys for my pleasure and table.

seems like right about now she is gona get on the WWW and have a few things to say concerning the Hot Hippie wife story.
Oops gota go keep the popcorn from burning, Be right back.

Hmmm...Heidi the Hot Hippie from back east. Definately need some hot tub photos. Perhaps she could wrap herself in the fresh grizzly rug and put a morning glory flower in her hair.

Mike, you remember the swans I was shooting last winter I'm sure. Well, the rules on that permit stated that I had to "destroy" the carcass within 48 hours. When I called the DNR to question what that meant they told me to either bury or burn the swans within 48 hours or I'd lose my permit. You can't eat them or have them mounted under the rules(I had offered one to a school as a specimen but that was considered illegal). So it isn't just your province that has the BS factor.
http://www.anglinoutdoors.com

Well, the bear is dead. My buddy Ken the CO killed him late this afternoon. They put a bait out and he came right up to it. He's skinning it tonight. I wish I could have seen it, but he did tell me it was really old, no teeth, absolutely emaciated - hips sticking out and everything. Even at that skinny it weighed in at 265 kg which is about 530 lbs. BIG BEAR.

I guess with no fat he grew a superb coat. I shot a black bear like that once. The hide was really really nice. On the back the hair was over 8 inches long. The hide from this one will be auctioned off by the Dept and Ken says he's seen one's like this go for over $3000, in case you want to buy it. There is no legal way to obtain a Dec Griz other than buy it.

Heidi should be relieved, and no , I don't have any pictures for you guys. I tried to upload a pic of Shania to tease you guys, but it didn't work. : )

Just another day at wildernesshippies.com I guess. I wonder if that's a real blogsite...

Mike

Mike can they tell with any certinty how old when skinning it out or would you have to have tests done to get close to the number? Hide sounds sweet. I think I'll stick to decoys though at that price level.

I think they usually pull a tooth to be certain. But they are guessing 25+.

Mike

do the teeth have rings or some other yearly marker? 25, that is amazing. Man if I spent winter outside up your way for that long I'd be lookin for some easy food too.

I don't know how they do it actually. My buddy Ray shot one that was 32! Amazing hide as it was a late Oct bear in the alpine.

Mike