Bear in Thickwood

Jimmyjjj · #1 08-08-2011, 11:22 PM

I can't believe I didn't post this earlier...

So we were unloading from our trip down to Edmonton (Cabela's and everything) and my girlfriend notices a bear across the street... it was a big black bear... one of the largest I have ever seen. I clapped and yelled... it looked at me funny and continued browsing... kinda frightening... I never thought of black bears as scary before but I bet this one was pushing 350 lbs. Eventually it turned into the bush and I forgot about it.

Sometime around midnight I was awoken by what I thought was a firecracker... stupid kids... then another... that sounded kinda like a "bear banger"... the third was definitely gunfire. I hear running through the bushes and then another shot. I jumped out of bed and ran to my safe, pulled the plug on my 1100 and loaded 5 slugs. My girlfriend was seriously scared (multiple police "happenings" on her property growing up), she seemed to think one of the neighbors went crazy, I didn't know what was happening. She was talking to 911 and I was watching through the living room window.

In the end 7 shots were fired and we saw the conservation officer back up to the bush 40 yards from our front door, winch the bear into his pickup bed, and drive away.

All in all, not the most restful night I have had. I felt bad for the bear... what were they shooting it with that it took 7 shots??? If I had know that it was going to take 30 min of chasing and 7 shots (from a handgun?) to bring it down I would have gladly shot it once earlier in the day. I hate the idea of that bear being scared and wounded while it was chased down.

Jimmyjjj · #2 08-08-2011, 11:23 PM

Oh ya... 4 roommates, no one else woke up? How do you sleep through gunfire 40 yards away???

Big Daddy Badger · #3 08-08-2011, 11:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jimmyjjj

Oh ya... 4 roommates, no one else woke up? How do you sleep through gunfire 40 yards away???

4 room mates?....my guess is large brown bears...I mean beers...lots of em...

catnthehat · #4 08-08-2011, 11:48 PM

Manitoban is in Lower Thickwood, he has seen a huge black there for a while now....
Cat

RobG10 · #5 08-09-2011, 12:02 AM

my company is doing a project out at the landfill and I was on site for the first time today. I personally only got to see 2 bears a mom and cub at about 15 feet away (pic's to follow) but my foremen was keeping a running tally and between the 8 of us we had spotted 9 separate bears today alone. very cool considering I had only ever seen 3 bears before today.

Jimmyjjj · #6 08-09-2011, 12:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by catnthehat

Manitoban is in Lower Thickwood, he has seen a huge black there for a while now....
Cat

I am almost at the end of the Timberline drive loop... it was between me and Timberlea. (Fort McMurray)

SonnyJ · #7 08-09-2011, 12:11 AM

Hearing gunfire in the middle of the night is nothing new in the Mac..(lived on Franklin for 8 years) lol

I would have rolled over and went back to sleep..lol

Mistagin · #8 08-09-2011, 06:39 AM

Been up here almost 3 years now and hadn't even seen a bear, just lots of scat!
In fact, while out picking saskatoons last week we saw some of that on the trail about 250 meters from our front door. Now my lovely wife gets a little

about going for walks on the trails or out to pick berries, ha, ha.

I guess I was just never in the right place at the right time to see them - until last Friday.

That afternoon I finally saw one

. On my way to pick up my wife from work (she works at the airport) there was a pretty big blackie at the edge of the bush on the south side of # 69 just past Prairie Creek. I slowed down and honked the horn and it looked at me then went back to whatever it had been doing, I assume eating berries. I couldn't stop due to being in the construction zone, and besides that I left my camera at home.

Then on Saturday evening we were visiting friends over in Thickwood (Silvanus Drive) and our host said, "Oh, look at that." So we looked out to see another big bear in the driveway across the street; it went in the neighbour's open garage and then back out and disappeared into their back yard. Our friend and my wife grabbed their cameras hoping it would come back into view and a few minutes later it did, looked like it was going to come across the road, but it was too dark to get good pictures. I hollered at it and it just stood there looking at me (we were in the house), then turned and walked back towards the bush. Maybe it was the same one others have seen over in that part of town; it looked to me to be well over 300 lbs; a beautiful animal.

Our friends we were visiting saw a female with cubs over on the Birchwood Trails that same afternoon while they were out for a bike ride, but that was the first time they saw one in their neighbourhood, and they've lived there about 10 years.

Jimmyjjj · #9 08-09-2011, 09:17 AM

I have a feeling it is going to be a good year for bear hunting! Anyone going to be putting bait up around Fort McMurray? I was thinking about baiting my first bear this year.

beermilk · #10 08-09-2011, 06:07 PM

this is the most bears i have seen around fort mcmurray in the 6 years i been here. maybe somthing to do with 700,000 hectares of habitat burned north of us LOL.

i work out at Albian on MRM and Jackpine . and we see bears everyday. there coming right into the truck shop at jackpine. rough time for the bears.

southernman · #11 08-09-2011, 08:50 PM

Yea I have seen more bears this year, that the total for the last 8 years.
seen two on thickwood blv on sunday night. several at work in last week as well.
Don't know about shooting a bear with a handgun, not the best choice for sure, but we don't know what happened prior to shooting. Still would have thought a shotgun would be first choice in a build up area, bear bangers and slugs if needed.

catnthehat · #12 08-09-2011, 09:06 PM

Saw big sow across for the sawmill this afternoon, with a cub that was so big Ii was surprised she was still letting it hang around!
Cat

martinbns · #13 08-10-2011, 08:07 PM

A few years ago before I left I was playing in the Poplar Point Fall Classic golf tournament at Miskanaw and we were the first group out on Sunday AM. We all played the first hole(2 teams 3 man scramble) Jim Boucher was the captain of the other team and as we pulled up to the second tee which is on the Snye there was a huge Black Bear, the biggest I've ever seen before sitting beside the tree munching on hazelnuts off the bush. I was a bit put off my this bear, Jim Boucher just marched up onto the tee box, ripped a drive down the middle and ignored it. We all hit with the bear just sitting there and afterwards Jim whips out his blackberry, made a call to the proshop telling them to get rid of the bear and while we were on the green we heard shots, took about 5 minutes before the guys with rifles came out.

Jim Boucher is the Fort McKay First Nation cheif.

elkhunter11 · #14 08-10-2011, 08:14 PM

There was a good sized black bear in the construction area along Thickwood this morning.