I love to view wildlife.  Just to see a glimps of a wild animal in its natural habitat is very exciting!  I don't mean seeing a deer on the side of the road either, but going deep into the woods up in the mountains and seeing a deer, especialy if they don't see you or know that your there!

This last summer I came across a momma black bear with two cubs.  The mother was busy doing her thing and the babies were busy playing and chasing butterflies.  I guess kids are kids no matter what the species!  Well, these two babies started moving my way, but didn't know I was there as I was bing "stealthy".  I figured that they wouldn't get to far from mom, and seeing as I was about 100 yards from them, thought that I was safe.  WRONG!  Those two cubs kept coming and coming and pretty soon were only about 20 yards from me.  Mom was still busy rooting around and hadn't realized that they had wondered off.  Well, they both must have gotten a wif of me at the same time and started bellowing and howling.  Mom's head jerked up and looks over and before I could even move she was headed my way at full tilt!  I jumped up screaming and running, spraying my pepper spray behind me and blowing my whistle.  I had run about 1/2 a mile before I really started to get light headed and dizzy and managed to fall into a REALLY cold stream.  Mom obviously found the kids OK and wasn't that intersted in chasing something so pathetic as me!

Long story short, I learned my lesson the easy way.  Stay VERY far away from bears and their cubs.  They are much bigger and stronger then humans and can outrun us if they want to. 

Stay safe and enjoy the outdoors.  We have some of the greatest country in the world at our backdoor here in Colorado!