Lions, Tigers, and Bears... Oh No!

It's no secret that bears crap in the woods. It's also no secret that Maine has plenty of wooded areas. Lastly, it's no real secret that we live out in some of these said areas. Now, putting it all together, one would expect to logically stumble upon some bear crap, from time to time, if one lived in the woods. And so it has come to pass...

Well, I didn't actually stumble upon bear crap (more accurately, "scat"), but I did learn that some hunters had tracked a bear to a nearby farm, treed it with their hounds, and killed it. All perfectly legal, as it's bear hunting season here, and they were with a registered guide. In general, I support all kinds of hunting, even though I usually don't do any hunting myself. It's a choice each person should be able to make for themselves, it seems to me.

Anyway, back to this bear situation... So, logically I understand that I live in habitat suited to bears, but until these hunters showed up, I had not put theory into practice, as it were.

Black bears are not terribly aggressive to humans. Most actual attacks are due more to hunger than to them being territorial. Because of this, it is actually best to fight back with a black bear attack, rather than "play possum" as you should do with a grizzly attack. So, how to fight back? While out for a run?

Enter the Gerber LMF II Infantry Knife... relatively small, but plenty tough, a well placed shot between a bear's shoulder blades would do the trick if worse really turned to worst.

This is my knife, there are many like it, but this one is mine... I've added some 550 cord around the sheath, because I'm a complete and utter 550 cord geek... love the stuff. Combined with duct tape, it's hard to imagine a fastening job that couldn't be done with panache.

So I decided to try it out... I put a carabiner on the sheath for easy attachment to my shorts, and just shoved it in a pocket. Today I walked/ran 2.4 km, with the knife, and it didn't really bother me at all... so it will now be a permanent addition to my regular walk/run routine.

Not to say I'm going to go out and antagonize a bear into attacking me... nay nay! This is just for that amazingly slim chance that I'll ever, ever, ever get attacked by any kind of animal while out on my little course, and in particular, by a bear. But, a little preparedness never hurt anyone, I say.

Oh, almost forgot... in the 2.4 km I did today, a full 1 km was done at a jog! I actually ran a whole kilometer... brings tears to the eyes... and I sprinted the last 40m just for fun. I had mostly given up hope that I would ever use the concepts of "running" and "fun" in the same sentence... but here we are.