Wildlife

Running in the mountains I tend to see some interesting things (and usually fail at getting a decent picture of them).

I've run into bears on several different occasions. Last year when I biked to Penticton and back via the Kettle Valley Railway I was taking shelter from a storm under a canopy and was taking a picture when I noticed a black bear (I think it was black) and her two cubs approaching the shelter, I left and was suddenly able to bike through the storm real fast. This is the best picture I could manage taking before I left.

Yeah, I failed really badly at getting a good picture. Last week when I was running the same route to Penticton I was cutting through Rock Oven Park and was passing through a clearing of trees (it had been cleared for a power line, but enough grass had grown in that it looked half decent) and saw two bear cubs. They were about 100 metres away from metre eating the long grass. I stopped and stared at them like an idiot in a trance. I wish I had my camera with me, but I had far too much other stuff in my pack to be able to carry it too. When I came out of my stupor I realized the momma bear was nowhere in sight so it was best that I made like a tree and leave, fast.

As well, I've run into a bear twice while mountain biking in Myra Bellevue Park in the last couple months. Once while pissing I saw one walking through the bushes, which was very scary as I really didn't feel like running away with my shorts down; and the other time I was coming down a wide trail and saw one at the side of the trail and it didn't seem to see me. Rather than stop and have a stare down and hope that it would walk away I made the quick decision to bike past it as fast as I could in the hopes that it wouldn't see me, turn around, and accelerate to the speed I was going to catch me. I'm not dead... but I think that was the wrong plan.

Brown bears: most attacks occur in the months of July, August and September. You are less likely to get attacked if you make noise so the bear is aware of your presence. And in direct confrontations with a brown bear you are statistically more likely to be attacked if you run, as opposed to standing your ground. Also, a brown bear will stand on its hind legs, huff and growl before attacking you. You want to play dead for brown bears.

Grizzly Bears: I'm pretty sure they are not around my area. Grizzlies are too large to climb trees so when confronted they respond by standing they ground and warding off attackers. Like a brown bear if it begins to huff and growl it is getting ready to attack. It may 'pop' its head also. I've read that you shouldn't try to outrun a grizzly, they can reach speeds of 45 km/hr. You're supposed to back away slowly from the bear, and avoid eye contact. Don't fight back with grizzlies, play dead. They are probably only attacking out defensively.

Black bears: Are supposedly 'timid' compared to other bears. At first if you encounter a black bear you should stand tall, wave your arms, and slowly back away. But if they do attack, which is rare, fight back. Fuck their shit up!

So, play dead for brown bears and grizzly bears (grizzlies are a subspecies of brown bears), they can't climb too well so climbing a tree wouldn't be a bad idea, if you can get up there before the bear attacks you and fucks your shit up. And fight back for black bears... punch em in the face; they're like the bully at school, they huff and puff but once you punch em back they fuck right off.

I run into deer a lot. There's a herd of deer that live on Knox Mountain (I run there between 3 and 5 times a week these days), and there's lots of deer up in Myra Bellevue Park. Deer scare the crap out of me. They have these satanish black eyes that seem to stare at you empty and I can't imagine what they are thinking at all. And their heads don't swivel smoothly when they watch you move. I'm pretty sure the deer that live in the Okanagan are White-Tailed deer subspecies of some sort. Here's a picture of some that I came across on my way from Chute Lake to Kelowna last year.

Recently when I was biking in Myra Bellevue Park I saw what looked like signs that a buck had been rubbing its antlers against a tree to try and rub the fuzz off.

When I encounter deer I find that yelling at them in a deep voice gets them to move along, in the daytime at least. I have never gone for a run on Knox Mountain without running into at least one deer. I've done several night runs on Knox and find the deer very strange to run around at night. They seem to respect you less at night, and are harder to get to move. I can see them just fine with my headlamp on, but their eyes (which shine a light blue from my lamp) seem very disturbing at night. And sometimes they just don't move! It's ok if they are just lieing on the side of the mountain watching me, but when I have to run on a trail with several of them on each side of the trail it freaks me out. One time when I was running the lower trails at Myra Bellevue Park at night I ran through a herd of 15 deer (that's the number of eyes I counted) and none of them moved for me. I had to weave in and out and around them, I was within reaching distance of them and I swear I could have slapped them on the rear end if I was so afraid of them getting spooked and kicking me in the face.

I saw poo that looked like this on a recent run.

Actually I saw two different piles of it, and they were both steaming fresh. I have no idea what it is, because bear poo looks like pudding patty piles and deer poo looks like this...

I really wish I knew what type of animal it was from, I'd be a little less nervous running in those hills (not that I'd stop) but it would be nice to know.

And then of course there is the animals like marmots, squirrels and wild rabbits that move far too fast for me to get pictures of. Once I was attacked by something that I'm not sure if it was a wild rooster (is there even such a thing) or a really big quail. The thing had its feathers around its neck all puffed up and charged at me... I ran the other way, it was so sad.

I think I'll try and remember to take my camera with me more often to get more pictures of the wildlife I see.

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"Explore your limits and get to know yourself. You'll never feel more real than after the hardest workout, the longest run, the toughest week, or the best race of your life. Constantly make your own standards tougher" - Luke Watson

Keep on running.

Nazzer