Rabid bat(?) ... trout, deer & bear that followed caddisgirl back to camp.

[caddisguy]

Bat flew towards us broad daylight, 40C heat. Was gonna knock it out of the park with a paddle but it landed on the rope and started biting at it. Flipped the camera on and got a little bit of footage of it looking fairly innocent, but bored of the rope and looked like it was gonna make it's next move I flipped it in the river. It made it to shore... not sure if that's a good thing or bad... bat wasn't right for sure.

caddisgirl woke up and went for a walk around 6:30am... got surprised by a bear coming out of a tree a few feet away. She walked backwards about 3/4km back to our camp with the bear seemingly following or "stalking" her. She woke me up... we followed it and filmed for a bit as it climbed trees and whacked down some wasp nests... after watching it for a while, I don't think it was actually following her but rather making its morning rounds eating insects in stumps and yellow jacket nests. Hope you are half as stimulated as we were... plus some bonus deer & fishing footage!!!

[srthomas75]

great beer choice

[caddisguy]

great beer choice

Anything to fight the pine beetle and put on my resume that I contribute to replanting forests.

[Big Lew]

Unfortunately there is no video of the bear following 'caddisgirl', but from what
I watched I agree with you that the bear wasn't seriously stalking. I've watched
several films showing black bears actually stalking people, and I've been stalked
as well. Stalking bears will climb trees as they build up their nerve and as a diversion,
and they also wander off to the side while seemingly not paying attention to their
potential victim, but they relentlessly keep closing the distance, sometimes with a trot.
Your bear wasn't just climbing trees, it was after the wasps. It also didn't seem to be
trying hard to close the distance. There is the possibility that he lost his nerve though
because of your additional presence.

[caddisguy]

Unfortunately there is no video of the bear following 'caddisgirl', but from what
I watched I agree with you that the bear wasn't seriously stalking. I've watched
several films showing black bears actually stalking people, and I've been stalked
as well. Stalking bears will climb trees as they build up their nerve and as a diversion,
and they also wander off to the side while seemingly not paying attention to their
potential victim, but they relentlessly keep closing the distance, sometimes with a trot.
Your bear wasn't just climbing trees, it was after the wasps. It also didn't seem to be
trying hard to close the distance. There is the possibility that he lost his nerve though
because of your additional presence.

I would have been a little worried if I was in her shoes... a few feet away and bear coming down a tree... no bear spray, air horn or anything. She walked backwards head down pretty much the entire time. That's a long walk under those circumstances. I got her to take me back to where it all started. There was a wasp nest down there too and she showed me every stump along the way it stopped at. I had also smelled the bear the previous morning at the same spot we ended up *following it* to... was a bit disturbing that it wasn't respecting her space and that we saw if sniff at a few tents of unsuspecting campers along the way. That said, I was unable to see any indication that it was a "problem bear" beyond being moderately habituated to a campground and humans, but it seemed to be doing its own thing and curious at most. Hopefully it will stay that way. I also thought about how the scenario could have changed once there were two us... black bears are so unpredictable that even they don't know what they'll do next... giving it the benefit of the doubt though... honestly figure bear was like "#1) why is one of these humans up so god dang early and #2) why is she walking backwards so slow looking at the ground #3) get outta the way of my bug circuit"

I know that round-about indirect approach black bears take when they are stalking. I've never seen one use a legitimate diversion other than "im wandering off to this side and then off to the other side for no apparent reason" ... all the evidence I have here is that it was legitimately munching on grubs and larva.

Biggest danger in all this? Probably those yellow jackets. She's allergic but we have epi-pen. Though that bat was bat*** crazy.

[Wentrot]

Good video-nice little trout to, looks like you have a little slice of paradise there

[caddisguy]

Good video-nice little trout to, looks like you have a little slice of paradise there

Thanks! The trout one turned out decent, but the low water levels and heat wave got in the way of the non-stop action we were hoping for. At one point I regretted not going somewhere else, but the relaxing and the critters made up for it. Gonna hit the river for some productive flyfishing soon.

[adriaticum]

Dude, you're wearing a shirt fishing. WTF?!

[caddisguy]

Dude, you're wearing a shirt fishing. WTF?!

I didn't want the sun to burn my beer belly.

[ruger#1]

I didn't want the sun to burn my beer belly.

Ha Ha Caddi, Your just afraid your belly lint would catch fire in this heat. It is good to be catiuos . Nice vid, Thank You