"Goin' on a Bear Hunt"; 12-6-10

The snow machine ride was typical; the walk through the woods was not.

Joey had told me about a bear "hole" (den) he had come across last fall moose hunting. There had been fresh tracks, recent digging and other sign to indicate a bear's intent to make this hole it's winter residence. Now we had enough snow for travel, so this was a good time to check it out.

"Do you think you can find it?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I can." was his confident response.

When we shut off the machines and looked into the forest of willows; a dense mass of broom handles twice my height, I was doubtful. As I watched his head swiveling, searching for any kind of recognizable landmark, I became even more skeptical.

"You really think you'll find it?"

"I...think...so; maybe. It should be around here somewhere."

"How far back in the woods is it?"

"I don't know; not too far"

Yeah right. This was going to be a big waste of time. There was no chance of finding a hole in the ground in the midst of this mess. But I didn't want to give up. Yet.

He led the way, I brought the packsack and followed. We had to force our way through the tightly spaced willows. Many times I'd turn sideways to get through, only to get hung up by the packsack. It was tough going, but I kept following his tracks. Eventually he came to a halt.

"Here it is."

"No Way!"

"Yeah, it's right there" he said, pointing to the ground. And sure enough, there was the hole.

And then I laughed. And laughed. And kept laughing. It was one of the more amazing things I've ever seen. We walked 192 paces (I counted them on the way back out) through a complete maze of willows, with absolutely no landmarks whatsoever, and he went directly to it. Unbelievable.

"You are Real Native, my friend. I've never seen anything like this, and I was sure you were wasting our time. I'll never know how you found this thing."

He just smiled.

We chopped willows and cleared away the snow. We peeked. We shined flashlights. We poked around with a long pole. We even stuck our heads in there.

No one was home.

But it was definitely a fun trip, and I'll never forget it.