gubster's Diaryland Diary

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where have all the bears gone??

They promised me bears, caribou, moose and elk. Sure I saw a few depressed looking reindeer in the North Pole, a lonely looking moose at a conservation centre, and the loud proud call of the elk was not so majestic when it came from a cage, and the response call from another elk was tragically from the other end of the park...they will never meet.

I admit when I�m trekking through the woods I�m scared out of my skin in case my next turn will lead me into a grisly or black bear, I�ve listened to the lectures from the rangers about being 'bear aware' apparently u never run you should fight back...yea right!! But I still want to see one. So I never did buy the bear bell that solo trekers are supposed to carry so animals can hear us stupid tourists coming and won�t get startled, as I trample through there home. I never do hum sing and whistle as I walked trough the forests and mountains as I was told by the rangers.....But alas on my third week here in Alaska and as I enter the city of Anchorage I never saw what I came to see. .......Now I think I know why

the other day as I was parked in Fred Myers, I spotted some nice looking scruffy guys in there massive pick up with boat attached. Now I can be forgiven for staring like a maniac because after 2 weeks here its like the average age of everybody in this state or at least everyone I saw was 50+ ........ and just as I was smiling over I saw it hanging out the back of the pick up a massive pair of antlers attached to a bloody mutilated fly infested head. Well my smile quickly disappeared as I remembered from last week what I had seen out the car window....all those guys with guns, of course had been hunting. Yes the season is here and the poor moose are being stock piled. Everywhere I look I see antlers, furs and moose processing ads. yuck yuck yuck and the freakiest part is its just a way to supplement income and stock up 4 winter over here, how bizarre.

Now, I can say my lack of wildlife viewing must be correlated to the number of guys with guns I have seen off road.

Now as I walk the trails sure i carry a bell and I�m singing my head even yes I admit it I�m talking to myself, but not for fear of bumping into a fierce predator, oh no I just don�t wont to end up shot by some random wild armed Alaskan.

6:49 p.m. - 2006-09-27

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