After living in Idaho for a couple of years, we became used to seeing bear, from a distance on our property. This land overlooked Lake Coeur d’Alene and was very wild and remote.
One morning as we were leaving on our morning run, we turned to see two young bears, right next to our home, twenty feet from us. The got up on their hind legs in order to see us better. We said “Hi bears” and began to walk backwards slowly. They continued to stare at us and slowly moved towards the woods. We continued on our run, after enjoying our encounter with the bear which ended peaceably.
We saw the bear many times after that but never had any negative experiences with the bear. A few days later I saw a mother bear with two very young cubs as they were drinking from my small pond. I went on my deck, fifty yards away from the bear and tried to take photos. As soon as the mother bear heard the click of the camera shutter, she woofed and the cubs went up the closest tree, but I did end up with a few a few good photos that may become the subject of a future bear painting.
