Close
Encounters of the Furry Kind
by Keno
(written in the morning of Aug 15, 2019
First of
all, I love living in this area and have been here now for 17 years. But if
you live in Crestone or the Baca, chances are you have had at least one
close encounter with your local neighborhood bear. Being that years ago I
was the wildlife reporter for the local newspaper (The Crestone Eagle, of
course), I’ve investigated and written about our local bears in the past and
even reported on one break-in to a home just 2 blocks from where I live. I
also in my 17 summers living there, had 2 close encounters with bears, both
times at night, and now, for a third time, it has happened again. But for
the first time for me – this time it took place inside of my home! Like so
many other locals before me, I got to witness how quickly they can get into
you home at night if you leave open your windows after you go to sleep. I’ve
always been aware of this problem from the many stories I’ve either heard of
or read about, and also from a couple of locals who directly told me their
stories of fighting off a bear who was trying to get into their homes
(always at night it seems). So last night, or should I say early this
morning, it was my turn to experience this!
Again,
this was round 3 for me with a close encounter with a bear here, but the
first 2 times the animal wasn’t trying to get into the house. The first time
was many years ago, about 12, maybe even 14 or so years ago, when I heard a
commotion outside by my garden, which is adjacent to my home’s sunroom. So I
went out the back door with a baseball bat in my hand knowing it had to be a
bear and sure enough that’s what it was. It was a moonless night and when I
think back on what I did that night, well that was a very foolish thing to
do. But within a second of going out the back door – there it was, but not
the biggest bear for this area (and as most of you all know we do have some
big ones around here). It at first made a move towards me and at that very
moment I wished I had stayed inside, as this animal was only trying to get
through the chicken wire fence around the garden. After at first growling at
me, it then turned away and ran, and that’s the end of that story, other
than after I thought it over, I realized what I stupid move I had made. The
bear was only trying to get into the garden and nothing more than that. I
should have never gone after it like I did.
Then
there was 2 summers ago (or was it 3 summers ago? I can’t remember for
sure), but it was in the same summer when only a week after a local here had
been ripped into badly in his chest and arms by a bear one day while out on
his deck. Anyway, it was about 2 am or so, on another moonless summer night
and perfect weather for some stargazing. So I was on my front deck with my
grandson Cooper’s small telescope, set up on the wooden table out there. I
had music playing in the house and Coop was asleep inside the house, so
I was alone out there enjoying the view of the stars above. I didn’t hear
the sound that is normally made when someone (or something) walks on the
deck (thanks to the music playing inside the house), as this bear was
walking down the side of the same deck that I was on, but it was on the side
of the deck where the house blocks the view of what (or who) was heading
directly towards me. All of a sudden – and only 2 feet away from me, appears
this giant bear! He was just as surprise to see me standing there as I was
to see him. He stood up tall on his back legs and growled at me as I yelled
back at him! I scared him as much as he scared me and then he turned around
and ran in the opposite direction, as I headed towards the front door and
inside the house as fast as I could. My guess is when that bear returned to
his den, he must had told his mate of this scary old hippie dude that he had
just ran into!... Anyway, I haven’t stargazed out on the deck since that
night!
Then
last night – well, early this morning, I had my third close encounter with a
bear. Again, I have heard or been told several stories of bears breaking
into homes here in town, but not until a bear tries to break into your home
do you realize how real the threat is. Having a close encounter outside with
a bear is one thing, and around here really not uncommon. But having one
inside your home is an entire different story! I have often joked in the
past to friends who live elsewhere, how where I live, we don’t really worry
too much about people breaking into our homes in the greater Crestone area,
but some of us do worry about bears breaking in. But the truth of the matter
is, if you live here – you damn well better worry about this happening to
you sooner or later – that is, if you have windows in your house that open
up (and everybody does), and you forget and leave them open at night after
you go to bed.
I always
remember to close my windows before retiring for the night after I saw
firsthand what a local bear did to the inside of my neighbor’s home one
night when they were away from the house and left open a window. But I’m a
night owl of the highest degree, one who usually rarely goes to bed before
the light of dawn. But I am like many others when sometimes I do fall asleep
for a few hours on the living room couch, and if it is in the summer, I
haven’t yet closed the windows for the night yet.
I was
home alone on Wednesday night with the grandson away, having a normal
evening, and was reading the manual for my brand new online weather station
that had just been delivered to my home the day before, but which I hadn’t
taken out of the box it came in yet. I recall it was about 11 pm or so, and
the next thing I know, I unexpectedly fell asleep on the living room couch.
I had already closed the doors to the house for the night and the only
windows downstairs that were still open was the small window in the kitchen
by the sink. I have a small open kitchen and my living room, where I feel
asleep, is directly across from it. It was 1:30 in the morning and the twin
sliding kitchen windows were only slightly open at this time, while the
other downstairs windows were all closed for the night. I was awaken to the
sound of the kitchen blinds of all things, which were down and half way
closed, being breached. Yet I didn’t awake at first to the sound of five
small glass bottles holding water with small plants growing inside of them -
and sitting on the window shill – falling – well, being pushed into the sink
below – as this bear opened up the sliding window all the way and knocked
them into the sink. All I heard were the blinds making a crinkling sound as
the bear was coming in through the window and blinds - while pushing the
blinds forward and out of its way! That’s what woke me up! I didn’t even
realize I had fallen asleep or what time it was, but instinctively – and
still half asleep, I knew exactly what was happening even before I saw the
bear half inside the window! I jumped up screaming at the bear – “GET OUT OF
HERE!!” I yelled at it as I jumped up and ran towards the window at it, and
the animal backed out of the window and left in a flash! But it was already
half inside the house and had I awaken 30 seconds later it would have been
totally inside – and just feet from the living room couch that I was
sleeping on. I didn’t have any time at all to be scarred, nor to think
straight, as you don’t charge at a wild bear – even one that is inside your
house, not without a weapon in your hand anyway!
It’s
funny, I’ve always kept a stun gun on the living room table next to my couch
just in case a bear ever tried to break in. I always figured the animal
would still be at the window and I could stun it before it got inside. Well,
once it happens to you, you realize that things like this just don’t happen
in such a simple way. Plus when I awoke I didn’t even think of that stun
gun!
This
bear was a big one, not one you would ever want to approach, and I’m not
sure how it even fitted through the window. But again, I was half asleep and
not thinking straight when this took place – and not expecting to be
awakening to what I saw. Heck, I didn’t even realize that I had fallen
asleep! I just heard this animal breaking into my home and automatically
awoke and reacted in the way I did! In a way I’m glad I did what I had to do
while not being 100% awake, other than charging the bear was a mistake (and
this was now the second time I made that same mistake!). But the bear left
the house and property in a flash, as if its life depended on it! Yet for
the third time now, for me, each time the bear did as we are told what they
usually do when confronting a person, they will turn and run away! Come to
think of it, while this was my third encounter here with a bear, it’s the
fourth time overall that I’ve come face to face with a bear, as the first
time it happened to me was in Yosemite National Park, back in my youth when
I was about 20 years old, hiking on a trail there. Yep, the bear that day
did the very same thing, it saw me and my girlfriend and turned and ran in
the other direction!
It is
crazy, but my guess is that many locals don’t really think a bear might
break into their home, and I wonder how many go to bed at night with their
windows open? Do you?.... Well…don’t! I always close mine at bedtime, but
again, I stay up 5 out of 7 nights a week till dawn and I never close the
windows at night until that time, and yes, I’ve fallen asleep unexpectedly
before, with more windows open than what I had open last night. All of my
other windows are larger windows and would be much easier for a bear to get
inside than the kitchen window. But because of what I know and what I’ve
seen around here, I am bear aware. Are you? I now realize that even I wasn’t
bear aware enough, and not really sure how to deal with keeping bears out of
the house at night now. I also always keep the upstairs windows in the
bedrooms open all summer long, even at night. But the ones adjacent to the
lower garage roof – should those be kept closed at night too? Would a bear
climb up on the roof to get inside? I never really thought of that before,
but now I will. A bear could do that, but my guess is it won’t waste its
energy to do it. Or would it? I guess a phone call is in order to our local
wildlife officer to find out. But one must always feel safe inside their
home, and I always have, but after this encounter - inside of my home - I
just lost a bit of that secured feeling. I can’t wait till fall gets here and
it cools off, and the local bears go to sleep for the winter. Until then,
I’m going to be much more bear aware then I’ve been. I suggest you do the
very same, since it’s only a matter of time in this neck of the words, that
it will happen to you too – and yes, it will happen to you - sooner or
later!
K
Update
(Aug 16 @ 230pm)
Today I spoke with a Colorado State Wildlife officer from the local office in Monte Vista named Clayton, who informed me that there have now been 20 home bear break-ins (or near break-ins, like what I described above) in the Crestone-Baca area since June! That is a much larger number than normal and it doesn't matter where in the town of Crestone (or the Baca) you may live, as they been reported all over the entire area, and it's believed that several different bears are responsible for these break-ins. In all but one case windows were left open or garbage cans were left unsecured outside. In the most bizarre case, one bear in the town of Crestone broke through a closed glass window - shattering the glass to get inside the house!
Clayton for the most part blamed us humans for the increase in these encounters, mainly because of unsecured garbage cans attracting them to homes. In the case with the break-in at my home, that wasn't the case, there were no garbage cans left out that night, but he noted to me if a nearby neighbor left their garbage out, that is what could have drawn the bear to my home, too. So please secure your trash - and - do talk to your nearby neighbors about this problem, too, so they are aware of this. Plus most important, remember for sure to close your windows after dark, or at least before retiring for the night. Believe me, you don't want to experience a bear break-in! For me, now that I experienced this first hand, I would have preferred that it had been a human breaking in instead, since in part with a bear, once they set sights on your house, they will return for more - sooner or later.
Keno