Sometimes when you see something completely unexpected or out of context, it can take a while for your brain to figure out just what you are seeing. That’s what happened when I was walking up to my bush cabin for the first time since the break.
My first reaction was ‘Whoa, that’s not the color of my cabin door’. Did some vandal sneak in here and change the door? That makes no sense. I can’t see into the cabin, so there is still a door of some sort. It looks like plywood. As I got closer, I saw a bunch of shredded wood, bits and pieces of the door frame and the mosquito screen lying on the ground.
It suddenly dawned on me what I was seeing, and I looked around because a bear had obviously been by recently. I had built the door myself years ago with a two-by-four frame and two sheets of plywood cut and nailed onto the frame creating a sturdy but hollow door. I did this for the insulation value of the dead air space. The bear had ripped off the outside piece of plywood but hadn’t managed to push through the inner one.
I was playing detective or animal behaviorist, piecing the story in front of me together.
The only problem was the door wouldn’t open for me because the latch didn’t work. So, I quickly went round the cabin to its back door. It’s always a good idea to have two doors to a cabin just in case. In case of fire, in case a door gets jammed and in case you want to go out and around, you can flee.
I let myself in, opened up the front door and started to clean up the debris, taking a good look at it. Bears have long claws which they can use in the same way that we use our fingers or to use them like we might use a tool like a screwdriver or pry bar. It had pried off the doors molding and got a grip on the plywood it tore off in shattered pieces.
From the amount of damage, I am betting he worked on the door for over an hour trying to get in before he gave up or got spooked and disappeared into the forest. If that is what happened, then he or she might not be far away and might come back to try again. So, I was a little spooked and had my airhorn within reach, along with the bear spray. Also, I was looking around, just to be sure nothing was moving around.
Once we got our supplies in and cleaned the place up a little, I started planning and rebuilding the door. I was very happy that he or she hadn’t gotten inside because a bear in a cabin looking for food can create a real mess and do a lot of damage.
But here is the thing: that bear went right for the front door and that probably means he or she had done this before and was wandering around looking for cabins, tent frames or tents to break into. The bear will probably wander around and keep doing this until he gets shot or trapped. That’s unfortunate, but it does happen occasionally. So be wary and be warned if you have a cabin. There is a bear out there looking for cabins to break into.
In the summer, last year’s cubs will be over a year old and either set off on their own or get driven away by their mothers. So they are wandering around looking for food and for an area or territory they can call their own. They are like teenagers — looking for food and adventure. They are young, agile, curious and hungry. So stealing a bit of food from a human’s camp may seem like a fun thing to do until the human shows up and tries to scare them away. However, if they break into a tent or cabin with no one around and get food then they associate cabins and camps with food and will try to break into them.
It is unfortunate because bears and humans don’t mix well as any bear who wanders into town discovers. Also, some crazy humans will even feed bears, which is definitely not a good idea.
So be careful! If you are out and about, have an air horn or bear spray with you.