Got Happy Meal?

[Ratdog68]

Mid-week of week #2, we had a "Mutual Aid Drill". Meaning, the company paid to host a number of governmental entities' reps to come play... throw scenarios at us and critique our response/procedures, etc. Coast Guard, USF&W, EPA, AK DEC... among others. The scenario was that our sub-sea pipeline bundle had ruptured and was leaking oil between our island and the facilities on shore. Of course, this included reports of seals and bears being contaminated with oil. Boats were dispatched to pull containment boom, sent out to search for oiled wildlife, our responsiveness to reports of oiled wildlife, our efforts to assist in their capture/rescue... a LOT of money was spent that day (not to mention months leading up to "play day").

Well... as luck would have it, I got to be volunteered to participate in the excitement. I was given a "this is a drill.... there is a report of a sow and cub on S.I.D. which have been covered in oil... this is a drill..." dispatch to find (whatever had been created to resemble bears) 'em. I found a blob of white on the beach, near our WEST boat ramp, but, boats were about to deploy boom from there, and this may've been some of their gear... so, I'd decided I'd do a complete circle of the island and come back to this blob and take a closer look. I'm rounding the NE corner of the island and a truck driver is waving his radio and frantically pointing towards the EAST boat ramp. About the time I get there, I'm seeing THE REAL THING 50 feet from shore, and swimming TO shore !!! Now, mind you... this water is ONLY 3 feet deep, and all I'm seeing sticking up and out of the water is a pair of ears, a pair of eyes, and a nose... his forehead and the top of his snout !! I can't see ANY of his body below the surface of the water !!! This ol' boy is putting the CREEP on us and fixing to come ashore !!! That's when chaos broke loose on the radio. I'm calling in to report a confirmed sighting of the REAL thing (in the middle of this drill/scenario) on one channel, an "all-call" is being broadcast on every channel (heard from another radio I have in my rig to monitor) by the guy inside (who I'm calling)... and a loader operator is frantically calling on another channel to report seeing the same thing (didn't know I'd just rounded the corner behind him). The poor guy INSIDE was in the middle of making telephone notifications to various people of the "drill/scenario" reported sighting and suddenly realized all heck was breaking loose on the radio for the REAL thing. LOL Well... it all fell into place, I nosed my vehicle onto the boat ramp, two CAT 966H loaders came in behind me and parked on either flank... and that made for enough mechanical presence to intimidate the bear and cause him to change course and head off to the neighboring barrier island (150 yds to the north of us). Once he got out of sight from the boat ramp, I drove over to the NE corner of the island and go looking to verify he hadn't come ashore on the bags just north of the boat ramp. It's quite the rush, stepping to an opening in the clutter of stored equipment... to go looking for a polar bear you KNOW "could be only feet away"... slugs in hand/action open (to do a tactical load into your shotgun) as you're walking ! Fortunately for all concerned, he'd remained in the water, and I was able to watch him swimming the rest of the way to the neighboring barrier island. When he emerged from the water... this boar kept coming up, coming up, and coming up from the water.... BIG boar !!! Half an hour later, he had wandered to the east end of the barrier island, and I'd watched him get back into the surf and swim to the next island to the east. Paper work complete for this encounter... I was ready to resume participating in the drill. Yeah... those blobs were my simulated bears, and thankfully, the Good Lord impressed upon me to NOT stop right then, but to finish my lap of the island. If I had stopped to verify then... that boar would've come ashore... with 60 people on the island working and walking about. The remainder of the drill/scenario day went well, the delay on my end fell right in line with the response time allotted for USF&W's response to simulate darting/removal of the simulated bears... and, nobody ended up being a "Happy Meal" for the real bear. Sorry, I was more than a little busy at the time... no pix of this bear.

I received a "solar battery charger" (for my personal electronics) for my part in participating in the drill. LOL

 

[Ratdog68]

They sure are fun to watch in their environment.

 

[histopicker]

Talk about a big boar, waddya think, 1200 lbs? You ought to be in the Sus Venator club just for having big enough balls to go anywhere near these guys. Kudos to you sir.
Bullokus Maximus.

 

[Ratdog68]

Wouldn't surprise me if he was in that class (size). Given that I have almost nothing to compare him to (side by side), and zooming in from afar... and never get close enough to really appreciate their size... it's hard to say for sure.

What I DO know (though), is that if the bear's neck appears LONG, and his head isn't too out of proportion (small), he's a sub-adult. when he gets that almost "no-neck" appearance, and his head appears way too small... THAT's a BIG BEAR. When their legs begin to appear stubby, that's also a BIG BEAR. If you can see them along side a sow (rarely happens, unless it's mating season), it's a little easier to judge them, the sows get to about 700lbs.