Making the news today....

[Steven P]

Thanks Sime, I'd commented as well - early onset of being senile? Full senile by 2026 maybe?

[Johnsond]

1 hour ago, sime42 said:

Here ya go. It's easy to miss the interesting stuff in this thread amongst all the tedious noise.

Nope 42 he misses absolutely zero. 
On topic, quite frankly with the amount of hi tech affordable night vision and thermal imaging equipment available nowadays, and the sheer quantity of foxes shot per annum “80-100k mainly at night or dusk” I’d say it’s garbage for a quiet news day and nothing more. 

 

[Bolt]

On 31/12/2024 at 12:11, Steven P said:

 

…this thread is kind of dying…

 

If but this were true.

[Mark Bolam]

Would anyone change their minds about big cats if they actually saw one with their own eyes like I did?

 

There is actually plenty of evidence as well, including DNA.

[peds]

19 hours ago, dan blocker said:

What’s “nearly eaten” by a brown bear Peds? Did he take a bite and spit you out, did he look at you, shake his head and walk off looking for a tastier meaty morsel? Did you out run it? 

 

6 hours ago, Steven P said:

 

Likewise, you can't just leave that hanging there!

 

I could have sworn I'd mentioned it on here before, but I can't find any mention of it in my post history. The whole encounter was short and sweet, but it is burned indelibly into my mind, and at the time, was the most terrified I'd been in my entire life up to that point, by a significant margin. 

 

Well, my ex-girlfriend (now wife) and I were on our last big trip away before the kids came along, we were driving around Hokkaido in a campervan for a month. We'd camped in the Shiretoko peninsula national park overnight, and I'd planned to trail run the traverse of all the peaks, about 8 of them over 40km or so I think, while my pregnant wife enjoyed her morning sickness and drove the van to the next volcanic natural hot tub we'd be camping at. It was a hard life, back when we were young and cool. 

 

So I was making my way up the first climb of the day, the path winding along straight up the ridgeline to the summit, and hemmed in on either side by a dense wall of rhododendron. 

As I round a corner, I catch a glimpse of fluffy round ears and flaring nostrils at the end of a long brown snout, no more than ten metres away. Before I've even had a chance to leak a terrified whimper, the sudden deafening noise made by four hundred kilograms of muscle and claw charging through dense forest fills the air, and I realise, gratefully, that it's heading away from me. The thunder and rumble quickly fades to silence, and I stand rooted to the spot for quite a few minutes, shaking my bear bell forcefully at the end of an outstretched arm, its braided string woven between white-knuckled fingers like prayer beads. The stench of it hangs in the air... rotten meat, overpowering, unbearable. 

I'm a split second away from turning around and heading back to the campervan, as I've only been gone twenty minutes, but I pull myself together and set off up the hill again, tinkling my little bell and singing loudly, as the guidelines suggest you do.

Ten minutes later I come across an unbelievably huge pile of shit, belonging to either an incredibly fat man with a remarkably varied diet, or to a brown bear. I hover my hand over it to see if it's still warm, and I can't help but poke through it a little with a stick to check it for bear bells.

 

Seven hours, zero minutes, and one bear after setting off that morning, I run down to where Aine has moved the campervan and I've finished the unexpectedly-rugged traverse of the Shiretoko national park, taking in all of the major peaks on the wild and isolated Shiretoko peninsula in north east Hokkaido. Sliced-open by impenetrable undergrowth, battered and bruised by falling scree and stone, mosquito-chewed but thankfully nothing bigger, there's only one thing for it: time for a hot bath and a cold beer in yet another volcanically-heated rock pool in the woods.

Thanks, bears, for not eating me.

 

Found these pictures lurking at the back of my old social media presence...

 

The terrain

 

More terrain

 

The ridgeline yonder, behind my head, to the first summit of the day. The bear was by my left ear.

 

Quite nice, this Japanese trail mix

 

The toxic work culture in Japan is fuelled in part by all sorts of particularly unpleasant energy drinks, like this one, which was probably equivalent to 3 Red Bulls, but in a much smaller package. Great for trail running too. Route continues along the ridgeline yonder. 

 

The bear survival finish line, letting it all hang out in yet another naturally heated sulphurous hot tub with a stream-chilled Asahi beer. Those were the days.

Edited Wednesday at 17:23 by peds

[Mark Bolam]

That bear would have eaten you for sure, but it spotted your top-knot and assumed you were either a Samurai or a bender and decided against it.

[Mick Dempsey]

Thanks Mark, that topknot is beyond the pale.

[peds]

You're just jealous of my luscious locks.

[Stubby]

1 minute ago, Mick Dempsey said:

Thanks Mark, that topknot is beyond the pale.

I had an auntie with one like that . 🙂

[Mark Bolam]

6 minutes ago, peds said:

You're just jealous of my luscious locks.

There may or may not be an element of truth in that….