Murphy: Bear Hunter

So, a couple of nights ago around 12 am, Murphy started to bark and growl and patrol the front room, concentrating on the back of the house. He has done this a couple of times before, but we were never able to figure out why until now. See the double set of green eyes in the tree? That's right, bear cubs. We had seen this pair with mama out in the woods a couple of times, but never had the camera.

The cubs were making these crazy sounds, almost like talking. Their claws made a sound like the crushing of aluminum cans on the tree bark, so Kelly and I though it might be a person looking for cans and maybe a little altered. So we grab the flashlight and start looking around. Nothing. Head back in and seconds latter, same noises, Murphy barking - What the Hell?!!

Then Kelly spots them with the light - "the babies!" she cries out. "The babies? WHERE THE HELL IS MOM?????!!!!" was my response. I quickly found the camera and got some shots off, then we headed back inside. Mom never was spotted and the cubs climbed down about five minutes latter and were gone.



We credit Murphy going Guard Dog for the cubs heading up the tree. When we last spotted mom, she was injured, so we are hoping that the cubs were sent up the tree by mom and are not on their own.

Here's old footage of Murphy's guard dog behavior.

Backcountry Adventures with Murphy

This was Murphy's first real camping trip -- no campground, no other people, no other cars, and so -- no leash. He had complete freedom for two days. He kept us safe from bears and coyotes. And he had a great time.

The first thing he did was help with digging out a new fire pit.

The game is: drop the ball in the fire pit, bury it, dig to get it out, dig some more, -- repeat.
































From morning till night he was in constant motion. I've never seen him more worn out.

Notice how he blends in with the dirt? That's because he'd been rolling in it for hours.

We were close by Bear Lake on the west side of the Tahoe Basin summit. Here he displays his water skills -- jumping, swimming, finding the ball. It's all about the ball.



The first day was all about swimming -- first in Bear Lake, then on to Miller Lake where Murphy chased a dragonfly for hours. When we got back around 4:00 -- he crashed out for a good three hours.

Next day was on to Ellis Peak -- at 8700' one of the tallest around. The view from the top was SPECTACULAR. The entire trail was three miles (so six miles out and back). I think Murphy's total distance was more around ten miles. He smelled every rock, peed on every tree, and chased every squirrel.



Although more fit for hiking, we decided to try it with bikes. Not so easy. But it was faster than all walking. As it worked out, we finished about half an hour before sunset. Wouldn't have done that if we'd been on foot.


Now that Murphy's old enough to come when we call (or maybe he's just decided he likes us enough to stick around) I think there will be much more camping to come.

Murphy Dog.