Mandy Cadwell and her snowshoeing friends had a “once in a lifetime” experience recently, when they encountered a bear waking up from hibernation and coming out of its den. They were so busy making sure the dog that was with them on the adventure, was kept safe from the face to face encounter, that they didn’t get any pictures. But Mandy went back another day and was able to capture a photo of the den, from a distance, along with the digging that the bear was doing. She was also able to get some photos of the bear prints and said that it was a big bear...it looks that way from the paw print.

The photos Mandy took of McCallum Creek there, melting and coming back to life, sure are beauties, too. That bear has good taste for where it spends its winters. And like many Yoopers this time of year, it is residing near the water, except this guy is by a creek, not the ocean.

Today’s video comes to us from Laura Nelson, who also had a “once in a lifetime” encounter and actually captured it on video. This looks to be a smaller, younger bear, but it was just coming out of its den, wobbly legs and all.

Really nice pics and great video!! Like seeing DA
BEARS!!

HOLY WHA....what an incredible experience!

I asked a friend how to say BEAR in Ojibwa. It's
Ma'kwa. I told Mandy to call it MAC. :D If anyone
knows Mandy...you know she is one huge animal
lover...She's constantly finding a new critter to
help, or fostering a litter of puppies, or helping
to rescue animals, etc. She's the Queen of
Critters. And it makes no difference if it's got
feathers or fur....She's gonna help it in anyway
she can.

Cute video. I love seeing the snow melting
and open water. So, the pictures are
wonderful!

This is amazing! After their long Winter's nap they might be ready to snack and i'd give them a wide berth! So glad Mandy kept the pooch safe. Thanks Laura for capturing the video of the other bear!

There's a hilarious video by Rick Mercer going into a den to tag the bear cubs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJRDpTUIrJI

Interesting pix and the video..."Yikes!", what a
strange sight? I don't know what I would do if I
was walking down the road and saw that coming out
of the ground.