Jennifer S age forty likes the great outdoors, just not great big bears. Her encounter with a bear began in the fall of 1996 in Eagle River, Wisconsin. Jenny, her husband Brent, and their friends Chris and Tracy went to their cabin for a relaxing weekend. The cabin is located on Lone Stone Lake in the middle of the Nicolet National Forest.
Jenny said, “The weather was beautiful and Tracy and I decided to go on a walk in the woods and collect pinecones for an arts and craft project.”
“We started to go for a walk on a trail behind the cabin,” said Tracy. “I asked Jenny if she had ever seen any bears in the woods before.”
“I laughed and told her that there were no bears in the area,” said Jenny.
Tracy seemed jumpy at every noise she heard. Jenny kept ignoring her and continued to collect pinecones. Soon they passed a large bush and they heard a noise in the forest by the bush.
Tracy again asked Jenny, “Are you sure there aren’t any bears?”
“Stop worrying about the bears,” said Jenny frustrated.
They walked about fifty more feet when Tracy yelled, “I see a bear!”
“It must be a dog, said Jenny.
Tracy grabbed Jenny’s arm and said “look!”
When Jenny looked up from gathering pinecones, she indeed did see a big black bear on all four paws. Jenny told her friend Tracy don’t panic and don’t run! Tracy proceeded to run as fast as she could away from the bear. Jenny picked up a stick and dropped all her pinecones and ran after her friend. Jenny picked up a stick to poke the bear in the eye if it got close.
Jenny and Tracy ran around the lake, but the bear did not follow them. The two friends went out on a pier at an abandoned cottage and flagged down two fishermen.
They called out to the fishermen and said “Help us we’re being chased by a bear.”
The fishermen came and rescued Jenny and her friend Tracy from the bear. They took them back to their cabin. Jenny and her friend invited the fishermen in for a drink and thanked them for rescuing them from the bear. They then called the DNR to report the bear sighting. Later the DNR did capture the bear. Jenny and her friend learned that it was a three hundred and fifty pound black bear that had been causing trouble in the area. And that was Jenny’s only encounter with a bear in the woods.