Christopher and the Grizzlies

Hi.
Here is a picture taken of my boyfriend, Christopher, on the top of Grouse Mountain, in North Vancouver. Back home in Norway, he nickname among friends is actually "Bjoenn", which means bear. Nevertheless, this picture shows how big these bears are compared to Christopher who is almost 2 meters high... This spring I went to a bear hunting course in order to become a licensed bear hunter. In the course I learned about the biology of bears and had to shoot on bear blinks. The latter was quite difficult because the area in which to point for a lethal hit is very small and the blinks was sometimes moving. On the most difficult blink, I had to shoot four lethal shots within 4 seconds (including the time you need to reload the weapon). Eventually, I managed well and was actually interviewed by the local newspaper as there are very few certified female bear hunters in Norway.

I have a huge respect for these animals, and having the ability to hunt bears does not necessarily mean that I ever will. Nevertheless, it is nice to know what to do if I should meet a bear training my dog in the Canadian woods.