The bear that sniffed me through the blanket and ran when I chased it wasn’t the ferocious animal I’d believed. It changed my mind about them a bit, but it was only one bear, and I wouldn’t have another encounter for nearly 10 years. 
Tasha foragingBy then I’d graduated from high school, went to Grand Rapids Junior College for two years as a start toward becoming a biologist, but my family and I couldn’t afford college beyond that.
I became a mailman and loved the job. I scored at the 99.6 percentile on a supervisor exam to put me on a track toward management, and the generous vacation time let me pursue a new hobby—wildlife photography. Actually, it was a camera shop on my mail route that got me started in that. The owner gave me a special deal on a Topcon camera, telephoto lens and tripod. That led to an interesting bear encounter in 1965. At a garbage dump in the Upper Peninsula, I saw a bear flee into the woods as I drove in. I grabbed the camera and tripod and quietly got ready in case he came back. I say “he” because he was big. When he appeared, he looked at me maybe 75 feet away, and continued toward the garbage pit as I clicked. He seemed unconcerned about me, and I recognized that and felt safe, but when I got back to my vehicle, people had arrived who were very concerned for my safety. One of them had gotten out a rifle in case the bear attacked.
The mailman job was good, but I wanted to be a biologist. I wanted to have a job learning about nature. It’s what I grew up doing, and I wanted to make it my life. In the fall of 1966 at the age of 27 I resigned from the Post Office, took my retirement money, and used it for tuition at Michigan State University. I didn’t know where more money would come from after the retirement money ran out in a year. It was like I was supposed be there. Things came together for me. I studied hard and got excellent grades. I applied for a scholarship. I enjoyed living in a dormitory and ended up being president of my floor. That led to my being selected as a resident assistant for the dormitory, and that covered room and board.
Partway through my first year back in college as a junior, I heard of two internships being offered through the Michigan Department of Conservation. One was to assist in deer research, and the other was to assist in capturing and moving nuisance bears. As part of that, we would be capturing bears to ear-tag them as part of a study. I applied along with dozens of other students. I happened to get to the Department headquarters near closing time. Most of the people were gone except for the Head of Research, Dr. Ralph Blouch, who would be making the selections. I told him how I had left a good job to try to be a biologist and that I desperately needed experience. I told him if I got the job I would do whatever it took on the job, that I would never argue, and would run to do whatever I was told. I begged. We hit it off. We talked about the people I’d meet. He told me that the person in charge of the bear work, El Harger, was a legendary bear hunter and a marathon runner despite his age of 41. He told me about Director Lou Verme who was a major deer researcher. The job was based at the Cusino Wildlife Research Station near Shingleton in the Upper Peninsula. We had such a good time talking that we forget to have me fill out an application. A block away, that hit me and I ran back. Dr. Blouch was still there. I filled it out but had little hope of getting the job. I applied for an internship in New Mexico helping with a white-winged dove research project. I’d been a birder since second grade. A couple months later, I was notified that I had been selected as the top candidate for the dove internship. I telegraphed (this was in 1967) that I wanted it. The next day, I got a call that I had been accepted for one of the Michigan internships where I’d be working in my old vacation land, possibly on bears! I called New Mexico. I asked how bad it would be if I took the Michigan job. They said “No problem, you got back to us so quickly via the telegram that we haven’t yet heard from the runners up. We can just pick one of them.”
More tomorrow.
In the here and now, Lily Fans captured 5:25 minutes of Tasha foraging at the Bear Center yesterday evening. Nice video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKYggaGlrAw
Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center