Swimming Bear

This happened at a campground near us recently. A bear swam up at someone’s campsite in Twin Lakes Campground on Lake Hartwell. The campground is surrounded by Clemson University’s Experimental Forest and some other land used for agricultural research. Bears used to rarely be this far from the mountains (30 or so miles), but in recent years they have. The Corps of Engineers runs the campground.
South Carolina: Bear swims up to campers at Upstate lake

 

Well, that would certainly add some excitement to the trip...

 

It would have. Glad it was not us experiencing it.

 

We camp frequently in and around Ocala National Forest in Central Florida. We have encountered several bears while hiking, geocaching, or off road jeeping in my wife’s off road jeep. Only once have we seen one in a campground due to someone leaving out dog food. But others have told us that bears sightings are very common in the campgrounds. I did have one bear encounter on a trail while geocaching and it was a little unnerving. The state may institute another black bear hunting season due to the increase in population. Development in Florida is pushing into their habitat unfortunately.

 

ALmost as much as the time we were in Florida and Mrs Sweeney shouted "HOG! There's a hog!" at which point I immediately started looking for anything I could get my hands on to defend myself....

I'm freaking out, not quite panic, but on high alert producing adrenaline in quantity.

I turn around and look at the trail leading up to our camp site and I see a 400-500 pound pig, so fat that its feet barely touched the ground, waddle out from the tree line, obviously a pet of the next door neighbor -- it laid down. Well, lifted its feet --- the body didn't move much. I looked in my hands and I saw a can of beans, I have no idea what I was going to do -- perhaps beat the crap out of it. But the threat was clearly exagerated.

A few moments later it lowered its feet again and went back through the brush obviously heading back home for a well earned snack.

 

There are lots of wild hogs in Florida. They run in packs and normally not aggressive, but can be. With all the new subdivisions going up; the owners are having fits on what the hogs do to their yards. Some yards look like a plow went thru them. The state is paying trappers to reduce the population. But the hogs are breeding quicker than what the trappers are doing.

 

Same problem here in the Carolinas too. My wife has her degrees in forestry. When she was working on her Masters at Clemson she had to do research at Hobcaw Barony between Georgetown & Myrtle Beach. She tells people it is the only place they carried guns when they went to do research in the forest. People always respond, “For the gators, right?” The looks on some faces and when she responds, “Gators leave us alone, it is the wild hogs we have to shoot because they come after us.” I had a pair run across the Highway going to work a few days ago.

 

Brings new meaning to boondocking in hog country...