The bearhunt

We’re going on a bear hunt. We’re going to catch a big one. What a beautiful day! We’re not scared.

I must have been about 17 years old and had found my first internship in Almere, at daycare center ‘de Berenstad’. The first time I read the book Were going on a bear hunt it soon became clear to me that this was the absolute favorite book of the children. As soon as I picked up the book, the children threw themselves on the cushions in the reading corner and together we roared up the text, over and over again. What many have with the German cases and a few perhaps with mathematical formulas, I have with the book ‘were going on a bear hunt´. Say the first two words and I will read the entire book from A to Z by heart.

So, the bear hunt. For me, is this experience why when I think of the bear hunt I connect this with sitting comfortably on a mass of pillows with all kinds of sweet happy faces around me. So warm and cuddly. In reality, the word takes on a different meaning when you consider that it is really the reality every late summer. That there is hunting in Sweden, that is clear. From August onwards, the hunters will have the opportunity to hunt different animals at designated times. How much they can shoot and when is agreed for each area. The biggest is moose hunting, but now it is bear hunting time.

That bears exist here and apparently are with many, is something you especially know from hearsay. Once we drove through the beautiful countryside of Canada, it happened a few times that we saw some beautiful bears just walking around the road. At every picnic spot where there signs to warn os for the bears who had long realized that there was food for the taking. In Sweden, on the other hand, the bears believe that you should stay in the woods and far from those scary people. Perhaps not a very crazy plan, given the bear hunt. So you do not see bears, they are just there. In general, you are not that concerned with that. But as I wrote in a previous blog, my cool son and I went on a hiking vacation this summer. The 7 days of hiking were a great success that we both remember with great pleasure. The plans for the next hiking are already in the making. However, the walk also had some scary moments. The times when we had to walk on the main road and the cars rushed by. But especially, it was that moment when we decided with the help of GPS maps to cut a part of the route by not following the normal road, but by going straight through the forest. I thought I had found enough paths, which in reality were already quite overgrown and no person had walk there in a long time . Maybe not a person, but foxes, wolves, boars, moose and bears. We saw the tracks of a few of these animals and the tension increased in that big beautiful forest. We managed ourselves, me with hand on my knife meanwhile singing loudly together, and found our path back to civilization. It was a great adventure, which we might not just throw ourselves into the next time. It was quite different from walking in the woods of Holland. During our great hike and all the hikes before we did not see a bear yet. In my fantasy they are waiting everywhere behind a tree until we have passed again. “Come on guys, the coast is clear.”

And then. Just after half past seven on a Thursday morning. Driving the main highway between home and work. There she / he quickly ran across the road. Not big, I suspect not yet grown up. Just the nasty thought of mommy and daddy bear quickly in my thoughts. However, for you dear beautiful bear, well done. Run bear, run! Go and hide again in the middle of the forest. The bear hunt is soon over!