A couple years after I heard about the guy who fell into a bear den, I found myself doing a lot of winter work in the woods. I was working with two men and we were surveying snags (dead trees) in a recently burned area. Two of us would post-hole through the snow along transects and count the snags. The third person post-holed between us and recorded the numbers we shouted. The two people on the end were approximate fifteen meters from the middle person. We did our best to stay together.
One day, as we counted and recorded snags, I heard one of my coworkers cry out. But when I looked over, I didn't see him.
“Where’s Bob?” I asked.
“Here!” Bob shouted.
I scanned the area until I finally spotted him, or rather, I spotted his head poking out of the snow, a big grin on his face. When I realized what had happened, I laughed. Bob was fine. He had taken a step and fallen through the snow into a burned out stump hole. A perfect place for a bear den. Fortunately, this time there was no bear.
