Widseth land surveyors typically spend a significant portion of their workday outdoors, which inevitably leads to a wide variety of stories. These stories are often shared in the office after a long day, but why keep them there? We decided it would be fun to develop a series called Between the Stakes – Tales From Widseth’s Land Surveyors to share the trials and triumphs of our survey crews. Jack Samec, a survey technician in our Wyoming office, shared this story.
Another survey technician and I were performing an existing conditions survey in the Harris area back in August 2021. I went off to get some measurements on a couple of sheds by our client’s garage. While I was doing so, I heard a noise in the woods. I didn’t think much of it as we come across deer and turkeys fairly often. When the noise got closer, I decided to take a look.
To my surprise, about 30 to 40 yards away from me were three cubs and a mama bear passing through our client’s yard. It was quite alarming because I figured the only time I would ever get attacked by a black bear is when it feels its cubs are threatened. As those four continued along, I tried to stay hidden behind the shed. They ended up walking right between me and the work truck so running back to the truck was not an option.
My initial thought was I wished I had the machete with me. My second thought was whether hand-to-hand combat with a bear would be any use. Fortunately, I ended up not needing a machete or karate skills because the bear family kept on their merry way and had no clue I was even there.
At that time I had only been with Widseth for a couple of months. I work mostly in the office these days and even though I don’t get a lot of good stories working at my desk all day, I don’t have to worry about bears!
Stay tuned for more tales from Widseth’s Land Surveyors!
