About "Fort Bear Necessity"

During the reports and journals from the Lake George Tacticals, you will read about our frequent appearance at a place called Fort Bear Necessity. I should point out that this is OUR term, and you will certainly never find that name on a map. Why do we call it that? Well, I named it that during my first year on the lake, when bears came across our peninsula and came very close to our man on watch one night, Frank Rodriquez.

What happened is this:

During the Lake George Tactical in 2000, my first, we were encamped on a peninsula just north of Red Rock peninsula. Just west of our little peninsula were two little islands, Hazel Island and Sarah Island (the smaller and southern of the two, with a superior name, I would say!) Our encampment was on the highest point of the peninsula and had been used as a small fortification before. That year, we had about 12 people camped in or near the fortification.

One night, about midnight, Frank Rodriguez of the Bedford Privateers was on watch and we were all asleep, when he heard footsteps nearby. He pulled out is tomahawk and was prepared to reach out and touch what he thought was the enemy (either a Frenchman or Indian). But suddenly, and owl hooted and then he heard a snort/growl kind of noise. In total panic, he dashed through the entrance to the little fortification and fired his musket, yelling "BEAR!" at the top of his lungs. I had actually been awake as he did, because the owl was right above my head and had woken me up when it hooted. Everyone else woke up with a start when he fired the musket.

Pandamonium erupted after that. Most of the people inside the fort stood up trying to figure out what to do, looking for all the world like a bunch of meercats, huddled around Frank! I stayed near my bedroll, which was next to a solid wall of stacked branches. Meanwhile, we were surrounded by loud and strange noises. We heard on one side two noises that sounded like an owl hotting with a trill at the end. We had been warned by Jon Soule the day before to listen for that noise, as it was the sound a bear makes, interestingly! Well, we could hear plenty of that, but also on two other sides the odd sounds of monkeys. We were told that that is the sound baby bears make especially in a panic. We deduced, eventually, that perhaps two mother bears were out there with at least two, probably three baby bears. They were of course distraught by the noise we were making and the fact that they were spread out and not directly with the mother bears. As I sat beside my wall, I could clearly hear the monkey noise coming closer and closer as they made move to get off the peninsula and onto the mountain slopes east of us. I do recall the hair standing up on my neck when I heard that sound, and of course we couldn't see a thing, as it was a very dark night.

Unfortunately, the next watch was mine. And while I knew they wouldn't come back, I was on edge nevertheless. Fortunately, the moon came up that hour and some light filtered into the woods where I was posted.

The next morning, making a play on George Washington's Fort Necessity and the song "Bear Necessities", I christened our encampment Fort Bear Necessity.

So there you have it!