When you’re at work, looking across a pond, past the open #prairie, and realize a Black Bear is emerging from the forest.
— Ed Makowski (@EdMakowski) January 26, 2021
You’ve worked at nature centers for close to a decade now. Innumerable deer, foxes, coyotes, a few weasels. Hawks, owls, eagles. A Pileated Woodpecker. Helped rescue a Flying Squirrel from a bird feeder.
— Ed Makowski (@EdMakowski) January 26, 2021
But never a bear.
Your heart begins beating quickly as you weigh how unlikely this incredible #wildlife sighting.
— Ed Makowski (@EdMakowski) January 26, 2021
A sow and her cubs were spotted the next county over in the past year…you always hoped you’d see one – or maybe a cougar, or a badger, or a bobcat.
— Ed Makowski (@EdMakowski) January 26, 2021
Your heart begins beating quickly as you weigh how unlikely this incredible #wildlife sighting.
— Ed Makowski (@EdMakowski) January 26, 2021
A sow and her cubs were spotted the next county over in the past year…you always hoped you’d see one – or maybe a cougar, or a badger, or a bobcat.
— Ed Makowski (@EdMakowski) January 26, 2021
You think about the lens on the camera, whether you can photograph it from a safe distance.
— Ed Makowski (@EdMakowski) January 26, 2021
Will you be able to capture a video…will your phone die as the bear chases you?
— Ed Makowski (@EdMakowski) January 26, 2021
Could this moment be your big break as a #nature #photographer?
— Ed Makowski (@EdMakowski) January 26, 2021
Will you film a video or shoot still pictures – or both simultaneously?
— Ed Makowski (@EdMakowski) January 26, 2021
Will either choice make it easier for you to be eaten?
— Ed Makowski (@EdMakowski) January 26, 2021
Will you be a more witty narrator than those guys who swear a bunch and keep repeating, “Oh yeah Kyle – this is going on the YouTube!”
— Ed Makowski (@EdMakowski) January 26, 2021
If you got attacked….Think of the #movie rights! Would it be worth a limb?
— Ed Makowski (@EdMakowski) January 26, 2021
The story arc of how the character finds redemption in the face of grave bodily harm.
— Ed Makowski (@EdMakowski) January 26, 2021
Learning that life can be more fulfilling after discovering everything at stake.
— Ed Makowski (@EdMakowski) January 26, 2021
The heroic army craw back to the parking lot.
— Ed Makowski (@EdMakowski) January 26, 2021
A 911 call filled with understated humor and unexpectedly emotional honesty.
— Ed Makowski (@EdMakowski) January 26, 2021
The dispatcher pleads, “Don’t you die on me DAMMIT!”
— Ed Makowski (@EdMakowski) January 26, 2021
Maybe you’ll score that wicked facial scar you always wanted.
— Ed Makowski (@EdMakowski) January 26, 2021
Will Matthias Schoenaerts be available to play you in the movie?
— Ed Makowski (@EdMakowski) January 26, 2021
That guy who once told you about how he fished near grizzlies out west – how one roared at him with decomposing salmon breath.
— Ed Makowski (@EdMakowski) January 26, 2021
The breath of Midwestern bears. Midwestern nicer?
— Ed Makowski (@EdMakowski) January 26, 2021
Focus now…don’t forget bears can climb.
— Ed Makowski (@EdMakowski) January 26, 2021
Then you realize
— Ed Makowski (@EdMakowski) January 26, 2021
the bear
is a cross country skier
wearing black and on all fours, attempting to stand after a crash.
A wild four seconds it’s been.
— Ed Makowski (@EdMakowski) January 26, 2021
