Shortly after commenting on not having any bears around for a couple of years, Josie Brandt had four bears on her yard Wednesday evening, just a few miles south of La Broquerie.

There was a mama bear with her three cubs.

Brandt says she was inside her house when the black bears came for a visit.

“I decided that I would sneakily open my screen door and my inside door and go outside on the deck and creep behind the chair and take a bunch of pictures that were not through a window, and just watch them.”

And that was quite an experience. Brandt tries to explain what it felt like to be that close to a bear family.

“It’s adrenaline. It's excitement. It's also, you never know... ‘Is Mom going to turn around and come running at me?’ Yeah, it's very exciting to watch them. They're quite the animal and kind of interesting, you know, and so beautiful,,, beautiful and shiny. Just gorgeous.”

A cub demonstrates excellent climbing skills. (Photo Credit: Josie Brandt)

Brandt says she is extra aware of her surroundings now, always on the lookout for bears, always ready to react and get to safety.

Living in the country, Brandt says there are many opportunities to observe wildlife.

“Well, we have bears. We have deer. We have raccoons,” she says. “For the first time, a few weeks ago, we had a skunk on our deck. We had a whole pile of wild turkeys that lived here for a few days just this last spring. It's an adventure for sure because you never know what's going to be next.”