Urban Brännström had a close encounter with a bear in Granbergsliden.
– I was out working with a brush cutter in one area, then I drove about 200 meters on the ATV to take a coffee break. The undergrowth in front of me was very thick. Then I noticed something big moving in there, Urban recounts enthusiastically.
He had unloaded his equipment from the ATV, which was a little way from him. Behind him was a body of water, and in front, something was moving in the vegetation. Urban had no easy escape route.
– At first I was curious and walked toward it. I'm the kind of person who likes to move quietly in the forest to spot more wildlife. But this time, my whole body froze when I saw what it was, Urban says.
Just 10 meters away, a full-grown bear stood looking at him. Urban's body froze, and his coffee cup dropped to the ground.
– I’m used to being in the forest and had always thought I wouldn’t be that scared of a bear. But I couldn't do anything but back away carefully. It must have seen me long before I saw it. I had been making a racket with the brush cutter, after all. The bear looked at me, and it was incredibly large up close—its head was so big.
Urban was out working in the forest when the bear came to visit.
Urban now had no way out. It was just him and the bear staring at each other.
– All I had to defend myself with was my snuff tin. I don't know if I said anything to the bear; I think I mostly just backed away. But at the same time, I thought the bear looked kind.
After watching Urban for a while, the bear decided to leave him in peace. It ran quickly back into the undergrowth, and he watched it disappear. After the encounter, Urban wanted to bring a friend with him into the forest to make sure the bear was gone.
– I brought a friend, and we flew a drone to search for the bear. There might be a carcass that the bear is defending, in which case it might stick around.
But the bear was gone, and Urban now doesn't feel worried about being in the forest. He says he’ll continue to move quietly through the woods.
But what happened to the coffee cup?
– We looked and looked for the cup, but it seems to have disappeared. Maybe the bear fancied a coffee, Urban says.