I have a friend who made a good shot on a buck in archery season a few years ago. He was hunting in the woods not far from his home and he was pretty excited about recovering this deer, which looked like a nice trophy. He marked the trail and thought that, rather than pressing the deer by following right away, he would go back to the house, have a quick sandwich, then pick up the trail. When he followed the sign, he discovered a good blood trail, then a bit of hair and a strange drag mark leading deeper into the woods. A bear had found the deer in less than an hour of the buck being shot, dragged it away and started feeding on it. The hunter was not happy, but I guess he recovered part of the deer without further drama involving the bear.
Another avid archery hunter killed a nice doe, left it briefly to find some help with the dragging chores, then returned to field dress the deer while she waited for her help to show up. As she worked on the deer, she heard some scratching sounds behind her. At first, she couldn’t find the source of the noise as she scanned the ground all around her. Then she looked up and saw a medium-size bear that had climbed a tree and was watching her activity with great interest from an uncomfortably close distance. She left the deer to get help, and after a cautious return, I believe she was able to recover the deer.
A well-documented story from September 2017 involved at least one bear that caused lots of concern in our neighborhood, not only scrounging for birdseed and garbage, but causing broken windows, stolen pet food and serious aggravation. Most impressively from my view was seeing how he entered a neighbor’s kitchen by ripping a sturdy aluminum door, including the door frame and two door closers off the house. The home owners apparently kept pet food and birdseed in covered metal containers, inside a closed cabinet in the kitchen.
The mess had to be seen to be appreciated. The combination of mud, bird seed, bear slobber and pet food really contributed to the re-decorating efforts of the bruin. He was apparently finally encouraged to leave by two dogs in the home, no one else being there at the time. Some readers may recall the rest of the story; suffice to say, one bear was trapped and removed some distance away. Either he or an accomplice returned less than three days later, causing less serious damage, but still aggravating mischief.
My mother and father-in-law lived within the Bradford City limits for many years and seldom had encounters with any wildlife. Several years ago, there seemed to be a dramatic increase in the number of bear sightings and encounters around town. Hearing some reports of bears that were in dumpsters, smashing bird feeders, walking down residential streets and not showing much fear, my mother-in-law became concerned and mentioned this several times. One day she called me and asked if I would come by and look at some muddy tracks on her back deck.
Sure enough, there were tracks of a good size bear not only on the deck, but also on the four-inch railing around the deck, which held two bird feeders that were knocked over and empty. Not wanting to scare her, I told her I couldn’t be sure about the tracks, but she should keep her sliding door closed and locked in the evening.
My efforts to minimize the situation were soon dashed when a neighbor across the street called out to her as she sat on the deck that afternoon. He couldn’t wait to tell her about the big bear that he had seen walking on her railing when he left for work early that morning. Oops! Luckily, she had no more bear problems that summer.
Most folks who have put a trail camera in our woods have discovered how strangely attracted bears are to these gadgets. Like a lot of hunters, I have strapped a camera to a tree before deer season, hoping to spot a nice buck prowling the area. Instead, several times, I have discovered the close-up image of a bear’s head recorded on my camera card.
One time, I left my camera out for five days or so, then went to retrieve the card and move the camera to another spot. I had placed the camera higher than my head in an old pine tree, the bottom of the camera supported by a broken stub of a limb and strapped tightly to the trunk. This provided a very stable position for the device to watch a well-used trail.
Walking to the pine tree, I saw my camera, now pointed upwards at about a 45-degree angle toward the treetops. When I reviewed the photos, I found a few deer had passed by on the first day, then a big black blob appeared. Closer examination revealed it was a bear’s head, recorded maybe a foot from the lens. Despite the inconspicuous placement at about seven feet off the ground, a bear just had to discover the camera and mess with it. Luckily, there was no real damage done, just some claw and/or tooth marks.
Another camera was not so fortunate. It was a small, camo colored affair that I had strapped securely to a tree not too far from my home. After a few days, I went to check the results, but the camera was not in sight. Being a cynical sort, I wondered if someone had stolen my newest spy toy. Searching in widening circles from the tree, I finally spotted the camera, half buried in fallen leaves, about 20 yards from where I left it. It was pointed at the sky, taking about 200 pictures of swaying tree limbs.
No surprise; a bear provided me with another close-up photo as well as a broken bracket on the back of the camera, numerous scrapes and a broken latch on the front cover. I’ve heard a lot of theories as to why bears are so attracted to these cameras. Whether it’s a scent or an electronic signal from batteries, or just spotting something different in their woods, they can’t resist these things.
I’ve got a lot more stories about bears, but this sampling of encounters might best give an indication of the unpredictable and quirky behavior of the critters. Some actually behave themselves, but I don’t run into those too often.
