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Standing Bear

    Hey, everyone. I forgot to mention something earlier,due to my rant. The other day I was outside and happened to look at the side of the house, next to one of the doors. There was a rather large bear track on the wall about five feet high. He had evidently stepped in dirt and then had stood on his hind legs, leaning against the wall. The print was pretty well defined, though light. I took several pictures but none of them showed the print really well.
    I measured the print. From toe to heel it was 8 inches. Across the widest part it was 5 inches. It was 5 feet off the ground, which means he was probably around 6 or 6.5 feet 'tall'. So, good size, but not huge. I have seen a small black bear in our woods several years ago. He ran away when he saw me. Since then I have seen many tracks and various signs of his presence. This is the first time any bear has leaned on the house, next to my door, as far as I know. It was, of course, the merest chance that he had stepped in dirt before he leaned on the wall. If he had not, the odds are excellent that I would never have known of his proximity.
    This place makes you think. I have learned so much about tracking and animals and indeed, about trees, since we've been here. Am I concerned about the furry dude coming around at night? No, not really. Am I crazy about the fact that he may be investigating the doors? No. It may be that Carley had cooked something appetizing that evening and he came to pull a 'Yogi Bear' and steal some chow. I will say this: It makes me think about sleeping with the windows open.
    Hey, let me tell you newcomers a story. As you may know, my wife and I had a confrontation with a mountain lion. We drove him away and I tell the story in my free ebook, Scary Beast. But when I mentioned sleeping with our windows open I remembered a story  about a couple in Colorado. They had a big dog that weighed 80 pounds. The couple and their dog were taking a daytime nap. They had their screen door locked and the big dog was sleeping at the foot of their bed. A mountain lion came in the house without waking them, killed the dog and left with the dog being carried in its mouth. The guy woke up and ran out just as the mountain lion was jumping the fence with the dog in its mouth. He shot at it and the lion dropped the dog's carcass. Is that wild?
   If you have time, check out the label at the bottom of this post. There should be a label for animal posts I've done and also posts about mountain lions. I had one young lion stalk me and saw others several times. It's always interesting, here at the green retreat. I'm just trying to picture a bear, leaning on the wall and checking out the door. Goodnight to all of you and to the nocturnal bear who needs to wash his paws.
    From the author's green retreat, I'm CE Wills.

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