Our cabin came with the name “Dancing Bear”, but we have never seen any bears there ourselves, which is  OK with me. We did see a healthy looking black bear about a half mile down the road  last year, from the safety of the car, and the neighbors see them regularly, so we knew they were around. I don’t really want to see one up close without barriers.

The previous owner installed bear bars (foot long sections of plastic pipe hanging from the window frame that prevent the window from opening all the way) after he had inquisitive bears come up on the deck during dinner one night. Apparently they liked the smell of the pizza he was cooking.
We keep a wildlife camera  on a tree overlooking the cabin’s deck and parking area but have only caught two partial bear photos in four years. We were excited when we downloaded the photos (actually movies) this time and saw first, two yearlings walk by, and then a mama with two young cubs.

On the movie version, one of the little cubs ran over and climbed the tree. The time stamp was just one week before we arrived.

I think the whole bear family may have been rooting around out near the shed during the night because I noticed a bunch of overturned rocks and rotted wood that looked mighty fresh this morning. Too bad the camera does not point in that direction. I am glad they have avoided us whenever we go walking in the woods, but I keep an eye out and whistle tunes so I don’t startle them.

We never leave any kind of food outside and I don’t even feed the birds for that would surely bring the bears in to clean up the seeds. We learned this after using an empty sunflower seed bag to hold some dry kindling under the porch. A bear hauled it way up the hill and tore it apart, licking it clean, and tossing kindling all over the place.

I like that there are bears living in these hills and that we can exist in the same space without disturbing each other too much.

Wendy Maddox, Edgewise Woods, Gardens and Critters