The Daily Item, Sunbury, PA

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October 31, 2009

Another bear story

By Don Steese

It’s a beautiful time to be in the Pennsylvania woods, and we took advantage of the opportunity to spend a few days at our camp in northern Clinton County during the early antlerless season for junior and senior hunters last week.

We ended up deerless, but certainly had a good time trying. The weather, with the exception of a downpour Friday afternoon through late Saturday, was picture perfect fall Pennsylvania.

For the second time this year, I came home with a bear story.

While unloading gear, I noticed that my buddy’s cooler had some bear tooth marks. I remarked about it and he said that while he and his wife were at the cabin the last time, a bear had snatched the cooler from the back of his pickup and proceeded to kick it around the cabin until he got it open. The bruin then proceeded to eat their breakfast. Apparently, his wife didn’t get too much sleep that night knowing that a bear was right outside the cabin. That’s not the end of the bear story, though.

We decided that for our first night in camp, we’d grill some steaks on our front deck. After dinner, I decided I’d give my bird dog a steak bone as a treat. I didn’t want her to get grease all over the floor, so I gave her the bone and went outside with her. I was standing on the deck and she’d gone down to ground level to munch on her bone.

After just a few minutes, I heard her barking, snarling and chasing something. Seconds later, she comes running by chasing a good-sized bear. I was able to call her off and got her into the cabin, but the bear didn’t run away until I shouted at him. We assume he smelled the grilling meat and came in to investigate.

We had no further bear problems while we were there, but will, in the future, be very careful about leaving any food-filled coolers out on the porches. It’s also a good idea to thoroughly clean your grill after use. A lot of people enjoy luring bears into their cabins. We don’t.

We are, in fact, hoping we never see the bruin that close to the cabin again. It’s not good for them to lose their fear of man. When they do that, they can become dangerous, and we don’t want a problem bear in the area. No good can ever come of that situation, as was evidenced here in the Valley just a few weeks ago. A problem bear usually ends up being a dead bear, and no one wants that.

I didn’t get any grouse or woodcock hunting done, but I plan to rectify that situation real soon. I’m hearing mixed reports about the grouse outlook this year. Some say the wet spring and early summer will make grouse prospects poor this fall, others say they’re seeing plenty of birds.

I need to correct a mistake in my column from last week. I stated that Trout Unlimited performed stream improvements on Cross Fork Creek. It was actually a partnership of The Kettle Creek Watershed Association, National T.U., and the P.F.B.C., financed by a $20,000 grant from the Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture.

-- E-mail comments to jdsteese@yahoo.com

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