We Caught a Bear
I was coming back from the store yesterday morning. I live on Bear Creek Road, Madison County NC.
I got to my driveway, right there at the mailboxes there is a culvert through which flows, yes, Bear Creek.
My neighbor was standing there and he flagged me down. He was watching a little bear cub that was in the creek.
It was really cold and that water was really cold. No mama bear in sight. Figured mama bear had been recently shot.
The little bear seemed confused, probably hypothermic and hungry. About a 35 pound bear. He walked/staggered out of the creek and went up the steep bank.
At the top of the bank is a hog wire fence, the little guy tried to get through the fence but he could not.
So he just laid down on the bank. I watched the little mite for a half hour and he never moved. He didn't look good it looked like he just laid down to die.
So Chris and I decided to rescue the bear. Because, he was already shivering cold, he didn't need to go into the creek again, he couldn't go through the fence. If he crossed the creek and was wandering around on Bear Creek Road, he could have gotten run over, or more likely, if a local hillbilly saw the little bear he would have just pulled his 9mm and shot him dead no questions asked.
These hillbillies just love to shoot a bear and don't care much about rules and regulations.
So Chris got a cage. Plus one local guy had stopped he wanted to help. So we waded across the creek, it is about 10 feet wide and 12 inches deep and damn, that water was cold. We put the little bear into the cage. He didn't resist much, he didn't try to bite or claw us.
So now we got the bear in the cage the question is, What do you do with him? You can't keep him around too long he will get habituated to humans that is a death sentence for a wild animal.
If there was some kind of bear rescue organization, does that mean he will spend the next 20 years in a cage? I would rather shoot him here and now than have him spend his life in a cage.
We called the game warden, we sent pics to the game warden and a State biologist. They said that the little guy was old enough to survive and to turn him loose.
Chris had him up at his garage up on top of the mountain. He fed the little bear a few bananas and put an electric heater on the cage. After an hour of this the bear sparked up quite a big. He had some scratches on his nose a little blood dripping from his nose but he seemed to be doing ok having had a little food and gotten warmed up.
Chris maintains a feeder and he feeds corn and apples to deer and bears. Has some bears that regularly come into his yard.
So Chris put out a fresh batch of apples and let the bear go.
I got to my driveway, right there at the mailboxes there is a culvert through which flows, yes, Bear Creek.
My neighbor was standing there and he flagged me down. He was watching a little bear cub that was in the creek.
It was really cold and that water was really cold. No mama bear in sight. Figured mama bear had been recently shot.
The little bear seemed confused, probably hypothermic and hungry. About a 35 pound bear. He walked/staggered out of the creek and went up the steep bank.
At the top of the bank is a hog wire fence, the little guy tried to get through the fence but he could not.
So he just laid down on the bank. I watched the little mite for a half hour and he never moved. He didn't look good it looked like he just laid down to die.
So Chris and I decided to rescue the bear. Because, he was already shivering cold, he didn't need to go into the creek again, he couldn't go through the fence. If he crossed the creek and was wandering around on Bear Creek Road, he could have gotten run over, or more likely, if a local hillbilly saw the little bear he would have just pulled his 9mm and shot him dead no questions asked.
These hillbillies just love to shoot a bear and don't care much about rules and regulations.
So Chris got a cage. Plus one local guy had stopped he wanted to help. So we waded across the creek, it is about 10 feet wide and 12 inches deep and damn, that water was cold. We put the little bear into the cage. He didn't resist much, he didn't try to bite or claw us.
So now we got the bear in the cage the question is, What do you do with him? You can't keep him around too long he will get habituated to humans that is a death sentence for a wild animal.
If there was some kind of bear rescue organization, does that mean he will spend the next 20 years in a cage? I would rather shoot him here and now than have him spend his life in a cage.
We called the game warden, we sent pics to the game warden and a State biologist. They said that the little guy was old enough to survive and to turn him loose.
Chris had him up at his garage up on top of the mountain. He fed the little bear a few bananas and put an electric heater on the cage. After an hour of this the bear sparked up quite a big. He had some scratches on his nose a little blood dripping from his nose but he seemed to be doing ok having had a little food and gotten warmed up.
Chris maintains a feeder and he feeds corn and apples to deer and bears. Has some bears that regularly come into his yard.
So Chris put out a fresh batch of apples and let the bear go.
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Poor little guy, ya'll did good! 0 -
thanks for your efforts to give it another chance 0 -
Looks like a lot more than 30 pounds to me! A large coon will go nearly that much. 0
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