I was sitting on the couch, in front of the large windows overlooking the lawn and trees in front of our house. I was reading some mail when out of the corner of my eye, some movement caught my attention. Inside my fence, parallel to the road, (about where the dogs are in the picture above), an animal was loping toward our entry gate. He kept looking back over his shoulder, into the woods behind him. He was approximately the height of a good size dog, similar in height to a Shepherd. My first thought was to wonder how the dog got inside our fence. Then, almost immediately I rethought his appearance and admitted to myself, "that was no dog". His body shape resembled an Old English Sheepdog, but they don't come in black. This critter was a young black bear. He was not tiny, but he was too small to be away from his mother. He was clearly not running away from his mother, so perhaps he had been chased by a dog or another critter. My first thought was to grab my camera; but my second thought was to find out where the dogs were and to secure their doggy doors, so they could not get out into the yard.
The dogs were both inside and I put the sliders in the doggy doors. Then I grabbed my camera and went out on the deck. No bear...., so I tried other windows. I could not see any sign of the bear.
I called Fish & Wildlife Department and reported the sighting. I told the man I spoke with that the little bear seemed stressed and a bit frightened of whatever he thought might be behind him. I told him the bear was too small to be away from its mother. The man told me I need not be worried about him as his mother was sure to be right behind him. I told him that worried me more! He said to just not feed pets outside, or leave them outside at night. I assured him that I did not do either of those things, but that this was bright daylight not night time. He said if the bear hung around for a week or more, to call back. I realized he was not going to be of much help. By the time I hung up and thought about the situation for a while, I decided it was probably as good a time as I was going to find, to see what surprises the yard might hold for us. It was bright and sunny and our road was as well traveled as it was ever going to be, with everyone coming home from work. Mainly I wanted to know if he climbed out, over our fence, at the upper end of our property, or if by chance he had back-tracked into the woods again. Presuming he continued in the same direction, he would come to a split-rail fence, covered with 4-1/2' wire fencing. He could climb over that and find himself in my neighbors larger, unfenced property which had woods and various outbuildings where he could find cover. He could also make a left turn when he got to that fence, and continue to the back our my property, through the fruit trees and eventually to the huge cedar trees in front of the top property-line fencing. He could hide under and behind the Cedars, or in the agility equipment shed, which only has three walls. He could also continue to the upper level of the same fence into the woods (the same woods he came from when he came onto our property.
Plums
I was counting on Pirate and Journey to determine his pathway. I put them on long leads and we headed out to the last place I saw the little guy. I watched the boys carefully. They danced happily across our lawn toward the road. They probably thought it somewhat strange to be on leash, for a walk on our property. As we neared the last sighting spot, their noses - in unison - instantly jerked to the ground. They turned right, following his trail, approximately five feet, then a quick turnaround and followed the bear's trail in the direction he had been traveling when I last saw him. I found it interesting that they could determine the difference from the way he had come from, to the direction he had gone. They determined it in a split second too! As we neared the end of the fence line we were following, I was looking for bent wire fencing and snags of black fur. The dogs could have cared less, they cut the corner and ignored the fencing. they knew where he went. They headed up our property line toward the agility field. It was a fast walk. We stopped at the agility field and surveyed the property. No bear in sight. The Cedar tree branches have not been trimmed, and the lowest branches form caves under the trees, hiding the fence behind them. The dogs wanted to go under them. I did not allow it, as I had no idea whether the bear could be in there or not. I kept thinking that I would hear something, don't know why, because in retrospect, the mother trains them to hide and be quiet. We turned and followed the upper fence line back across the entire property, toward the woods that he had come in from, at the lower level of the property. I looked in the agility barn, no bear. I could not see any bent berry vines or branches heading into the woods.
We sat out for a while, but eventually, as the sun was going down, we went inside. Our night was uneventful. The next morning I was feeling pretty sure the bear was not around. I saw no signs of him. When we went up onto the agility field by the big Cedars, the dogs got very interested. They sniffed all around the bases of the trees. Pirate was most interested in marking his territory around the trees. From what I saw, I started thinking that there was a good chance the bear had been in the Cedars. He may have spent the night there.
I lived in bear country for eight years, in Alaska, but it was a lot different than the area we live in here. The trees around Anchorage are skinny, scruffy Spruce trees and not big enough to hide a bear. Sometimes bear came into our neighborhood, but Fish and Wildlife usually chased them back into the woods, or they trapped them and relocated them. In looking at our trees and into the woods I decided it was a good thing I did not venture in there the day before. I would probably not have been looking up.
I hope the little bear became reunited with his mother. I remember his frightened look as he kept glancing over his shoulder, while he ran along the fence. I have no idea what the dogs or the bear would have done if they had confronted each other. Now that I believe the bear was up off the ground, when he was possibly concealed by the Cedars, it was likely not as dangerous as it seemed. He would have been afraid of the dogs.
When I first moved here, in 2006, I asked neighbors if there were bear or mountain lions in the area. A woman who had lived in the area for 40 years told me she had not seen a bear in 20 years. Reports of the closest Mountain Lion were over ten miles into the wilderness, behind our hilltop area. We have Elk and lots of deer. There are raccoons, coyotes and opossums, but luckily I have not seen porcupines. I saw what looked like a badger once, but it was too dark to be certain.
I consider myself so lucky to have seen the little bear. I just wish I knew he survived his frightening experience.
The bear trackers.
