Bears have been spotted as close as a mile away from our cabin, which sits about 4 miles as a crow flies southwest of Roaring River State Park. My good friends from Rolla (the C. "Howard" French family), watched a nice sized black bear cross State Highway 112 immediately in front of their car and mill around beside the road a few seconds before bounding into the safety of Missouri's Mark Twain National Forest.
Although I've yet to see my first Missouri bear, I have what I believe to be confirmation of their existence. The picture above was taken a couple of years ago. This corn feeder was destroyed by a critter with big teeth and big claws. It seems safe to assume it was either a bear or a 250 pound Raccoon. I ruled out a Mountain Lion, since they're carnivorous and not attracted to corn. The large holes were made by something with big teeth and the widely spaced claw marks confirm it was a good sized animal. The feeder had been knocked down and rolled or dragged about 75 yards from where it had previously been standing, before being torn open and the contents scattered and consumed. If Raccoons ran in packs I might consider them as a possible culprit, but again, these critters don't grow teeth and claws big enough to fit these prints.
Although by world standards it won't be earth shattering news, I think it's pretty cool to know we might one day actually get to see a bear while driving into or out of our cabin property on some early morning or late afternoon outing. It's probably more likely that one of our several game/security cameras will snap a picture in the middle of the night when bears are more active. Either way, I'm confident I'll be able to follow up this post one day soon with an actual picture of a Barry County Missouri bear. And when it happens, don't expect to see it on the 5 O'clock news: you'll have to read about it right here in "Old and Ridiculous"!
I live on the main street in Jenkins in Barry County and have several stories. By the time I had graduated high school in 2004 I had seen only one bear and it was in early fall while horse back riding on my grandmothers' land which was about a mile from the highway 248 and 39 junction past Jenkins Quick Stop. As of 5 days ago I have seen 5 bears within 5 miles of Jenkins. One while riding a fourwheeler up Jenkins Creek,not Flat Creek, but Jenkins. One crossing the highway just a little north on 39 less than a mile after the hwy O Jenkins street turn off. During a really bad flood a couple years ago there was one hanging on a tree by the Jenkins Bridge to get out of flood Flat Creek had. When Flat Creek floods I usually walk down and see how close the water level is to the wooden planked bridge. By the time I had walked back to the house to get my cell phone and camera and drove my truck down there it was sadly gone.One running into a culvert directly by Shiloh Church on 248 this last spring. The last one I saw was 5 days ago driving home from Aurora. I really big one dashed out in front of my truck across hwy 39 and into the woods. The road closest was the farm road one would go on to get to the Jenkins Fire Tower Site. So their population has really exploded, exciting!
ReplyDeleteIn mid spring in 2005 I was with my brother in law on my grandmothers land checking out his coon hounds he had brought with him from Texas. We took them out because I wanted to see them in action. About ten minutes went by and we heard a scream, I didn't know what it was but he got really serious and worried and said it was a panther....wasn't quite sure what he meant but had his gun. We finally found his hounds close to a huge tree that was hanging over a little stream at the bottom of two heavily wooded hills. He pointed his flashlight up and I couldn't believe what I saw.Even today, 8 years later its just as vivid in my mind. Huge, and more of a grey color than a brown. Those teeth and claws were just wicked. The dogs were still barking at it but i grabbed one and he the other and started to back up. My brother in law wanted to shoot the cat, I didn't want that so I said no. He wasn't happy with it and as he started to argue it leaped off the tree and was gone in a flash. Luckily he had a hold of one of his dogs collars so he couldn't raise his gun for a shot.I never saw it again and counted myself extremely lucky.