Nosy Neighbors

Remember those cute bear cubs I caught in my chicken coop? Well, they're yearlings now, about 200 pounds or so. I've been seeing them here and there, down in the woods and stuff. This evening, though, I walked out of my office and found one of them had come to say hello: he was standing up with his paws against the sliding glass door of my deck, like he'd been invited in for tea and honey. Unfortunately, I didn't think to get a picture for you before I ran him off: I'll try to remember if he comes back around. I was actually in a bit of a hurry, because I didn't want him to break the glass: a lot of mess and expense, and I'm going out of town tomorrow.

I had a bear in my trash a couple of weeks ago, but I don't think it was him. I felt the house shaking while I was in bed reading, and thought it might be a little earthquake: didn't think to get up and look outside, nor consider that it might be a bear on the deck until next morning, when I found the garbage strewn from here to hades. I don't think this one was big enough to shake the place like that. The kid from down the road says they've been seeing a 400-pound adult male; I think it must have been him. So I started shutting the trash cans up inside the garage to discourage them from coming around the house. I went out and hollered at this one and fired a shot off into the trees, to give him a good scare. I really don't want to have to shoot them: I like bears.