a tale of tails, tenacity, and tedium, as told by me, usually barefoot and bellowing

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

The Bear

Stitchin ByThe Lake wrote an interesting bear story earlier in the week.  She was lucky since it was not a face to face encounter.

That bear story reminded me of one from many years ago.

A couple lived in a house visible from the highway.  Not really isolated but still considered rural.  It was apple season and they had many fruit trees.  Every day that would peel and core their apples in preparation to preserve them for winter food.  Each day they would take their peels and cores outside to the back of their property so the wild animals could feast on the remains of the process.

The couple noticed the peels and cores would disappear over night and ASSUMED it was rabbits and deer enjoying their own personal Farmer's Market.

Since the couple had many different kinds of apples the harvest was spread over about a month.  The apples at last were through.  It had been a bumper crop.  Only a  few remained in the house for them to snack on and the rest had been processed.

One night very soon after the apple harvest, there was a knocking on their back porch.  Since it was unusual for someone to come to the back door they looked out.  There stood a big black bear (black bears are not REALLY big but they are when they're knocking on your door)  The family banged some pans together and ran him away.

The next night same time, more knocking.  It was the bear again.  He was angry there were no apple treats for him and he could smell the few remaining in the house.

The third night the bear was beating on the whole back wall of the porch shaking the house as if he thought apples would fall out. 

Needless to say these people and the bear did not develop a friendship.  They called Arkansas Game and Fish who used a huge cage trap to catch the bear for relocation. 

The bait they used...apples, of course!!!

16 comments:

Sandy Livesay said...

LOL!!! That reminds me of the bear that came to our front door in Marquette, Michigan. He smelled food cooking and thought he was going to come in. My Grandma banged on pots and pans and my uncle came running with the shotgun.
Nothing better than the good old days :-)

Buttons Thoughts said...

Oh this sounds like the Three Little Bears Papa bear scoping out prospects at least he knocked.:) B

MadSnapper said...

i have never seen a bear except in a zoo, this would be so cool, i would be snapping and snapping and throwing apples out the door to snap some more. great story

Coloring Outside the Lines said...

Oohh they were lucky he didn't knock the door down and come on in!

LilliStJohn said...

At least he was polite enough to knock. ha,ha Reminds me of when my brother and I were picking berries in the woods in back of our home. We thought it was my Dad on other side of bushes trying to scare us and it turned out to be a big ole bear. We screamed and jumped up and ran.......AND SO DID THE BEAR:)

Primitive Stars said...

Hello, great bear story, so happy they did not shot him, so many end up dead for wanting a meal. Thanks for sharing, Blessings Francine.

Country Gal said...

Many years ago when I was camping way up in the north country we went for a hike and there was an out house along the trail and I was busting to go, as I was in the outhouse , there was a black bear wondering around . Needles to say I stayed in there and very quiet till he had left . I watched him through the cracks of the out house in hopes he wouldn't push it over out of curiosity ! The thoughts that went through my head at the time were both comical and scary ! Great story Gail ! Have a good day !

Anonymous said...

Yikes. No bears in England, thank goodness!

TexWisGirl said...

oh dear... or oh bear...

Farm Girl said...

That is a great story. I love bear stories or just about any kind of animal story.
I think it is great that he knocked on the door.
He must have really liked apples.

C-ingspots said...

Love this story!!!!!!!! At first I thought you must be pulling my leg, and then I remembered whose blog I was reading, and thought oh no, it must be true!! :) That was a smart bear.

Pat said...

Well, he DID knock! He WAS being polite! Great story!

LindaG said...

What a story!
Glad it all worked out.

Far Side of Fifty said...

At least he was a polite bear:)

DesertHen said...

At least he knocked before he tried to shake the house down!

Rudee said...

>black bears are not REALLY big but they are when they're knocking on your door

This one made me LMAO. Very funny.

I hope they stopped leaving peels!

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