The Two Hundred Dollar Bear

The eyes of all look expectantly to You, and You give them their food in due season. You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing. Psalm 145:15-16

 

The above picture was taken by my trail cam a few weeks ago. I had placed it near a trail which I’d hiked quite a bit with Star the Wonderdog. We’d seen some fresh animal tracks in the region, so I thought I’d see if I could capture a few pictures of the local game activity.

When we hiked up to the area to retrieve the camera, I noticed something a bit off. The once vertical tree the camera was attached to was now bent horizontal. My camera was facing straight down toward the ground.

Hum.

Had someone been monkeying with the thing? At least whoever it was didn’t steal it.

Then I noted the teeth marks on the camera. There weren’t many, but the lens cover for the lights, camera, and motion detector were all crushed.

Nice.

I stood the small tree back up as I made a mental note to attach my camera to a stouter tree in the future.

When I got back home, I found I had over 1300 pictures of the ground beneath the camera. Not too much exciting there. I also had the top couple of inches of a moose’s back as it strolled past. Then I saw pictures of the tree tops whipping around as if the camera were in some type of tornado.

Then I came to the above picture.

Note that the sorry rascal hid his face so I couldn’t identify him in a lineup.

He or she looks like a yearling black bear. A bear researcher once told me that the ears of a bear are large when he or she is young. As the bear ages, his or her head and fur grow around the ears, making them appear smaller. In an un-hunted population, a black bear can live into his twenties in my part of the world. So if you ever see one with small ears, know that you’re looking at an older bear that’s been around for a while.

A new trail cam is going to cost me some money, so I repaired the old one as best I could. Hopefully I did it well enough to keep the rain out the next time I leave it in the woods. And with a bit of luck, Boo-Boo Bear will find a better picnic basket to chew on the next time he comes within camera range.

Hope you have a great day.