No Bears in Beaglesonia

There were lots of bears around here in the 70s.  They had learned to forage in the township dumps, which were just open pits where people threw their garbage.  Once or twice a year, when the pit would get full, they would cap it off with clean earth and dig another pit.  Some townships would burn the stuff off periodically to reduce the volume and make the pit last longer.  Most of the dumps were located far enough away from people's houses that it didn't bother anybody, but then more people came, built more houses closer to the dumps, and then complained about the smoke from the fires that often would simmer for days.  The state finally passed a law that prohibited burning the dumps and requiring that the garbage be buried each day.  About that time, commercial haulers started offering curbside pick up service and large steel containers that could be left at a site and picked up by a truck when they were full.  All the townships eventually went with the containers, and the dumps became "transfer points".  The commercial haulers truck all the garbage to far away "landfills" that are large enough to justify keeping earth moving equipment on site to cover the garbage each day.

The local bear population declined considerably after the dumps were closed, which was for the best because they were losing their fear of humans, and it was only a matter of time before somebody got hurt.  There were occasional sightings right in the city limits, and no good could come of that.  The most dramatic incident was the time a bear crashed through the front window of a furniture store on Main Street in broad daylight, cutting itself in the process and bleeding all over a bunch of expensive furniture.  I don't remember how they got the bear out of that store but it was not killed or captured.  I think they opened the back door and it ran out on its own, either that or it went back out the front window.

Long before any of that happened, I came to the conclusion that bear hunting with dogs was not practical in this neighborhood.  A bear chase can easily cover 20 miles, and there are too many ways a dog can get into trouble when it's that far from home.  I don't remember how many dogs I lost, but I know I spent more time searching for them then I did actually hunting bears.  The short bear season was over when we went on strike at the paper mill in '73, and I traded my three bear dogs for one good rabbit dog, one of the wisest decisions I ever made.

I seem to remember coming across some bear tracks when the seller was showing me around the property back in '85, but I haven't seen any sign of bears in Beaglesonia ever since.  There are a few coyotes around and even fewer bobcats, but no wolves or cougars, at least not yet.  If you're looking for the top predator here, I suppose that would be me.