This evening I am wondering if I should be feeling lucky.
Friday evening when I finished work it was closer to drive to the extended family's hunting cabin in Pocahontas County, WV than it was to drive home. If you are familiar with the area the cabin is about 6 miles from Cass or to the Nat. Radio Astronomy Observatory. My brother-in-law and his family and some friends had arrived earlier in the day planning to do some motorcycle touring in the area over the holiday weekend. My father-in-law has owned the property since the early 60s. Originally it was a crude affair a 3 room building with an out house and water from a spring in the woods. Twenty years ago it was upgraded to two story house with four bed rooms, half basement, running water and two bathrooms and 3 showers. A wood burning furnace replaced the potbelly stove. No a/c but its usually not needed. There is also another building in which several people can sleep. When the whole extended family, including cousins and family friends all go up at the same time it can be crowded.
Rather than sleep inside in either of the two unoccupied bedrooms I opted to hang my hammock in the woods at the edge of the back yard. Something I have done a few times before. When I went out to hang my hammock on the same trees I usually use I noticed one of the trees adjacent to the trees I hang from looked like it had been marked by a bear. No claw or canine marks. Just bark missing from 2 feet up to about 6 feet high. Bears had never been around the immediate area before so I dismissed the possibility and reasoned the tree damage must be from some other cause. Though there are certainly a lot bears in Pocahontas County. In 2010 Pocahontas County had the highest payments in the state for bear damage or nuisance complaints, just a bit over $18,000. Previously the largest confrontation with wild life at the family cabin was when a family of skunks decided to establish a home under the tool shed a few years ago. The negotiations about ownership were rather interesting. ; - )
Anyway, I set up my WBBB and OES tarp and spent a pleasant night, testing out a HH XL Radiant pad for bottom insulation. Which worked well. Temps were probably high 50s to low 60s over night.
When I arrived home my wife asked which bedroom I slept in. I replied none of them because I slept out back in my my hammock at the edge of the woods. She said I guess I didn't tell you that there is a bear in the area. Friends who live in the area had called earlier in the spring to say a bear is in the area and has been causing some property damage and when some of the family had been there earlier in the spring to mow the grass and check if everything was ok after the winter months they found bear crap in the yard. In late November the cabin is closed for the winter and generally no one goes there from late Nov until April.
Only then did I realize that the damaged tree has indeed been marked by a bear. I think I would have rather remained in the dark about this. I doubt I will be able to sleep as soundly again hanging behind the cabin. Knowing not only is a bear in the immediate area but he has decided to mark a tree that is only 3 feet from the trees I hang from. I am wondering just which side of the tree does Mr Bruin claim as his territory and does he walk the boundary line at night. From what I've read about bear marked trees they seem to mark trees that are a along a path they frequently travel. Now its sleep inside or concentrate on forgetting the jokes about a hammock being a bear burrito. ; - )
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