There is no doubt the black bear population in Eastern North Carolina is growing. For years, we have seen occasional black bears Down East on fishing trips to the coast. Now, we are starting to see bears in the backyard.

A month ago, I was on my hands and knees installing a stone walkway in the Japanese maple garden. Abby, my beagle, was out there enjoying the late-afternoon sun with me.

The silence of the moment was broken in an instant. Every hair on the old beagle’s body stood straight up, and she barked fiercely, like she had seen a ghost.

I propped up just in time to see a very large black bear cross the road and gallop slowly down the side of the pond.

The bear paused at the end of the pond, where the water joins the woods.

The bear misjudged the depth of the creek and did a belly flop in the water. The stunned animal clawed its way up the bank and shook off. It looked around almost in embarrassment to see if any other bears were watching.

The animal lumbered through the woods behind my workshop and finally out of sight. The neighbors came to visit, and we went searching for tracks. Abby, my beagle, would not leave the safe confines of the maple garden, even when we coaxed her to hit the trail with her keen nose.

Other people in the neighborhood have seen bears, as well. Hunters have captured pictures of a female and two cubs on their motion cameras in the woods.

One of these hunters shot a deer a couple of weeks ago near dark but could not find the animal. He and his father took off the next morning at daybreak to try to find the deer. What they did find was amazing: the black bear had discovered the deer.

The bear dragged the deer through a deep, nearly impassable ravine to a higher spot in the woods.

The bear feasted on both deer hams, the back strap meat, ripped the guts out and the tenderloin. The bear knew exactly where the best cuts of meat were on that deer.

These bears seem to be moving around our area more freely during daylight hours.

Last week, I was about to pull into the driveway at lunchtime and saw a big female bear and three cubs crossing the road, headed for the pond.

I sped up to cut them off while a friend grabbed the camera and began snapping
pictures.

The bears were in no hurry, but did not want to cross the road with the truck so close.

When the family made it to the edge of the woods, we whistled and they stopped.

One of the cubs sat up on its rear end while the mother bear decided which direction to go. They disappeared into a thicket. We sat in the middle of the road in awe of what we had been so lucky to witness.

With bears on the rise in our area, it is important to remember a few facts.

Never get between a mother bear and her cubs.

She most likely will become very aggressive.

Do not feed these bears, as they will quickly become dependent on people food.

Human food, in most cases, is horrible for a bear’s digestive system.

With great debate in the neighborhood, we still are trying to figure out what to do if we encounter one of these bears on our Sunday afternoon hikes through the woods.

Some say run and hope you are not the slowest one on the trail. Others say play dead.

I opt to be a runner.

If I tried to play dead with a big black bear sniffing about me, my heart would be beating out of my chest.

Maybe no more outdoor columns, at least from this writer.

King