Several years ago my brother, Lynn, was coyote hunting in the middle of January not far from home. It was an extremely cold day when he headed out that morning at 15 degrees below zero. Lynn was looking for coyote tracks in the snow on Cherry Avenue when he spotted bear tracks instead. Generally bears are in full hibernation during January in Wisconsin, so he was puzzled.
Lynn followed the bear tracks a short distance which led him to the base of a large white pine tree. When he looked up, high in the pine's branches sat a young adult black bear. My brother felt a bit sorry for the bear who should have been sleeping, but instead found itself sitting in a tree, fully exposed to the elements.
As Lynn walked back to the road, he questioned over and over in his mind what could have forced that bear to be out and about on such a cold winter day. He decided to back track the bear tracks in the snow from the road where he first noticed them. The tracks led to a sort of nest, made of pulled up leaves and grass right on top of the ground, where the bear had apparently been sleeping. Normally a traditional bear den might be under tree roots, or in some kind of hole in the ground.
The snow was covered with wolf tracks all around the bear nest and a few drops of blood were scattered here and there. Wolves, it appeared, had roused the bear from it's sleep and even nipped at it a bit. Wolves have been known to drag bear cubs out of dens in winter time and eat them. This bear was perhaps a little too big for them to tackle, but the wolves tested it and forced it to flee to the quickest refuge it could find, the white pine tree.
A week later, Lynn walked back to the now empty pine where he spotted the bear and traced it's tracks away from the tree to a culvert along a little woods road. Much to his surprise he found the bear sleeping inside the damp culvert with no protection, just fur against rusty metal, with moisture in the bottom. He guessed the bear took refuge in this less than perfect spot simply because it was handy. The groggy critter opened his eyes a little, not fully awakened as Lynn's camera snapped a picture.
Feeling sorry for the displaced bear, Lynn hauled some baled hay on a sled back to the culvert. He pushed hay inside it, covering up both ends, so the bear would have more protection and warmth.
A few days later Lynn went back again to check on his bear friend and found that it had pulled the hay from both ends of the culvert further inside to make it's resting place more comfy. There were many weeks of winter left before it was time to really wake up.
In early spring when the snows began to thaw and creeks started to flow again Lynn went back to look in the culvert and found it empty. The bear had moved on and was more than ready for warmer days, a bite to eat, and hopefully no more wolves on it's heels.
It's amazing what one can see if we open our eyes and notice what surrounds us. My brothers and sister share a love of nature with me, and for this I am so thankful.
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