Snaggle Nose LIVES!

Snaggle Nose was first injured in June of 2009. None of us thought he would make it past the first hunting season and yet here he is over two years later. Dutch one of the township road workers took this picture during this summer of the bear right in our front yard. Snaggle Nose was in pursuit of a female bear at the time and didn't seem to care that the men watched him. Somehow he must be able to smell in order to track a female and keep from being shot. Unlike humans who might feel a bit intimidated if half their face was torn off old Snaggle Nose still makes other smaller bears flee in fright at the sight of him. And appears to be quite the lady's man.

I often wondered what the other bear looked like that Snaggle Nose tangled with. He is truly one amazing animal to have not only survived but prospered after an incredibly hard fight. Mountain girl, Paula, logging out.

The good, the bad, and the ugly.

Well, one thing for sure things are never boring in Leetonia. Lee's sister, Diane, has moved in with us and we set up the trailer for her to have some personal space in. Diane has had a campfire almost every night since she came. She is enjoying the benefits of living in the woods. Diane will be helping us with painting, cleaning and odd jobs during the summer until she finds other employment. I think she is starting to like being up here and leaving may be harder then she thinks. That just about covers the good.

Now for the bad. I was asked to cut down four trees that were dying and dead. The first two went flawless in the direction I intended. The next one was leaning towards the power lines and I thought I could get it to go the other way. As you can see I was wrong. I believe trying to cut a 30" tree with a 16" chainsaw was my first mistake. I couldn't come in evenly in on the back cut and the tree spun and fell neatly on the lines causing some sparking and the end to power for about three hours. Also causing me personal embarrassment. The guys coming to fix it weren't too pleased with me, but so far I haven't gotten a bill. That was the bad for the day.

Now for the ugly. The injured bear was spotted again by Pettits last night in downtown Leetonia. She said the bear appears to be healing well enough to eat. The bear is the ugliest bear in Leetonia, but it is alive and apparently doing okay. Well we cleaned most of the tree mishap up and it is time for a little R&R in front of the fire. Mountain girl, Paula, logging out.

Getting the mail

Well, I had a little surprise today when I opened my mailbox. It was filled with tiny shreds of paper. The kind you find in a mouse or squirrel nest. There were two small boxes in there and I was almost afraid something might be behind them when I moved them, but there was just a bunch of shredded paper. Now the mystery is: How did something get in there to chew it up? The box is metal and it was closed. The only thing I can figure is the box somehow was open enough for a mouse to get in long enough to chew up the mail. I am wondering when it left. When the mail person put more mail in or before. Guess I will never know and this is the first time in seven years my mail has been shredded. I have worried about bears getting food sent in parcel as gifts, but never thought the little mice would chew up my paper. Fortunately, nothing important was mauled by the little critters.

The injured bear hasn't returned to the neighbors feeder. I am concerned it is off laying low trying to heal on its own. It is a shame to see things like that but that is part of nature and must be accepted as much as seeing a mother with twin fawns romping through the woods. I have seen quite a few fawns lately, which is good for the deer population as it is low. Trees have been falling right and left across the road the last couple days as we have had a strong wind. One of the trees a nice maple jumped into my truck after I cut it off the road. Well, working hard to get some projects done before the 4th. Mountain girl, Paula, logging off.

Antlers,bear and Laurel Fest

A couple days ago Thor ran after a rabbit by our van. I didn't think much about it until he reappeared carrying a nice antler shed. There was four points on this side of the shed. The tips had been chewed up by mice a little and Thor had it in his mind to finish the chewing job for them. He seemed a bit disappointed when I retrieved his Pit Bull toothpick as a souvenir for me. I am sure he will find another one. He has quite a good nose.

W went to the Laurel Festival in Wellsboro yesterday. As I walked down the street a man stopped me saying he had been reading all the blogs with great fascination. He has a camp up on West Rim and I wish I could remember his name, but alas I have lost it. So you know who you are and it was great to meet you. It is nice to know that people appreciate this little connection to the back woods.
The Laurel Fest was a wet muddy affair, many people were there, but it didn't seem as many as in past years. I made one purchase to add to my Native American flute collection. I bought a higher pitched flute tuned to an A. Now Lee and I both have a flute and we are anxious to play them together on the mountain for the entertainment of the animals.
We returned around 8pm to the cabin and the dogs immediately found a bear close to the house. I should know better then to let them out the front this time of day. They chased it out onto the road; it didn't seem to be running away and was turned towards the dogs as they approached. I yelled at them to stop and come and thank goodness they listened. Perhaps it was the fact the bear was not running that slowed them. The bear was a good 300 lbs and was about 200 yds down the road from the house.
After I got the dogs inside I listened to my phone messages and was glad the dogs had come back. The next cabin up from me(Hookes) had left an urgent message for help with an injured bear. It appears the bear had most of its nose torn off and was near their feeder. I realized this might be the same bear the dogs just chased, since I couldn't see the details of its face from the distance and the amount of light it was standing in.
In talking to them more it sounds like a horrific injury, probably from fighting with another bear. They said the bear isn't moving very fast and just licked up the food with its nose hanging to the side. Brenda from the Hooke Cabin said she was horrified to see the bear get it nose caught on a branch as it moved around. She said the nasal cavity was exposed and it was still pink inside the gash. They contacted the game commission who told them they would try to tranquilize the animal and have it treated if possible. I am not sure how they will get here in time to do this as any call to them is a minimum of an hour or more to respond. This leaves us with a large hurt bear roaming around.
A injured bear is a dangerous bear and the dogs are now in lockdown until the situation can be resolved. If any of you see this bear call the game commission immediately. I will post further updates if there are any. I hate to see an injured animal suffer and it will be difficult not to want to shoot the bear if I see it has a fatal, suffering wound. However, I have been warned by Lee not to intervene so I am also stuck calling the Game Commission. Nature's way is often not pretty or easy and living here in the woods we see the hard tough things as well as the magnificent beautiful things. Mountain girl, Paula, logging off, and looking out for the bear.

Bear Trap UPDATE

Well, the bear trap has been removed, but not placed to capture the injured bear. It seems you have to stay home all day and lead the game commission people by the hand to get an injured animal helped. The bear is hanging around Jack Bonitz place on Francis Leetonia Rd. Jack told me he hadn't gotten good results with the game commission, guess I should have listened. Not sure what to do now...I guess hope nature will heal the bear. It will definitely have a crooked foot if it survives the infection. Life in Leetonia is tough if you are a injured bear.

Mountain Girl, Paula, sadly logging out!