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.