Now adding some shrugging and paw curling, originally uploaded by A. Drauglis Furnituremaker.
Last Thursday I was about three miles into one of my occasional hikes in the Shenandoah National Park when I noticed something rather curious beside the trail. About five feet off of the path was a small black furry “thing” lying in the leaves and curled up next to a log.
All I saw was fur. I stared at it for a few moments trying to process what it was. Stray dog? Cat? Melanistic skunk? Then it moved. It was not a single entity; rather, it was two creatures. I knew then that they were Black Bear cubs, but part of my brain briefly tried to convince the rest of it that this could not be the case. After all, if these are bear cubs, then where is the mother?
I have had dozens of encounters with bears and had never seen cubs without a sow. Bears are born in the den over the winter meaning that these little guys were probably three months old, about the same age as my nephew, and only a little larger. The first one to wake looked around a little, then at me, its eye “capsules” puffy with lids half open. I froze and then stepped away.
I did not move since I did not know where the threat was. More than once I had seen a sow take to a tree while calling her cubs up after her, so I looked up and around, scanning the trees and the forest. There was nothing; I did not even hear anything. If she was coming, I would have heard it.
Now about ten feet away from the pair, I raised the camera. The first six or eight shots (I just left my finger on the shutter release) were instant garbage. Feeling slightly more confident that the mother was not sneaking up on me, I paused to change the settings and brace the lens. The second one was awake now, so they were both trying to shake off the cool morning and figure out what I was. They started to clamber away over the log and to a dead tree. I considered this to be a bright spot; even as young as they were their instincts told them to get away from people.
I walked away once I saw how underdeveloped their tree-climbing skills were. I was afraid that in a desperate attempt to escape from me, one of them might hurt him- or herself. The next trail intersection was only fifty feet away; I reached it and bore left until I came to a wider spot in what must have been a road at some point. I waited there for five minutes and then eased my way back a bit until I could see the cubs with binoculars. They were still there, though one was now a whopping eight feet off of the ground, still clinging to that tree. There was still no sight or sound of their mother.
The cubs were on my mind for the rest of the day. I was grateful for the safe and up-close look at two incredibly cute and adorable creatures (I will admit that I had a very hard time staying as far away as I was) but remained concerned about their fate. My hope was that the sow had lost track of the cubs in the storms the day before I met them. My fear was that she had been poached.
Five hours later I returned to the same spot. While I did not encounter a ranger during the rest of the walk, I did run into two maintenance workers on a fire road. They agreed that finding cubs without a sow is rare, but said that they had seen it a couple of times. But they also insisted that mama bear MUST be nearby, even if I did not see her. Even before running into the Park Service guys I almost extended the hike up to the Visitor’s Center at Big Meadows just so that I could consult with a ranger or naturalist, but my legs were shot (in the first five miles I went up 2600’).
About a quarter mile from the cub encounter I ran into another sleuth; this one was three yearlings and their mother. I was about thirty feet from her when she stuck her head up and started sniffing. I had the camera up and was considering checking my work when she began staring straight at me. I stayed perfectly still. I could have moved or said hello, but I think that it is better for the bear to notice you and then act on their own. It keeps one from startling the animal. She caught my scent, turned and gave a few grunts and a second later they were running down the ridge.
The cubs were not there on the return leg of the hike. They may have just wandered off, but I prefer to think that their mother caught up with them and do not think that this is an unreasonable conclusion. Hopefully I’ll see them again
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