| My grandfather served as a game warden in | | | | Speaking of those branches reminds me of my |
| northern Pennsylvania during the 1930s to the | | | | grandfather's story about a hemlock thicket he |
| 1950s. As a boy, I always enjoyed visiting him, | | | | once came across. He was actually out hunting |
| because he had lots of stories to share with me | | | | bobcats when he found it. It was a dense thicket |
| and my brothers. We especially liked his stories | | | | about eight or ten feet high, and he said that the |
| about black bears. | | | | inside was like an empty room. The tops were so |
| One of his bear stories took place when the black | | | | thick the snow didn't penetrate them, and a black |
| bear hunting season was still a month away. He | | | | bear had decided to make it his winter home. He |
| was walking through the woods when he ran | | | | had made a nest that was a masterpiece. The |
| across a bear wallow on a flattop ridge. He told | | | | bear had cut off the tips of hemlocks, just as the |
| me he had often heard of black bear wallows, but | | | | cubs had, and he had made a perfect oval rug |
| he had never seen one before. A big tree had | | | | about four or five inches thick. My grandfather |
| blown down, and when the roots tilted up they | | | | said that the the little green hemlock tips were |
| had carried with them all the topsoil right down to | | | | packed close together with the stems down. As a |
| the clay. This depression had filled with rainwater, | | | | result, the edges were as trim as a braided rug. |
| and it made a perfect wallow, complete with | | | | Grandfather said it was hard for him to believe it |
| muddy water. Muddy paths radiated from the | | | | could have been made by a black bear. He said it |
| wallow like spokes of a wheel in every direction. | | | | was just another one of nature's wonders! |
| My grandfather figured that a good many black | | | | How to Observe Wildlife |
| bears were making use of it. I guess bears have | | | | I once asked my grandfather how he was able to |
| fleas and ticks to contend with, and apparently | | | | see so many wild animals. He said that if you |
| they use these wallows for the same reason | | | | really want to know what goes on in the woods, |
| birds take dust baths. | | | | you need to lie down, put something over your |
| My grandfather said that cubs apparently don't like | | | | face, and lie still. That's because it's your face that |
| baths any better than we boys did. So while their | | | | scares animals. Grandfather told me that once, |
| mothers were soaking in the water, the black | | | | with nothing but some grass tucked under his cap |
| bear cubs amused themselves by climbing the | | | | and hanging down over his face, he had observed |
| hemlock trees nearby and cutting off the tips of | | | | a number of grouse feeding all around him. |
| the branches. He said that the ground under | | | | Eventually, they all lined up on a log six feet away |
| several trees was almost completely covered | | | | from him, preening their feathers, and "talking" |
| with these hemlock tips. The outer bark of the | | | | over the day's events. At one point, they |
| trees was so worn by the constant climbing up | | | | became nervous at that thing they couldn't |
| and down that the trees actually appeared a | | | | identify (my grandfather), but he kept perfectly |
| lighter brown than the other trees. I guess there | | | | still. So they settled down and resumed their |
| must have been a lot of cubs! Neither my | | | | grooming. Another time, my grandfather said that |
| grandfather or I have ever figured out why the | | | | a weasel who was chasing a chipmunk jumped on |
| cubs wanted to cut off the branches. | | | | his shoulder and ran the whole length of his body. |
| Finding a Bear's Den | | | | |