Wow! How cool is that?
I got a Maryland bear permit, one of the 240 applied for by more than 3,600 folks. I’m wondering which is tougher, getting one of the permits or getting one of the bears to which the permit gives you legal access.
I guess I’ll find out.
You know what I think about most when it comes to bear hunting in Maryland this fall?
I think “Holy cow. I might actually kill one. What then?”
I can still get a deer out of the woods on my own, but I’m thinking that relocating a bear from the site of its demise to the back of my pickup truck will be a whole different ball game.
But then I guess that is part of the whole bear hunting thing.
One must be prepared to deal with the situation. I know a little about being prepared. After all, I was a Boy Scout (Troop 7 that met at the Naval Reserve Building and was sponsored by the Rotary Club) and made it to the Star level. You have to be a little prepared to do that.
I just got done reading through the guide to Maryland bear hunting that was sent to me by the state’s Wildlife and Heritage Service. Most fascinating stuff. I learned a lot of very practical things. I have never reduced a bear to my possession, but would like to claim one bear and I would very much like it to be a Maryland bear.
If that happens, I have this feeling that my bear hunting career will have ended.
From this position as outdoor editor, I have watched and written about the world of Maryland bear hunting for sometime now.
I watched the labor pains and contractions that led to the state’s 2004 bear season, its first since 1951. That birthing process was accompanied by many difficulties, including the cacophony orchestrated by animal righteous folks (ARF) who, during the 1990s, had the governor’s ear.
I know the staff members and appointed chiefs and subchiefs of the state’s natural resources agency are the parents of the hunt, but I have to tell you that I feel a little bit like a godfather.
I have already started looking around for a bear hunting spot. In fact, I climbed up one very steep mountainside recently, hit a logging road and, voila, there was a fresh pile of bear doo.
That might be a good spot.
The hunting guide says small bears drop doo as round as a D-cell battery and that big bears do doo doo as round as a soda pop can. This bear was somewhere between the Energizer Bunny and Dr. Pepper.
Fortunately, I have some time to try to figure out this bear hunting thing before the season starts.
It’s time to bear down if it is going to be bear down time.
Film at eleven.
Appalachian Festival
Cumberland Times-News Outdoor Editor Mike Sawyers will sign copies of his book, “Native Queen: a celebration of the hunting and fishing life,” during the Appalachian Festival, Saturday, on the campus of Frostburg State University.
For festival details, see www.frostburg.edu/events/afestival.
The Outdoors page and Mike Sawyers’ column will return on Sunday, Sept. 27.
Contact Mike Sawyers at msawyers@times-news.com.
Michael A Sawyers - Outdoors
Bear down time
- Michael A Sawyers - Outdoors
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They have their ways
“Brrrrrrrt! Brrrrrrrt!” my phone vibrates in my shirt pocket. Sometimes when that happens I think that I just burped.“Hello?” -
Md. hunt rules being formed
The Maryland Wildlife & Heritage Service, currently in the early stages of setting hunting regulations for the next two years, envisions no changes to the deer bag limits in Region A (Garrett, Allegany and western Washington counties).On the other hand, substantial changes are being eyeballed for Region B, which is all of Maryland from Clear Spring eastward to the Atlantic Ocean. -
Officers allowed to enter
Is it legal for Maryland Natural Resources Police officers to walk onto your private land?
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Wapiti survey begins
What’s up with this elk stuff anyway?
I’m speaking, of course, about the news announced this past August that some folks are going to look around Garrett and Allegany counties to see if it would be feasible to reintroduce Rocky Mountain elk. Elk used to live here, you know. -
Jury still out on Marcellus shale drilling
Mother Earth, having been around as long as she has, should be given the right to choose elective surgery when needed rather than have exploratory surgery forced upon her.
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Gobblers hunted on Sundays; sun still rises
See. It wasn’t the end of the world.
Well, wait a minute. I better check before I speak too quickly.
Getting on the Internet, hmmmm, hmm! Yahoo now. Hmmmm! Nope, nothing there. Checking Bing. OK. Now MSN. -
2011 was a very (insert adjective) year
As January started, grumbling could be heard on both sides of the North Branch of the Potomac River.
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Progress in eye of beholder
Folks in the state-run hunting and fishing industry are always looking for ways to attract new license buyers.
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W.Va. buck kill up
I have always thought that the wildlife biologists for the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources were brave. Each year, about the middle of November, they predict the buck kill for the upcoming firearms season.
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And then there were...
I want to start this column by assuring you that I don’t begrudge anybody a buck that is taken by legal means.
- More Michael A Sawyers - Outdoors Headlines
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