So there we were, somewhere west of Zanesville, Ohio. When you get west of Zanesville you understand why Snuffy Smith called people from there “flatland touristers.” I can envision some staff person for the U.S. Geological Survey who is given the task of mapping western Ohio.

“Yikes,” he would say. “What am I going to do with all these contour lines? There is no place to put them.”

Sandy was kicking Interstate 70’s butt. Fortunately, the fine officers of the Ohio Highway Patrol apparently had duties elsewhere that day.

We were on our way to West Lafayette, Ind., and Purdue University to visit our son, Ryan, his wife, Jaime, and our two doteworthy grandkidlings, Brady and Chelsea.

Sandy’s phone rings.

It is Jaime, checking on our highway progress. I hear Sandy say, “I hope you have some wine and something for us to do. Mike is reading to me from his bear hunting book. I am learning about how to choose which bear to shoot and even what size bear (scat) is left on the ground by different size bears. Uhhhhhh!”

Sandy was referring to the “Bear Hunter’s Guide to Hunting Black Bears in Maryland 2009,” which the Maryland Wildlife and Heritage Service sent me when I lucked out and drew a bear hunting permit. I thought that the ride would be a good time to read the book and break up the flatland monotony that was interrupted only by the tall signs of Pilot gasoline stations. I just happened to be reading aloud, that’s all.

We reached Indiana. I forgot about the upcoming Maryland bear season for a while and during that time we witnessed the Boilermakers whack the Buckeyes on a gorgeous Big Ten October afternoon.

Boiler Up, toot toot! Boiler up, toot, toot! The gridiron upset was a sure-fire field swarmer at game’s end.



On Oct. 19 we drove home, It is the first time I ever spent my birthday in five states, six actually if you count West Virginia twice because we went through the Northern Panhandle on I-70 and then reentered the Mountain State from Pennsylvania on I-79. I was born in West By God Virginia so I’m counting it “twict,” as some of the state’s residents say.



On Oct. 24 I am in West Virginia bow hunting for deer. Sandy sends me a text message. “Bear in back please come shoot.” Sandy said the bear went one way and she and Chloe, our girl doggie, the other.

Great, a bear is behind our house in Rawlings and two days later the Maryland season will begin. Timing is everything.



DAY ONE

In September I was in our local WalMart, ran into Bill Gostomski, the Mount Savage gunsmith, and told him I got a bear hunting permit.

Bill became what I call my co-hunter, but what the wildlife agency refers to as a sub-permittee. We could hunt together, but only one bear could be killed.

First morning found us on the club property Bill and others use on Wills Mountain. Two bears had been taken there in 2008, including one by Bill’s daughter. We hunted from can’t-see to can’t-see. We saw turkeys. We saw a few deer. We saw no bears.



DAY TWO

We hunted on the east side of Dan’s Mountain, on a hunting club in which I recently became a member. Nice morning. High hopes. No bears.

As we returned to our trucks, we were met by two fine officers of the Maryland Natural Resources Police who were out doing what they are paid to do. Very courteous men, I might add.

Bill had to fix somebody’s firing pin or lever action or something and headed for his shop.

I hunted same club grounds, but different location that afternoon. Rain began about 4 p.m. Found some good turkey scratchings and one massive buck scrape. No bears.

Bill had to work again the next day.

That evening I told Sandy that I was going to get up when I felt like it on Wednesday, drink coffee, play with the dog, eat breakfast, switch from the 30-06 to the Model 99, 300 Savage for luck and because it weighs less, climb the mountain and shoot a bear.

I didn’t need anybody to rock me to sleep.



DAY THREE

I got up when I felt like it, drank coffee, played with Chloe, ate some cackleberries and toast, switched to the lever action rifle I have used for 47 years, climbed the mountain at 9:15 and shot a bear at ten minutes after ten.

Talk about a script.

Bear hunting the way it is done in Maryland is a needle-in-a-haystack thing, at least it was for me. I am walking down this logging road in the haystack, I mean woods, when I look to my left in an old field and here comes a needle, I mean bear, running directly at me.

It happened so quickly that I think I stared for just a second until I realized that what was running toward me was the reason I was there.

I raised the rifle and the bear kept on line right at me. At 25 yards I believe it saw my bright orange vest and threw on the brakes, which improved my chances for good marksmanship and the bullet flew truly.

I guessed the bear to be smaller than it was. But Bill, who was there with a four-wheeler and his son Pete less than an hour after I called him, pinned the weight immediately. That’s a 100-pound bear, he said.

He was correct: 102 pounds field dressed and 120 pounds live weight.

I checked the bear at Mount Nebo, because I had to go to Garrett County anyway to meet with my taxidermist Dan Martin of Reflections of the Wild Taxidermy. You need to visit Dan’s studio in Deer Park on Pysell Cross Cut Road. His work is amazing including the elephant and the pack of wolves.

At Mount Nebo, I found out that my bear, a 120-pound female, established a Maryland record. Seriously.

Here is why I say that. The most bears ever killed in one season since bear hunting resumed in Maryland in 2004 were 56 in 2008. My bear, checked in about 1 p.m. Wednesday, was the 57th bear tallied this year.



THOUGHTS

• Killing a bear was a new experience for me. Rather than excitement, I felt a deep sense of accomplishment and satisfaction (anti-hunters will find my e-mail address below). This was hunting as I learned it as a young man. The hunter, his boots, varying weather and extended physical effort that resulted in a filled-out game tag. Many times it doesn’t, you know.

• If hunters with only 240 permits who are not allowed to bait and are hunting in only two of the state’s counties can kill 34 bears in one day, 55 bears in two days and 63 bears in three days, how many bears are really out there in Maryland’s mountains?

• I don’t have any inside information to share with you, but I am wondering if the state is planning any changes to future bear hunts: more permits?, no permits but everybody hunts for one day?, expansion of hunt into Washington County?, allowing use of bait?, allowing landowners with documented crop or livestock damage by bears to hunt the bruins?

The wildlife agency will conduct public hearings this coming spring about hunting regulations and any changes to them. If you have ideas or suggestions, that will be the time to speak up.

• Sixty of the bears were taken in Garrett County and eight came from Allegany County.

• The average weight of bears killed this year was 140 pounds.

• This marks the first time a bear has been harvested from the Warrior Mountain Wildlife Management Area in Allegany County.

• I know that bears have the reputation for roaming in search of food at this time of year. The straight-line distance from our backwoods, where Sandy saw the bear on Saturday, and the woods where I got a bear on Wednesday is about 1 1⁄2 miles. Do you think it is possible?

Contact Outdoor Editor Michael A. Sawyers at msawyers@times-news.com.