The Bear, the Bobcat, and the Coyote

What a Wild, Strange Trip it's Been: AKA the Bear, the Bobcat, and the Coyote

I've started walking the dogs back in the woods about 3 miles from my house, near a beautiful creek, which is where I photographed Flag and Chia for this year's calendar. I've actually always been one of the majority of females, I'm embarrassed to admit, who is a big coward in the woods, afraid of being there alone.

It's my theory that this fear in inborn in us, carried forth from times long past where a lone female in the woods was sure to be tortured and killed by either man or beast; therefore, I rationalized, this fear is a survival instinct handed down through the ages, which was certainly not my fault, right? It was just programmed into my genes...

That being said, I'm sure there are brave women out there who go it alone in the woods daily without a second thought. I wasn't one of them.

Walking with the dogs in the woods is a whole 'nother matter, and I'm excited that I feel secure when they are with me. I don't hesitate now to get right out there and revel in the glory of this forest...I absolutely LOVE these woods, they're so mysterious, so gorgeous, so full of peace, something I'm sorely lacking in the rest of my life.

I've finally learned, after repeatedly being told by dog experts, that dogs NEED a good daily walk. For the longest time I figured the large fenced yard should do fine and dandy for them, that they should get plenty of exercise on their own. But dogs aren't like that. They're too busy being up my or Kim's butts all day long to go out and roam the yard. They want to travel as a pack in search of food, as one trainer told me, and it finally hit home with me that I have to really understand their nature, their needs, which go well beyond even just living inside the home as part of the family.

I had to start making this walk a priority, because I'm busy as hell like most of you. Taking time out every day to walk the dogs seemed like something that had to come only 'if there was time', which of course there never was. Meanwhile, I was eating too much (my self-medication of choice...at least it's legal), not exercising at all, and whatever hot sexy body I may have ever had had truly gone to the dogs. The day I decided that this walk had to be a priority was a great day both for the dogs health and well-being, and for my own.

Now if a day goes by that we don't get a walk, either in the forest or the new rails-to-trails near me, I feel guilty for both them and me. When I get ready to go out the door, they are excitedly jumping around thinking it's FINALLY time for our walk...their disappointment thereby becomes my burden.

So we've started walking in these woods some days, usually when it's just me and the dogs because I can let the ones I trust off leash. Kim, my office mate at DDB, went with me a few times back there, but now when she walks we always go to the rails to trails—ever since the day I saw the bear.

I'm assuming most of you had an animal who chased you in your dreams over and over...mine was always a bear. He would chase me through the woods at the farm where I grew up, and I'd finally make it inside the farmhouse, thinking I was safe...but suddenly he'd break through the door and chase me inside the house as well, and I knew there was no place I was safe. At this point I usually woke in terror.

Suffice it to say, a bear is the last thing I really WANTED to see in the woods. The day I saw him we weren't even half way through our walk, I had three dogs on leashes and Heidi, my rottie mix, and Levi, the cocker were loose. I was experimenting with getting the loose dogs to stay behind me so I could be the true pack leader (an exhausting pasttime which I've given up for the present), so I kept telling Heidi and Levi to stay behind me. I looked about 100 yards up the path, and I saw a big black animal with it's back to me, sniffling around in the ground. At first I thought it was Heidi, and I thought to myself, 'I told her to stay behind me'.

I slowly turned and looked behind me, and there was Heidi trotting away...and I thought, 'Uh-oh, if that's not Heidi, then it can only be ONE thing...a BEAR!'

Luckily for me, the dogs hadn't noticed him/her. I'm not sure why, but I'm happy about it, because no one made a peep, which would have alerted the bear to our presence and forced action in a way I may have had no control over. The bear hadn't seen us, since his/her back was to us. So I stopped, thought about my fear of bears, decided this was no time to be challenging these fears, and turned and ran like a little girlie mon back in the direction of the van.

If it's any consolation to those of you who thought I was braver than that, I did laugh at myself while I was doing it, a step in the right direction at least. The dogs were very confused, wondering why we were cutting our walk so short, and why we'd suddenly taken up running. I figured I'd explain it all to them later.

If I were truly as cowardly as my running seems, I would not go back in the woods again, but the opposite has in fact been true. I've gone back time and again, always keeping my eye out for the bear, but enjoying sharing the woods with other living beings and gradually relaxing a bit more again. I haven't seen him/her since.

I started experimenting with letting the other dogs off leash, and they're all doing pretty well except for Magnum. He's had three offleash chances, but he just doesn't get it, and takes off in the opposite direction the second he's let off the leash. He doesn't seem to have the pack mentality he needs to have to stick with us. Each time I had to hunt him down or come back and get him later when he'd run himself out and finally decided to come looking for me.

This actually works out better for me, because it gives me a reason to keep one dog leashed up close to me. I noticed that when they were all running around, which was a joy to watch, I felt pretty insecure, realizing if something came right up to me I would have no dog next to me to protect me. So Maggy, whether he likes it or not, is my guard dog on the woods-walks.

This Sunday was a GORGEOUS fall day. Both days this weekend were awesome; Saturday we'd walked in the woods in the late afternoon, and I'd taken my camera along to capture the beauty of the fall leaves. We've had a glorious fall for leaf color, after the disappointing show the past few years. The heavens smiled upon us this year, and the colors were vibrant. I thought I'd walk them in the afternoon again; but, wanting to procrastinate with work, and seeing the sky so blue, I asked the dogs if they wanted to go early. They did, so off we went.

I took my camera along again, but as luck would have it, left it sitting on the passenger seat of the van. I had Magnum on leash, and was carrying one more leash, just in case. This left only Heidi, Miss Deer, and Cassie offleash. We were nearing the spot where I usually turn around, probably a mile back in the woods, when something growled at Miss Deer, who came running like a girlie dog back to her mommy. My first thought was a badger, which we apparently don't have in Pennsylvania (you'll see that my knowledge of PA critters is very poor, although improving as I go), and my second thought was that someone dropped a cat off in the woods.

Of course, a homeless and needy cat would have been unacceptable to my rescuer mentality. I had to see what it was in case I needed to take it along home with me...so I walked toward the end of the path where it dropped down to a high, grassy area. Suddenly, out sprang a bobcat, shocking the crap out of me, and probably her too! (I didn't know for sure what she was, as I said, my knowledge is/was poor.) She ran about 20 feet to the small stream, and crawled under a tree that hung over the stream's edge, it's roots creating a cavern beneath.

Miss Deer ran after her, so Magnum and I went down to see her and get Miss Deer away from her. Miss Deer probably would have lost a battle with a bobcat, but I wasn't taking chances of either of them harming the other. She was standing in the water looking right at me from probably about 20 feet away, and she was the most gorgeous creature I'd ever seen! I was so ticked I didn't have my camera...her image is emblazoned in my memory, but will never be seen by anyone else, and will surely fade over time.

Immediately after all this happened, and only about 100 yards away, a coyote howled, a very piercing yip and a howl together. Once again, not knowing PA wildlife, I thought it could be wolf or coyote, but I've since learned we don't have wolves here...not sure I'm buying it. Turns out from my research, the eastern coyotes seem to be a cross between the western coyote and the wolf, so I was kinda right either way.

By this point I'm pretty freaked out, like, WTF is going on here? I'd somehow landed in the wooded version of the twilight zone. After seeing no more than a chipmunk for the past 20 or so walks, I was suddenly being inundated with new and somewhat scary critters! I'd hoped it was one of my dogs who decided to take up howling, but they were all right with me until that point, when a couple of them decided to go investigate where THAT noise came from.

I figured the best thing to do was get the dogs and continue down the path a bit further, giving the bobcat time to get out from under the tree and either climb or find another spot further away where we wouldn't run across her again. And giving the, hopefully lone, coyote time to go in another direction himself.

Ten minutes later, when we got back to the same spot, the bobcat was now on top of the roots, and Heidi ran over to check her out. I wondered why she was still there, but I wanted to get Heidi out of there and away from her. When I got over there, she had crawled in between a root, and was just laying there in a funny position. I suddenly realized that she didn't seem ok, that there must be something wrong with her. This of course put me in a quandary, because you can't just walk up to a bobcat and give it a hand they way you could do with a housecat. Meanwhile, all the dogs were barking at her, and I had no idea how to proceed. I got the other leash I'd carried with me, and leashed Heidi and Magnum to a tree to keep them away from her. (Yes, I admit, I did it! Chained ma durn dogs to a tree...but I swear, it was only for a few minutes and out of grave necessity.)

The bobcat was now sitting in the water, but she was swaying back and forth. I needed to help her get out of the water, so I got a large stick and tried to put it under her to drag her to the edge. She didn't take kindly to it, and with what little strength she had she growled and hissed and struck at the stick, which helped me pull her toward shore. When she was close to the edge, her head fell forward into the water, and she started drowning. I was able to get her head up with a smaller stick, still afraid she'd bite me, and finally she was too weak to even growl anymore. I knew at this point she was dying. I was able to pull her totally out of the water with my hands, and I sat with her for five minutes until she died.

It was so damn sad!

And confusing...I could swear that when I first saw her she was a normal, healthy bobcat. And then suddenly she was dead. I had been SO excited and felt so privileged to see a bobcat in the wild, something most people never get to see, and so bummed I didn't have my camera. And then she was gone, a mere shell of the vibrant being I'd seen 1/2 hour ago.

I went through quite a few theories...rabies, some other disease, worn out from the coyote chasing her, lack of food...my latest theory, and the one which seems most plausible to me, is that she was bitten by a rattlesnake or a copperhead when she went under the tree, and it killed her that fast. Seems to be the only thing that makes sense, the only thing that would cause her to fail so suddenly.

I didn't want to leave her there, and not knowing whether she was endangered or not or what to do with her, I decided to carry her out with me. This was no easy task, given that I had to keep Magnum on a leash, and she weighed a good 20 lbs. It was at least a mile to the car.

When I finally made it home with her, I called the game warden, but since it was a Sunday I doubted anyone would get back to me right away. I ended up putting her in my freezer (quadruple-bagged, just seemed gross) to await instructions from the game warden. God forbid I get arrested for doing the wrong thing with wildlife, and I had no idea what 'proper protocol' was in this sort of case.

He did come by and pick her up on Monday. I learned that she should have been refrigerated and not frozen, but he was very nice about it all. They are doing testing now to see if they can determine the cause of death.

When/if I find out, I'll let ya know. One last thing worth mentioning, I thought the game warden would tell me "for my safety's sake, I should stay out of the woods" (keep the little ladies safe and all)...and he didn't! He told me to get myself a whistle, and keep on walking back there, which I thought was pretty cool. Seems he's the only one who thinks I should continue to walk my dogs in the wilds of Pennsylvania....

Here's my video of her, after death.