My grandpa who passed to his reward in 1976 is looking down now and smiling. He was a blacksmith, carpenter, devout christian and an avid hunter. I can remember trailing along with him as a snot nose PIA kid as he cultivated an entire hillside in wild grapes and Paw Paw trees. Grandpa always said in time it would draw black bears, our ultimate big game in the central mountains of West Virginia.

Its finally happened. My mother called me and was telling me that over the last 4 to 5 weeks she has seen a sow with 2 yearling cubs in the yard one week and a much larger single (boar ? ) the next. This cycle has repeated its self like I said for the last 4 to 5 weeks. Mom says the bears leave the yard heading up the hill toward Grandpas' grape cove. Our neighbour found his yapping shepard lab mix dead below his house only missing its head, two guesses as to what bit it off !!!

I'm not a bear expert, is it strange to have 2 different bears cycling through this small an area ?

I just wish Grandpa was here to take a shot at one with his ol' muzzle loader. But in any event we have bears now thanks to him. We just need a season now.....................JJ

You might regret having them so close to the house. We have lots of bears in Wis. I try to keep them from around the house. A dose of bird shot works most of the time.