Published: September 12, 2009 06:41 pm      

Bear down time

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.