About forty years ago I was squirrel hunting not too far from here( lived in this general area before), walking down a ridge on the side of a mountain, twenty two rifle in hand. The wind was blowing briskly, and blowing toward me.It was around noon, and the squirrels were resting. I wasn't trying to move silently, just crunching along in the fall leaves. Some feeling made me look up, there in front of me was a large black bear. I saw him, he saw me, and he grunted and raised up on his hind legs. I dropped to the ground and put my arms over my head, waiting for the attack. Time stood still, then I heard him drop down and amble away. When I could no longer hear him crunching in the leaves, I rose on shaky legs and ran for hell bent leather, as they say in the hills.I am not ashamed to say my pants were wet from the incident.
Some animals are comfortable living cheek and jowl with humans, some are not. Some are dangerous, such as bears! Many wild animals require a large range in the wild; for example, a mature male black bears range is approximately 50 square miles. Of course we have always had the smaller mammals in our cities, such as possums, raccoons, groundhogs, and foxes.
