This Bear was a Boar

by Lt. A.J. Young, 3rd District

In 1975, I transferred to District three. I soon became entranced by the tales of the older Officers of the district. Ralph Rose and Claudie Clubb kept me entertained and laughing as they talked about encounters with the little black bears that were roaming the mountains. Ralph would talk about berry pickers on the mountain coming face to face with black bears eating berries. The berry pickers and the bear would discover each other in the same huckleberry patch (a type of blue berry). When they saw each other, the bear would run and the berry picker would throw his or her bucket up in the air and beat a hasty retreat! They would lose all their berries and buckets .They said that you could always buy another bucket? Good berry picking buckets were said to be cheap! It was every man, woman and child for him or herself as they ran nonstop for the pickup. They would tell everyone they saw about how they barely escaped! I think this was probably the origin of the joke about the bears. That is the one about not having to outrun the bear just your buddy!

When I asked how big the bears were Ralph would measure just over his kneecaps and laugh. I was delighted that such a small creature could cause so much excitement! I just could not wait for the next district meeting to hear another adventure about a hungry bear.

I asked my new partner Fred Manous if we had any bears in Pushmataha County. He told me that they were coming in from Arkansas and were mainly in Leflore and Mc Curtain County.
Ralph talked about the fledgling turkey season they had. It seems that the turkey season coincided with bears trying to make up for the lack of wintertime food. Apparently, the tale about being as hungry as a bear is somewhat true. The turkey hunters would show up in the spring and set up camp in the bear's backyard. They would leave lots of perfectly good food exposed for the bears as they went off in search of the wily turkey. The bears have excellent sniffers and not so good eyes. When the turkey hunters came back from a morning of spring turkey hunting to their dismay they would find a nice black bear in camp filling up on all their goodies.

The next step would be to call the Game Ranger about their horrifying experience. Ralph was a wonderful storyteller. He would crack a big smile in telling about the nuisance bears. He would talk about driving into the turkey hunting camp and finding a small black bear in the process of raiding someone's ice chest. Ralph would go through the motions of bending over at the waist and taking the palms of his hands and slapping his thighs! He would describe in detail the bear tearing out of camp and racing up the side of the mountain rolling rocks and running over everything in sight trying to escape. Even as a rookie I could tell, Ralph enjoyed running the bears out of camp.

I could hardly wait until the turkey and bears moved into my county. I too could tell stories about grown men shaking in their boots when they found a bear in their camp. In June of 1980, it finally happened. I received a phone call from a resident of Pickens. He relayed a very believable story about a bear that he had encountered.

He said that earlier in the week he had driven over to check on his cattle near Little River. He said that he had some dozer work on the property because he was trying to produce more grass for his cattle. While checking the property he saw a man running from one of the many dirt and brush piles left from the dozer work. He walked out to find a number of marijuana plants growing in the piles. He called the Pushmataha Sheriff's Office to report the plants. He said they came right out and pulled a pickup load of the illegal weed.

On his next trip, he discovered a feed shack full of feed had been vandalized. He found feed sacks torn open and feed all over the floor. He felt threatened by the quite apparent retribution! He drove back home, got a 30/30 rifle, and went back to the feed shack. He parked his pickup and surveyed the damage. He tells me he found bare footprints in the sandy road! He followed the tracks some distance down the road before suddenly deciding that the perpetrator of this vandalism may not be human after all! He has never seen a bear track before but decided that a bear left the tracks and did the damage. He remembered his pickup was some distance away! He turned around and cautiously walked back towards the feed shack and the safety of his truck. Sure enough, just before he gets to the feed shack a large black bear walks out into the road and heads his direction. Remember what I had said about the bear's eyesight. The bear walks right towards the landowner and of course, he is terrified. He told me that when the bear crossed an imaginary line in the road he fired one shot from the rifle. He killed the bear. He then went back home and tells his neighbors who called me. No cell phones in 1980!

I called my partner, Fred Manous, telling him what was going on. I used one of my rookie tricks and said since he was the Senior Ranger in the county I would be happy to assist him in any way. It worked perfectly this time. You young Game Wardens should try it if you ever have the need. Be careful not to waste it. It may not work the second time.

When we arrived at the residence, the yard was full of people and vehicles. Word spread fast and everyone in the area came to see a real bear. We finally found a place to park and walked to the front door. The landowner was in the middle of telling the bear story again. When he realizes that the Game Rangers have finally arrived he said just get this thing (bear) before it hurts someone. I wondered how a dead bear could hurt anyone? I thought that he must still be in shock from the terrifying experience.

An unknown person was happy to show me the bear. I walked around the corner of the residence with my little two cell flashlight. I follow him until he says, "There it is!" I stared in that direction. It is dark and the batteries need to be replaced in my flashlight. I am looking too low to see the bear. I finally discern the feet of the bear. As I shine my flashlight higher I see a monster of a bear. He is not one of the two foot tall bears that Ralph had described! This bear has a log chain around his neck and is hoisted from a tree. The bear looks to be seven foot tall if he were standing on his hind legs. Senior Warden Manous tells the landowner that we will be investigating the bear and incident. We load the bear up and leave. Warden Manous starts trying to figure out if this bear is wild or not. We find it hard to believe that this bear is the same kind that Ralph and Claudie had been describing. Fred talked about a tame bear that had been caged at a business just east of Antlers. I also remembered a man from the Clayton area saying a neighbor had a pet bear. He said he is afraid to fix his fence due to the bear wandering around at large!

Biologist Reggie Thackston picked up the bear on Monday morning. The bear was taken to OSU. He said that a necropsy showed the bear has a lot of natural food in his stomach. He weighs 317 pounds.

Senior Ranger Manous never found out where the tame bear at the service station went. I tell Manous that I may have the case solved. (Rookie mistake.) It very well could be the tame bear east of Clayton. After a lengthy interview, I picked up on one key word. The man called the tame bear a she twice. I alertly asked if he was referring to the bear like a ship. Ships are often referred to as she although I never could see how anyone could tell. He said no that this was a big old sow. My investigation was concluded with those words. The bear in question was obviously male!

After talking with our District Attorney, we concluded that landowner acted as any reasonable person would have under the circumstances.

Fred would jokingly talk about bumping into someone in the dark wearing a fur coat. I was more cautious about believing the stories the older Officers told during district meetings. I also decided that Ralph was taller than I thought.

Ralph Rose and Claudie Clubb have passed on more than twenty years ago. Senior Game Warden Fred Manous has been enjoying retirement for several years. Memories like these last forever.