Re: California bear-hunting season closes with quota met

I've been hunting and fishing all of my life and I have to agree with you Rick. I've never shot a bear but I have had some greasy bear chili for dinner a time or two. The meat is rather gamey but at the time, it was a welcome addition to the pot of beans.

One morning back around 1979 or 80, I was sitting in my front yard drinking coffee while my daughter Asha was playing. We looked up to see a big black critter running between my cabin and the road. "Who's dog is that!" I exclaimed. It was then that I realized what it was. We got a good look at the north end of the bear heading south as it loped on over the hill across the road.

The hamlet of Forest Falls has a persistant bear population and we encountered one while leaving "El Mexicano" one dark evening. I'm not really sure if it was the good cooking there or the live acoustic music that attracted it to the locale. My wife and I slowly backed away and went back into the restaraunt leaving it to ponder the contents of the nearby dumpster.

Down on Deep Creek, bears have been known to wander through in places like where Willow creek connects with Deep Creek proper. Big Bear also has a resident population that wake up on trash day. There's an old saying....a fed bear is a dead bear.

I hope everyone here is enjoying the season. Take care