Though not an expert at bear smelling, the odor was immediately noticeable and unpleasant. My guess is that the bruin had been dump fed since it was weaned. With that in mind, its odor might well have been tainted. I should add that black bears and landfill sites are a match. I have been with-in thirty or forty feet of half a dozen black bears, all feeding on the garbage that we toss at the MacGregor or Shuniah landfill sites.

More than once, I have chased black bears out of my cottage yard with a shovel. Only once did I feel a sense of trepidation. That time, as I was thumping the shovel on the rocks to frighten the bear away, I caught a hint of movement very close to me. Yup, sitting three or four feet away was a second black bear. probably a 200 pounder.

He, or she, was sitting on his or her haunches, head tipped a wee bit to one side, studied me with unalarmed indifference. At that point in time, the second bear was between me and the back door to my cottage. I took a cautious step backward, then another. The bear did not get up. Once inside the cottage, I immediately called the OPP (Ontario Provincial Police).

An officer showed up a short while later, lights flashing and all. He left the car running and glowing in my driveway, and asked where the bears were. I suggest that he turn of the noise and light maker. He did so and, sure enough, the bruin twins came out into the open.

The officer told me that policy was to not engage a bear unless it was imposing imminent danger, which neither was. Then the officer suggested that we close the windows and doors of the cottage. He said that whatever was being cooked, smelled very good, adding that now there were three bears on the property, him being one of them. I chuckled at his comment and marveled at his observation. He nailed it. I closed the windows and a short while later - no bears. However and this I did not, personally, witness.

My wife, who is a night hawk, told me that one of the bears came back and pressed its snout against a window in the front room of the cottage. That window in about two feet from where my wife sits to watch the idiot box. The bump on the window drew her attention and scared the poop out of her. She came running into the bedroom ordering me to do something about it, so...

I got up. Turned on the outside lights and went back to bed. What am I supposed to do in the black of night with a blacker than night black bear?

Now, of course, the biggest concern is those territorial chipmunks.