Daniel (left) and Joe McFee (right) display their bobcats
Photo by Joe Cunningham
Just in case you have forgotten, we do live in the backwoods.
Neighboring Wirt residents Daniel and Joe McFee trapped two bobcats on Courtney
Ridge, weighing 28 and 30 pounds. Lots of other folks have been hunting the animals,
some in our favorite wilderness area Bear Fork. Hur resident Harold Sturms got a
couple last year, not uncommon for him.
Over 40 years ago Ron Lynch and I sent chills up our spines listening to the bobcats
below the ill-fated Village of Richardson. The West Fork of the Little Kanawha cuts
through the hills, with rocky ledges and cliffs along the river, and it was here in the
late night darkness the critters would scream and howl.
Here are some critter facts for the several thousand Herald readers, who live mostly
in urban areas around America. While we do have our share of varmints in these here
woods, it is rare they cause problems.
A few months ago when Dianne and I got up at 3 a.m. to observe the Leonid meteors
bombarding the earth, our dog Sox had a short stand-off with a bear below our house
near the garden. Despite Sox barking and howling, protecting the home-turf, the
black bear seemed unconcerned and slowly ambled into the woods.
It was our third bear sighting in downtown Hur, but they frequently come close to the
house on hot summer nights and waller the brush, very skittish and fearful of
human beings. I have spotted several in the past five years while ridge-running. Out
on "The Husk" they trample the winter grass deep into the mud around our favorite
persimmon tree.
Then we have the coyotes, transplanted into the area by DNR officials, or so the local
folk report. Listening to these critters down along the Little Kanawha will pump a
little adrenaline. Once in a while we'll see one cross the highway, or some local folks
will report they have killed one.
Then, hold your breath, there is the constant flow of tales about really big cats in the
area. Yes, we mean mountain lions. Some folks swear to it.
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