Wildlife in Big Canoe

Black Bears in Big Canoe

Black Bear in Big Canoe

Living in the North Georgia Mountains I get to see and enjoy a lot of wildlife.  It is not uncommon to wake up and find deer in the front yard or hear a cackling pileated woodpecker hooting it up in the trees. Wild turkey flocks often parade up and down the street with their chicks in tow. Foxes, raccoons, owls, snakes, and even coyotes are all neighbors. But there is one king of the forest that is very elusive, only making occasional appearances, the Georgia Black Bear!

I have waited for 4 years to encounter one of Big Canoe’s famous bears. The first one I saw didn’t really count. She was running across the street and gone in 15 seconds. I would practically cover myself in honey and birdseed looking for bears to no avail, and then just last week I had the surprise of a lifetime! My kids were in the driveway having a popcorn fight when it was time to head out to the store. We were gone for about 30 minutes and upon our return we found a big old black bear in our driveway, no doubt working on the popcorn bits! Thinking I would be calm cool and collected whenever I saw a bear was a pipe dream. My eyes popped out of my head as I tried to call my husband who was only about 30 feet away from me in the house to tell him about our visitor.  After about a minute the bear looked at me and wasn’t very concerned. He took the hint and slowly ambled across the street and into the valley. My husband finally answered the phone after the bear left. He said that our dog had been barking for 15 minutes and he never bothered to look outside!  

It made me take inventory on our outdoor activities. We all agreed NOT to have any more popcorn fights!  The next morning while I sipped my coffee on the porch the dog started to go crazy again. I heard some slow heavy crunching in the back yard and caught a glimpse of a large black critter running through the woods away from the house. It was him! Two days after that we were all in the car and saw him again. This time a few streets away. He let us take plenty of pictures. Then off he went into the woods again. People often ask us if we worry about bears, and the answer is an emphatic NO.  Like any of large animal, they need to be treated with respect and given their distance.  They are truly beautiful animals, and it is a real thrill to see one outside of a zoo.   It’s been about a week since I’ve seen him but I really enjoyed the excitement of knowing that a crunch in the woods isn’t always a squirrel!

Happy Trails!