Wildlife, living next to nature

[Diaphone Jim]

I have my trail cam set out, charged up and waiting for a repeat of the evening before last when I got up during the 6 o'clock news and looked out of my living room window at the front lawn and watched a bear walk by. About ten feet away.
I am still a little buzzed by the sight since I have lived in this admittedly rural area for 48 years and never seen a bear closer than ten miles away and then up in the hills.
He wasn't a very big or old black bear, maybe 150-200 pounds and not black but brown.
I closed some doors and followed his wanderings around the yard through different windows. He got to a corner with a closed gate and reversed his route, ending up in a clump of berry bushes.
I alerted some neighbors, made sure the cat was inside, put a ten round mag in the Mini-14 and ventured out with no good plan.
My young neighbor came over with his deer rifle and we tried to locate Mr. Bruin for about a half hour before decided he had left the area the way he came.
Checking with some folks across the road and with a vineyard next to wilder country turned out they saw a family regularly munching their pinot noir.
OK. A bear. My first one, never even showing up on critter cam. Never any scat or overturned trash cans, including the ones lined up every week along the road.
So I guess I will pay a little more attention for a while dusk to dawn.
There will be a related post tomorrow in the guns thread.