BENTON, Tenn. — A black bear that attacked a family, killing a 6-year-old girl and critically injuring her 2-year-old brother and mother, may have been stalking them, authorities said Friday.
The bear attacked the family about 4:30 p.m. Thursday as they left a pool below a waterfall on Benton Springs Road in the Chilhowee Mountains in southeastern Tennessee, according to the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.
The 640,000-acre park runs along the Tennessee-North Carolina line southwest of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and the attack site is about 70 miles southwest of Knoxville.
A witness told authorities the children had run ahead of their mother on a trail leading from the wading pool when they saw the bear, TWRA spokesman Dan Hicks said.
They turned around and ran back to her while the bear paralleled them on the trail before attacking the boy, Hicks said the witness told authorities.
The bear then attacked the mother who was trying to fend it off her son and was found standing over the girl’s body about 100 yards down a trail from the attack scene.
"I think there is a very good chance this is a predatory attack," said Bob Miller, a spokesman for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
"People forget sometimes that bears are predatory animals and may have simply seen her as something to eat."
The acorn mast, a primary staple for black bears, is low this year and other sustenance, such as berries, is not available.
The bears are subsisting on grubs and worms, he said.
"Little morsels" are all they can get, Miller said.
A witness used a cell phone to alert authorities to the attack, saying a bear had injured a boy and girl was missing. Another witness drove to a nearby ranger station.
The family, whose identities have not been released, are from Ohio and were believed to be day visitors and not campers. They were with a large group of people at the wading pool when they departed.
The bear grabbed the boy’s head in his mouth, Hicks said witnesses told investigators. The mother and other visitors began battling the bear with sticks and rocks when she was attacked.
The bear dragged the woman about 50 yards off the trail, Hicks said, before being frightened off.
The other visitors realized the girl was missing and began searching for her. About 10 minutes into their search, the visitors were joined by some members of the West Polk Fire and Rescue Squad.
After an intense 20-minute search they discovered the girl’s badly mangled body about 100 yards down a trail with the bear standing over her, Hicks said.
Squad member Danny Stinnett shot the bear once with a .380-caliber pistol, Hicks said, and it ran away from the girl. Stinnett said he hit the bear.
No blood was found at the scene, authorities said, and the bear has not been seen since.
A search for the animal was suspended about 2 a.m. Friday, and authorities placed two culvert-type traps baited with honey buns and donuts trying to lure the bear.
Friday morning they were awaiting six more traps and snare-type traps.
The search has been called while they see if the traps will be successful. All of the campers in the area, which has 88 campsites, have been removed.
The trapping area is 1,000 acres around the waterfalls and is about 10 miles from the nearest highway.
The boy and mother were taken to Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga where both were in surgery until early today.
The boy had puncture and claw wounds, particularly to the back of his head, Hicks said. His prognosis is good, but he is in critical condition.
The mother had lacerations and punctures to her right upper arm and thigh, Hicks said. She is under sedation, in critical condition and unable to talk.
"We have not been able to talk to her," Hicks said. "She may not remember the attack at all."
The bear actually picked up the mother in its mouth, Hicks said.
"A bear that could this would probably weigh between 350 and 400 pounds," Hicks said.
The little girl’s body was taken to a mortuary in Cleveland, funeral home owner Ralph Buckner said.
While authorities don’t know the gender of the bear or the cause of the attack, Hicks said bears are territorial.
"Male bears, however, this time of year get very territorially," Hicks said. "That may have been what happened to these people, he was protecting his territory."
Black bears rarely attack people, and authorities also are considering whether it is suffering from a disease that affected its behavior.
"It is possible that the bear has some kind of disease, possibly even rabies, that have caused this," Hicks said. "It might even be a parasite."
Any bears found in the area will be euthanized and taken to the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine where a necropsy will be performed.
There have been 42 sightings of bears in the national forest in the past two weeks, Hicks said, but this is the time of year that bears become active.
In May 2000, a woman was killed by a black bear near Gatlinburg in the national park. Glena Ann Bradley, a schoolteacher from Cosby, was attacked by two female bears when she took a walk on a trail near a Smoky Mountains campground.
Miller said that attack was a predatory one."
Friday, April 14, 2006
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Proposed Road Location
Click on the pictures to view them full sized.
Forest Service corner of our property with Hotel California in background.
Flagged path of proposed road.
Flagged path of proposed road.
Looking North on FS road to entrance to proposed road.
Forest Service corner of our property with Hotel California in background.
Flagged path of proposed road.
Flagged path of proposed road.
Looking North on FS road to entrance to proposed road.
Tractor for the Club
Club member Jim Benckert has found a good deal on a tractor for the club.
We need to come to a decision soon on whether to buy the tractor. Jim could store it until we made arrangements for a secure storage location.
Here are some pictures of a similar units:
and a drawing of the exact unit:
A review of the tractor can be found at:http://www.motherearthnews.com/library/2002_April_May/A_Perfect_Homestead_Tractor
Dave
Here is the information provided by Jim:
1952 FORD FERGUSON T O 30
30 H. P.
* it was recently converted from 6volt to 12volt
* it has a new starter
* it has a new alternator
* it has new brakes
* it has new lights
* it has a new PTO seal
* it has a new suspension cushion vinyl seat
* it was painted one year ago with the original color grey
* the rear tires are loaded
* it uses a three point lift system
* it comes with a 5 foot bush-hog
Total cost $2,500.00
I can also get:
_ a set of discs for $295.00 (new)
_ a drag hare for $225.00 (used)
_ a boom pole $ 80.00 (new)
_ a carry-all frame $ 85.00 (new)
These items would be a necessity for planting our fields. We would also need some chain for use with the boom pole and some wood for the carry-all frame, and a spreader for the lime and fertilizer to go behind a "4-wheeler".
My friend and I will deliver the tractor and implements for the cost of getting them to the cabin from North Carolina and the fuel home. I will be glad to store the tractor and implements in my backyard until such time that the club wants them delivered.
Jim Benckert
We need to come to a decision soon on whether to buy the tractor. Jim could store it until we made arrangements for a secure storage location.
Here are some pictures of a similar units:
and a drawing of the exact unit:
A review of the tractor can be found at:http://www.motherearthnews.com/library/2002_April_May/A_Perfect_Homestead_Tractor
Dave
Here is the information provided by Jim:
1952 FORD FERGUSON T O 30
30 H. P.
* it was recently converted from 6volt to 12volt
* it has a new starter
* it has a new alternator
* it has new brakes
* it has new lights
* it has a new PTO seal
* it has a new suspension cushion vinyl seat
* it was painted one year ago with the original color grey
* the rear tires are loaded
* it uses a three point lift system
* it comes with a 5 foot bush-hog
Total cost $2,500.00
I can also get:
_ a set of discs for $295.00 (new)
_ a drag hare for $225.00 (used)
_ a boom pole $ 80.00 (new)
_ a carry-all frame $ 85.00 (new)
These items would be a necessity for planting our fields. We would also need some chain for use with the boom pole and some wood for the carry-all frame, and a spreader for the lime and fertilizer to go behind a "4-wheeler".
My friend and I will deliver the tractor and implements for the cost of getting them to the cabin from North Carolina and the fuel home. I will be glad to store the tractor and implements in my backyard until such time that the club wants them delivered.
Jim Benckert
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Spring 2006 - April work trip
Many thanks to those that attended the April work trip and a apology to those that were not informed of it in time.
Thanks to Vance for helping contact everyone by phone about the meeting.
A special thanks to our former president John Uecke for his year of service and for providing the food and cooking an absolutely outstanding supper and breakfast this weekend.
While we didn't cross off many of the tasks on the list, we did manage to clean out the logs and debris from the creek, hopefully helping to prevent further flooding. We also detected and attempted to correct another leak in the roof.
Most importantly, we met our new neighbors and this appears at this time, to be the start of a good thing. As for the road access, I have contacted Don to investigate and deal with the issue.
Attending were:
Lee Alexander and son
Robert Ange
Jack Bauer
John Bratch
Ray Comley
Joe McDermott
Mike Michaelis
George Smith
Dave Shaw
Pleze Shaw
John Uecke
Vance Wortman
Working the previous weekend were:
Robert Ange
George Benckert
Jimmie Benckert
Dave Shaw
Dave Shaw
Thanks to Vance for helping contact everyone by phone about the meeting.
A special thanks to our former president John Uecke for his year of service and for providing the food and cooking an absolutely outstanding supper and breakfast this weekend.
While we didn't cross off many of the tasks on the list, we did manage to clean out the logs and debris from the creek, hopefully helping to prevent further flooding. We also detected and attempted to correct another leak in the roof.
Most importantly, we met our new neighbors and this appears at this time, to be the start of a good thing. As for the road access, I have contacted Don to investigate and deal with the issue.
Attending were:
Lee Alexander and son
Robert Ange
Jack Bauer
John Bratch
Ray Comley
Joe McDermott
Mike Michaelis
George Smith
Dave Shaw
Pleze Shaw
John Uecke
Vance Wortman
Working the previous weekend were:
Robert Ange
George Benckert
Jimmie Benckert
Dave Shaw
Dave Shaw
What's happening to our turkeys?
What's happening to our turkeys?
By Bill Cochran
My wife, Katherine, and I recently were driving along a rural road on Virginia’s Eastern Shore when she said, “Look at that big flock of turkeys!”
I scanned a table-top flat field on my side of the road and spotted about 10 turkeys. The late afternoon sun was radiating a metallic sheen off their chestnut-colored feathers. A nice bunch of birds, I thought, but not exactly a big flock.
Then I noticed what Katherine had been viewing. On her side of the road was a second flock, this one probably numbering 40 turkeys. We were in the middle of 50 turkeys.
Not many years ago, it was rare to spot a flock of turkeys along a rural road, or anywhere else. Now I see them from the Interstate. There were 30 parading across our back yard not long ago.
Such observations promote the feeling that Virginia’s turkey population is booming. But is it? Fall kill figures recently released by the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries reveal that just the opposite is happening, that the population is in a tailspin.
Hunters last fall reported killing 4,428 turkeys. That is a 22 percent drop from the previous season. You have to go back more than 20 years to find a lower figure. The recent fall kill was slightly more than one-fourth of the number taken in 1990, when the tally reached a record 16,861.
“I got turkey dogs two years ago and the turkey population hits the skids,” said Bob Duncan, chief of the wildlife division of the DGIF.
What’s happening to our turkeys? They appear to be showing up everywhere but in the kill figures.
The spring figures are only slightly better than the fall. Spring gobbler results have been on a downward trend since 2002. The kill last season was 14,355, nearly 4,000 lower than the record 18,345 that occurred in 2002.
In 1995, biologists told hunters that both spring and fall turkey kill figures would increase significantly if sportsmen were willing to give up hunting turkeys during the peak of the deer season, which they did. In 10 years, according to the estimates of biologists, the spring kill would jump by 382 percent and the fall kill by 77 percent. The concept was that the new regulations would save hens and the population would boom.
It didn’t happen. The figures have gone in the other direction.
Most hunters bought into the plan, and many still say it was the right way to go. A rare exception is Richard Pauley, a highly successful turkey hunter from Botetourt County. At the time, Pauley predicted it wouldn’t work. For one thing, there wouldn’t be enough hunters or opportunities to kill all those extra turkeys, he said.
“It turned out worse than I even thought,” Pauley said recently.
Gary Norman, DGIF turkey biologist, admits that the turkey kill hasn’t advanced like the computer model indicated it would. But you have to wonder, he said, where would the population be if the regulation changes hadn’t been made?
This leaves hunters pondering: Is the decline in the turkey kill the result of fewer turkeys or less interest in turkey hunting? Or both? Is the food supply for turkeys changing? Are predators, including coyotes, getting turkeys? Is the decline in the kill a weather factor? Are fewer young hunters coming into the sport because you no longer can hunt turkeys during the peak of the deer season? Has interest in trophy bucks and the muzzleloading deer season taken away from interest in turkey hunting? Are hunters simply failing to register the turkeys they kill because of recent changes in the way big game is checked?
Norman points his finger at the string of poor reproduction years that turkeys have encountered. In 1979, for example, there were 4.9 juvenile birds per hen, an indication of good hatching success. Last year that figure had fallen to 1.9. The past 24 years, the juvenile-to-hen ratio has been 3.2. It dropped to 2.3 the past 10 years and 2.1 the past five. The declines are credited to weather conditions that are unfavorable to young birds in the springtime. But you have to wonder, has the weather changed that much the past decade or so?
Something strange is happening out there in turkey land, and it would be wise for us to get a handle on it.
In the meanwhile, here is a promising observation. The juvenile-to-hen ratio in 2004 was 3.1, the best in 10 years. The 2-year old birds from that positive hatch should provide good hunting during the 2006 spring season which opens April 8. What’s more, we had a mild winter, and a quick late-March green-up so turkeys should be vigorous.
I’m hopeful we’ll have an increase in the spring kill,” said Norman. “Weather, as always, is critical to a good spring harvest, particularly on weekends.”
According to my records, gobbling started about two weeks later than during recent years. Some seasons, the peak has occurred by the time the season opens. That doesn’t appear to be the case this spring.
Look for good numbers of 2-year old toms and poor numbers of 3-year olds and jakes. Tally all of that and the result should be a decent season.
Bill Cochran won the first Lifetime Achievement Award from the Botetourt Longbeards, a chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation based in Botetourt County. The organization honored Cochran with a plaque that stated: "We recognize his involvement and dedication to the outdoors, both by his coverage as an outdoor editor for The Roanoke Times, as an author, as an Internet columnist, and, most of all for being the kind of individual you would like to share a hunting or fishing trip with. We thank you for being a friend and role model for all outdoorsmen."
By Bill Cochran
My wife, Katherine, and I recently were driving along a rural road on Virginia’s Eastern Shore when she said, “Look at that big flock of turkeys!”
I scanned a table-top flat field on my side of the road and spotted about 10 turkeys. The late afternoon sun was radiating a metallic sheen off their chestnut-colored feathers. A nice bunch of birds, I thought, but not exactly a big flock.
Then I noticed what Katherine had been viewing. On her side of the road was a second flock, this one probably numbering 40 turkeys. We were in the middle of 50 turkeys.
Not many years ago, it was rare to spot a flock of turkeys along a rural road, or anywhere else. Now I see them from the Interstate. There were 30 parading across our back yard not long ago.
Such observations promote the feeling that Virginia’s turkey population is booming. But is it? Fall kill figures recently released by the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries reveal that just the opposite is happening, that the population is in a tailspin.
Hunters last fall reported killing 4,428 turkeys. That is a 22 percent drop from the previous season. You have to go back more than 20 years to find a lower figure. The recent fall kill was slightly more than one-fourth of the number taken in 1990, when the tally reached a record 16,861.
“I got turkey dogs two years ago and the turkey population hits the skids,” said Bob Duncan, chief of the wildlife division of the DGIF.
What’s happening to our turkeys? They appear to be showing up everywhere but in the kill figures.
The spring figures are only slightly better than the fall. Spring gobbler results have been on a downward trend since 2002. The kill last season was 14,355, nearly 4,000 lower than the record 18,345 that occurred in 2002.
In 1995, biologists told hunters that both spring and fall turkey kill figures would increase significantly if sportsmen were willing to give up hunting turkeys during the peak of the deer season, which they did. In 10 years, according to the estimates of biologists, the spring kill would jump by 382 percent and the fall kill by 77 percent. The concept was that the new regulations would save hens and the population would boom.
It didn’t happen. The figures have gone in the other direction.
Most hunters bought into the plan, and many still say it was the right way to go. A rare exception is Richard Pauley, a highly successful turkey hunter from Botetourt County. At the time, Pauley predicted it wouldn’t work. For one thing, there wouldn’t be enough hunters or opportunities to kill all those extra turkeys, he said.
“It turned out worse than I even thought,” Pauley said recently.
Gary Norman, DGIF turkey biologist, admits that the turkey kill hasn’t advanced like the computer model indicated it would. But you have to wonder, he said, where would the population be if the regulation changes hadn’t been made?
This leaves hunters pondering: Is the decline in the turkey kill the result of fewer turkeys or less interest in turkey hunting? Or both? Is the food supply for turkeys changing? Are predators, including coyotes, getting turkeys? Is the decline in the kill a weather factor? Are fewer young hunters coming into the sport because you no longer can hunt turkeys during the peak of the deer season? Has interest in trophy bucks and the muzzleloading deer season taken away from interest in turkey hunting? Are hunters simply failing to register the turkeys they kill because of recent changes in the way big game is checked?
Norman points his finger at the string of poor reproduction years that turkeys have encountered. In 1979, for example, there were 4.9 juvenile birds per hen, an indication of good hatching success. Last year that figure had fallen to 1.9. The past 24 years, the juvenile-to-hen ratio has been 3.2. It dropped to 2.3 the past 10 years and 2.1 the past five. The declines are credited to weather conditions that are unfavorable to young birds in the springtime. But you have to wonder, has the weather changed that much the past decade or so?
Something strange is happening out there in turkey land, and it would be wise for us to get a handle on it.
In the meanwhile, here is a promising observation. The juvenile-to-hen ratio in 2004 was 3.1, the best in 10 years. The 2-year old birds from that positive hatch should provide good hunting during the 2006 spring season which opens April 8. What’s more, we had a mild winter, and a quick late-March green-up so turkeys should be vigorous.
I’m hopeful we’ll have an increase in the spring kill,” said Norman. “Weather, as always, is critical to a good spring harvest, particularly on weekends.”
According to my records, gobbling started about two weeks later than during recent years. Some seasons, the peak has occurred by the time the season opens. That doesn’t appear to be the case this spring.
Look for good numbers of 2-year old toms and poor numbers of 3-year olds and jakes. Tally all of that and the result should be a decent season.
Bill Cochran won the first Lifetime Achievement Award from the Botetourt Longbeards, a chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation based in Botetourt County. The organization honored Cochran with a plaque that stated: "We recognize his involvement and dedication to the outdoors, both by his coverage as an outdoor editor for The Roanoke Times, as an author, as an Internet columnist, and, most of all for being the kind of individual you would like to share a hunting or fishing trip with. We thank you for being a friend and role model for all outdoorsmen."
Monday, April 03, 2006
April 7,8,9th Work Party Tasks
I was up over the weekend working with George and Jimmie to install a new water pump and work on the new water system.
George and I created a list of projects to do, most of them inside the cabin.
In no particular order:
1. George left molding in the Honey Moon Suite (HMS) to put around the edge of the ceiling to keep out the mice.
2. He also suggested plugging the holes in the drywall in the walls and ceiling in the HMS with drywall to stop the mice.
3. The door to the HMS needs to be caulked and re-painted.
4. There is molding under Mac's usual bed in the bunk room to use to repair the bunkroom window.
5. In the meeting room, we need to finish patching the dry wall where the tree came in.
6. Shampoo the meeting room carpet where it flooded.
7. Re-attach the hose to the underground water pipe with an extra hose clamp. The force of the new water pump pulled the connection loose from the pipe. Also disassemble part of the piping to tighten one of the fittings that is leaking. I can show you where, if George does not come.
8. There is a large amount of brush in the firepit, but there may be a burning ban.
9. Look into what we can do about the creek eroding up to the cabin. There was a major flood over the winter.
10. Plan what we want to do with building the extra bedroom and storage shed.
11. Plans for replacing the bridges.
12. Jimmie wants to find a way to lengthen the firing range to 200 yards.
13. Extend the back porch roof.
14. Paint the inside of the front door with white paint.
15. Replace, repair the ceiling in the main room and bunk room.
16. Clean the filters to the Jenn-Aire stove.
17. Scrape and repaint the cabinets on the back porch and in the bunkroom.
17. Extend the plywood housing over the pump by another 10 inches or so to enclose the new plumbing.
18. Install new First Aid cabinet, I'm bringing.
Tools and supplies needed:
Dry wall materials (mud, sand paper) and tools.
Extra drywall (small pieces).
1/2" plywood for the pump housing.
Green, white paint.
Carpentry tools: saws, hammers, screwdivers, etc.
1 or 2 2-3" stainless hose clamp.
Large channel lock pliers. teflon tape, pipe dope.
Putty knives, scapers, paint brushes.
Shovels
Saturday, the new landowners of the adjacent property are coming over to meet us.
We will also have our spring meeting and discusss club business.
That should get us started.
Please pass this along to anyone in the club.
Dave Shaw
George and I created a list of projects to do, most of them inside the cabin.
In no particular order:
1. George left molding in the Honey Moon Suite (HMS) to put around the edge of the ceiling to keep out the mice.
2. He also suggested plugging the holes in the drywall in the walls and ceiling in the HMS with drywall to stop the mice.
3. The door to the HMS needs to be caulked and re-painted.
4. There is molding under Mac's usual bed in the bunk room to use to repair the bunkroom window.
5. In the meeting room, we need to finish patching the dry wall where the tree came in.
6. Shampoo the meeting room carpet where it flooded.
7. Re-attach the hose to the underground water pipe with an extra hose clamp. The force of the new water pump pulled the connection loose from the pipe. Also disassemble part of the piping to tighten one of the fittings that is leaking. I can show you where, if George does not come.
8. There is a large amount of brush in the firepit, but there may be a burning ban.
9. Look into what we can do about the creek eroding up to the cabin. There was a major flood over the winter.
10. Plan what we want to do with building the extra bedroom and storage shed.
11. Plans for replacing the bridges.
12. Jimmie wants to find a way to lengthen the firing range to 200 yards.
13. Extend the back porch roof.
14. Paint the inside of the front door with white paint.
15. Replace, repair the ceiling in the main room and bunk room.
16. Clean the filters to the Jenn-Aire stove.
17. Scrape and repaint the cabinets on the back porch and in the bunkroom.
17. Extend the plywood housing over the pump by another 10 inches or so to enclose the new plumbing.
18. Install new First Aid cabinet, I'm bringing.
Tools and supplies needed:
Dry wall materials (mud, sand paper) and tools.
Extra drywall (small pieces).
1/2" plywood for the pump housing.
Green, white paint.
Carpentry tools: saws, hammers, screwdivers, etc.
1 or 2 2-3" stainless hose clamp.
Large channel lock pliers. teflon tape, pipe dope.
Putty knives, scapers, paint brushes.
Shovels
Saturday, the new landowners of the adjacent property are coming over to meet us.
We will also have our spring meeting and discusss club business.
That should get us started.
Please pass this along to anyone in the club.
Dave Shaw
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