Black Bears Leave Their Mark

The American black bear, one of the largest an...
Image via Wikipedia
markings on a tree
Are These Bear Claw Markings?

While walking in the woods with my cats, I came across some signs that the bear or bears had been looking for food.
I know that black bears will tear up dead trees looking for bugs to eat and there are quite a few dead trees in my woods that look as if that is just what happened.
Then I came across this tree where the bark had been stripped off and was lying all around the base of the tree. Upon closer inspection, I also found these horizontal markings in the wood on the tree.
I know there is at least one bear that has a trail of sorts through the woods in that area. I’ve found a valley full of very large boulders back in the woods and have seen the bear myself at the top of the hill, standing in the road.

dead tree bark on the ground
Bark Scattered At The Base Of This Tree

Just this summer my neighbors older kids were up the road in the “bear area” picking blackberries when they were frightened by a baby black bear that came trotting out of the bush.
Knowing that the mama was surely close by, they screamed, dropped their berries and high-tailed it home!
So what do you think, or know, about these markings? They are on a standing, dead tree and are noticeable in many various spots on the tree running horizontally and reaching up about 5 feet. Am I correct in assuming that a bear left these gouges in the tree while ripping off the bark? My other guess would be that insects living inside the tree, underneath the bark, made little tunnels in the wood.

claw marks on a tree
Bear Claws?

Easy Halloween Ghost Cookies

Easy to make, Halloween ghost cookie treats.

halloween ghost cookies
Halloween Ghost Cookies

This ghost cookie recipe has been a favorite among the kids in my family and their friends at school. “Recipe” is not really the right word, since there is no baking involved, just some melting of white chocolate and spreading it on the cookies- use Nutter Butter or cookies with a ghostly shape.

My son is going on 13 and it’s the age where he’s a bit big to go trick-or-treating, but still wants to get all that tooth-rotting candy. It’s a dilemma for kids who are still kids at heart and yet are bound to get the “aren’t you too big for trick-or-treating?” comments at the doorways.

It’s also the age where many of his friends are beginning to go out for Halloween on their own. That is a judgment call and each parent should know if their kids are able to be responsible enough to do so. It also depends on how safe the neighborhoods are. We used to do a kids Halloween party with fun games, which I think is even more fun that begging for candy from strangers.

One thing we will do, is make our yearly Halloween cookies and take them to school to share with his friends.

Related Articles

New England’s Foliage, October 2010

I have seen this red tree in the afternoon sun and it is breathtaking! But I happened to have my camera in the early morning when the sun was not hitting it.
It’s still pretty and the orange tree beyond is also nice.

Fall color in New Hampshire
Red and Orange

The Fall colors are at their peak right now and will most likely be less after our rainy and windy nor’easter that is coming through tomorrow.
The picture below was taken by the lake, also in the early morning. I was worried about this Fall, but it has turned out to be just as spectacular as all the others. I guess the hot, dry summer didn’t affect it.

fall foliage
Early morning by the lake

The photo below is one of my favorite type to take. The bright red and yellow leaves against a blue sky. How perfect!

Fall leaves against a blue sky
Foliage season sky

I hope you’ve enjoyed this wonderful season as much as I have.

Just an afterthought: This post is an old one and the photos were taken with my camera and not a smartphone. I didn’t even have an iPhone until 2016! I did a lot of walking in New Hampshire and it was a beautiful place for that. I always brought the camera. I also knew nothing about blogging and it shows in my early posts. So, forgive me. I’m trying to go back and update some of these older posts. I did have some lovely photos of the Fall season. 

Recent Blog Posts Here

Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.

Fog on the Lake

I don’t often drive my son to school, but he didn’t get his Math homework finished in time for the bus this morning, so I drove him. No, he doesn’t usually do homework in the morning, but it’s a long story…. anyway, I brought my camera along and as we came to the lake the sun was just shining above a fog bank that had formed on the lake.
My son thought it was so cool that he didn’t even make fun of me taking pictures while I was driving (I slowed way down and there was no one on the road). He is usually mortified when I aim my camera over the steering wheel. In fact he would make fun of me for saying “mortified”. “Who says that?” is his famous line for me. I am not hip, as he is always saying and I reply that I am not trying to be. It’s kind of funny.
So what do you think of the fog?

Fog on the lake
Early Morning Fog