Pennsylvania Game News - April 2019 - 30

toast topped with peppered mushroom
slices. The table's centerpiece is the brace
of woodcocks she has finished painting.
The weather improves markedly by
Monday, with perfect conditions for stillhunting. Billy notes stumps and logs that
have been torn apart, several big beeches
scarred by claw marks, and most promising of all, fresh bear scat. He follows
the bear trail that led from the cornfield
far into deep cover, noting the ways it
appears different than a deer trail. He
remains hopeful, but realizes that, out here
by himself, he would need a lot of luck.
Early the next morning, Billy is awakened by the smell of bacon and the clatter
of pans and plates in the kitchen. As he
is getting dressed, he hears the chugging
of a diesel truck, followed by a knock at
the mudroom door. When he turns on the
porch light, Paul is standing there with
his boys, Paul Jr., Tommy and Michael.
They are dressed in canvas brush-busting
outfits and brimming with good humor.
They look especially large, crowding the
small porch under the goose-necked light.
"Sir, we hear you have a bear problem,
as in you're trying to find one, and we're
here to help," Paul says in a flat, deadpan
voice. "We got our licenses and our guns
and all we need now is a little breakfast
'cause it's going to be a long day."
They all laugh at Billy's dumfounded
expression.
"I don't know about a little breakfast,
but I promised you boys that you'd better
bring an appetite," answers Lyddie from
behind Billy. "Get out to the table while
it's hot. Go on now."
"You're the best, Aunt Lyddie," Tommy
replies, and they hug her each in turn.
Lyddie goes back to the kitchen while
they eat, then reappears just as they finish.
She's wearing her red-and-black-plaid
hunting outfit, her .358 Savage 99 is
30

tucked under one arm.
"And where are you going on that bad
knee?" Billy asks.
"Bear hunting," she replies. "I got my
license and my gun. Let's go, daylight's
burning."
"Don't worry Uncle Billy, we'll get
her back in there," offers Tommy. "We
got a plan."

T

HEY DRIVE UP to where Billy
had shot the rabbit, then put their
little Aunt Lyddie in a game cart and
half-wheel, half-carry her to the big rock
outcropping where she takes a seat beside
Billy.
"OK, here's the plan," Michael begins
to explain. "Aunt Lyddie and Uncle Billy
will post here at the vantage point. All the
contours lead up to here. We're going to
put on three drives. Just sit tight and keep
sharp, we'll do the pushing."
And push they do, busting brush in the
way the big combine gleans the cornrows,
in the way they attack every daunting
task, farm strong, giving it their all.
Except for lots of deer, nothing
budges.
It comes down to one last drive, the
toughest of the day, through a swath of
woods logged out several years earlier
and now regenerating; a great tangle of
treetops, stumps, limbs and rocks, stitched
together with blackberry canes.
Billy joins this drive to spell Paul, who
joins Lyddie on the big rock outcrop.
The downhill flanker, a branch
cracks behind Billy halfway through
the drive. He glimpses a flash of black
as a bear leaks out of the slashings and
barrels into the laurel below.
He doesn't even have a chance to raise
his rifle, but shouts, "BEAR!
BEAR! BEAR!" A minute later,
the bear pops out of the laurel
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2019

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