Bear Poop Under Glass.

The old saying “Does a Bear Poop In The Woods”? Yes he does, but you will very seldom find it or see it. There’s a long story behind how I acquired this.

We use to go squirrel hunting along the Mogollon Rim in Arizona every year, in the early 1970’s (pronounced Mug-e-on) The rim is at 8000 feet in altitude, and runs about 200 miles across the state into Colorado. The rim is located about halfway between Phoenix and Flagstaff, Arizona. The primitive campground we stayed in is about 15 miles into the woods off the main highway, about 25 miles north of Payson, Arizona.

We became friends with a couple that also hunted there each year, and we looked forward to seeing them every year. He was a retired Marine out of Flagstaff, Arizona. We usually spent about 10 or 11 days camping there each year. He and his wife usually came down just for the weekends, as they just lived in Flagstaff. We had left just after sunrise to go hunting, and as they were leaving to head back home later that day, they came across us on their way back to the main road. They stopped and said goodbye, and that they would see us next year. Just before he pulled away, he said, Hey you had some visitors looking for you this morning. I told them you were out hunting, and didn’t know where you were hunting at, but they left you something and a note on the picnic table, and they drove away. For the life of us we couldn’t figure out who that could have been, or who even knew where to find us in this remote place. It was about 3 hours later before we got back to camp and sitting on the table was a note with this Bear poop sitting on top of it. It was old and dried out not fresh, and the note said, “Found this while out bear hunting this morning, have a good hunt and we’ll see you next year.” Sorry to say, but that was the last time we ever saw Tankersley and his wife. In all my years of hunting and hiking the back country, that was the first time I ever had seen bear poop, so I kept it, and put it under glass. It’s been a great conversation piece over the last 45 years….;0)

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