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A bear near Mountain Pass Road photographed by Ben Schrader's Cudde Back motion camera in May.

From Gloria Carter of Buchanan

Sunday afternoon July 26, Dale ( the husband ) and I were sitting on the porch here at home and reading The Roanoke Times at a leisurely pace, when I thought I saw something moving down the woods towards our concrete covered spring box--and I surely did! It appeared to be a big male bear--upwards of 350 pounds (by Dale's estimation) and it looked like he was dancing (on all four feet) around on the top, sort of twirling--I was trying to keep calm and not make a commotion, but I was so afraid Freckles (her dog) would see or smell him and take off after him in the chase! Well, Freckles is not exactly a young dog any more and I don't want something tragic like that (bear attack) to happen to him, (especially in front of my eyes!), so I start calling Freckles to come back and by then Freckles is really getting into the pursuit of the bear--but he does stop when the bear stops and finally comes to the porch--tired but unharmed! Phew!! It was exciting but not an incident I want to repeat--we went immediately and put down the garage doors and closed the basement doors, as well! Needless to say, I continued to read inside as I completed preparing dinner--we have been extra cautious all day today as well!

Dale had a wood cutter here late this afternoon to look at some timber and he told us some really hair raising stories of bear encounters over where he lives.....and some close encounters, too!!

I have one more bear story to share and I'll have to do it after I get Dale's dinner on the table and the Stay tuned dishes cleaned off, etc. Dale says Lindsey Stinnett who lives down a holler--over behind the Wattstull Motel has some really big bear stories too--their farm fronts on the James River at places, as well.

OTHER BEAR SIGHTINGS IN BOTETOURT:
* July 28: Sarah Saunders sees a bear near Botetourt Country Club
* July 27: Karen Wright of Buchanan encounters bear in her driveway
* July 27: Bear breaks into Helen Beaver's home near Buchanan
* July 16: Gail K. Stephens sights bear in Arcadia
* July 2: David and Hazel Bowers share photos of a mother bear and two cubs three miles north of James River High School
* July 1: Katerina Yancey sees bears galloping across U.S. 220

Have you seen a bear in Botetourt lately? Let us know at news@botetourtview.com