Bear Interrupts Tennis Tournament

By Alan Marble

The July 2023 tennis tournament had a surprise visitor one afternoon, which, upon close inspection, was promptly run off the property.  He was spotted 15 minutes later, heading for the high ground above Marquette Court.  According to Darlene Leete, he was not particularly perturbed by the rousting.

The bear who interrupted the CSA’s July Tennis Tournament. “He” was a substantial black bear…I’m fairly certain that the accompanying photograph, graciously provided by Margie Finley and tweaked by Dean Keiser, shows the trespasser.  He is, by any standard, a whopper of a male black bear. Perhaps he is the same bruiser who haunts the Marquette Court neighborhood from late fall into spring, sleeping only for a month or so before shaking the deep sleep out of his eyes and heading out for his next meal.

Bears are more and more each year a part of the CSA cast of characters. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources has written recently that the northern lower peninsula population of black bears is on the rise. Case in point; I have driven the woods and walked the trails of Benzie County for 60 years or more.  Pre-dawn turkey hunts and fishing trips, middle-of-the-night trips home from walleye fishing adventures . . . throw in almost three years working these woods and waters as a Michigan conservation officer…and I saw my first Benzie County bear about five or six years ago near Little Platte Lake. 

These days, bears haunt our bird feeders and garbage bins, and, last year, two sows (females) with cubs were working the CSA and Wildewood beaches for the dead alewives drifting ashore. This winter, in early March after a fresh snowfall, I picked up his tracks in our yard under my bird feeder pole.  My dogs Rooster, Goose and I chose to follow the spoor, and away we went, up Marquette Court all the way to John Way’s cottage. 

At most cottages, devoid of human life or tracks, this bear visited decks, standing on hind legs and trying to get a look inside in case there might be a still-warm ham or brisket resting on the sideboard . . . or a rancid forgotten side of salmon from a summer meal.  Southward, up to Laurie Johnson’s place on Maple Arch, down to Lover’s Lane in the CSA and on to the beach.  Up the new stairs, up Beech Road, past the Nahnsen and Holt cottages, then to the end of Golf Lane. He still stopped to look in some windows, but it appeared that he was growing doubtful about his prospects of finding anything edible, and the frequency of his window-peeping tapered off.  Down Ness Road, crossing the Campbell property to Thomas Road, cutting through the wooded swamp to South Shore Road, and the dogs and I followed him to just shy of the Yacht Club when dusk began to fall, and I figured it was prudent to head for home and hearth.  More important, it was past the dogs’ dinner bell, and, well, when you are fed once a day, that timing is pretty darn important.

The upshot?  We share these environs with a myriad of wildlife species which, whether we realize it or not, enrich our lives and indicate that where we live, or vacation, is highly prized acreage by human and wild animals alike. 

Black bears are omnivores, in that they eat everything they can.  Around here, in descending order, bears eat plants and grasses, insects and grubs, carrion, garbage, bird seed from feeders and the occasional fawn or small mammal which the bear stumbles across. 

Do they represent a threat to their human co-inhabitants? In a small measure, yes.  A sow with cubs, especially new cubs of the year which aren’t much bigger than Mary Soule’s Cocoa, will defend her cubs if scooting them up the nearest tree doesn’t deter the threat.  By mid-summer, when most of us are treasuring our CSA moments and sunrises and sunsets, these woods provide a huge bounty of food for all creatures.  Squirrel and bird feeder activity drop off, as nature’s bounty comes on in a rush. The cornucopia is spilled for all of us.

Bears will choose to avoid any human contact unless the human provokes the bear, offers it food or garbage, or otherwise does something stupid which is routinely shown on YouTube, primarily in western national parks.

Walk the trails and roads and take in the experience.  A career in law enforcement taught me to try to always be aware of my surroundings. Walking Lover’s Lane with ear buds takes away what you are missing in the mid-summer song of scarlet tanagers or the loud rustling of last year’s leaves as a doe and fawn, or a bear, crashes uphill towards the lake. If, and that is a big “if,” you encounter a bear, stand up straight, raise your arms and holler. In Alaska, where we commingled with huge brown bears (AKA grizzly), we yelled something inspiring like, “Hey Bear! Hey Bear!” The idea is to try to not surprise bears.  Let them know you are there, that you are large and in charge. And, in the unlikely event that the bear DOESN”T bolt at 30 miles an hour through the brush to escape, back away and keep talking.

Jill and I have secret weapons of defense, which are, of course, Goose and Rooster.  Dogs are a built-in DEW (Distant Early Warning, from the Cold War) line of defense. The more dogs, the merrier, I always say. 

Do not feed wild animals other than birds.  Do not leave garbage anywhere that a 300-pound black bear can get to it. If bears can get to your bird feeders, remove them for the season.  You do not want to create a situation in which a bear believes your home and surroundings are a reliable source of food.  Don’t put feed out for your cat (or as some foolish souls do, for the raccoons).  Leave your phone at home when you take a walk in the woods. 

Amy Somero and staff - do NOT sell Assembly Tickets or woods courts stickers to bears, regardless of their provenance. 

Now that I think about it, it is almost time to add a pup to the pack.