From the Wilds of NW Ohio......OK.....this verges on Twilight Zone. When i'm having a restless night, I use an upstair guest BR,and Martha stays in the main one, downstairs. Last night at three in the morning an Alarm Chessie woke me up, seriously concerned. Tackled her to save the screen and clamped down on muzzle, so's to I could "WTF" the doin's.

What I HEARD was the sound of large non-retractile claws on the street pavement, and a definite ursine grumble-monolog. Being cob-webby in the head, I double check and sure enough, I am awake and not under the influence of any nighttime stuff. There is a row pf shade trees along that side of the house, so I couldn't see the street. The huff-rumbles and claws proceed to the intersection, and before it hits any clear view, they apparently go down another side street. Weeellll...damn howdy. Maybe, I won't need the slug/buckshot loaded 12, that lives under my side of the bed. Everything is quieted down, the dog is just muttering curses now, I and spent the previous day scraping paint on ladders -- as long as I hear no more, I'm back to sleep, and so in Ms Erynn.

So, at breakfast this morning, i rember the biz, and ask Martha Anne if anything woke her up last night -- AND -- damn-if she didn't describe the same sequence of sounds and events, with Queen Macha chiming in.. We both gave each other a look, and sat there a while. Had casually planned to go out and look some signs in the blacktop, or grass-strip. NADA..also called town Policew -- NADA.

So Gents....I share with you, what may be mass senility, something we both ate for supper, or Rod Serling may have moved in next door. Any further occurrences will be shared -- which is now the point of this assemblage of alphabet parts.

We want to buy a Sec CAm, for installation on the 2nd story corner that 'covers' the four-way intersection, at our corner lot. Motion activated? Cabled to inside ? and ETC. Another benefit is this: since we moved here, the increase in after-bedtime, nocturnal human traffic has gone waaay up. A good part of it is NOT local kids of summer vacation. A pistol was stolen from a vehicle two doors down from us, etc. That wouldn't be surprise that the perps looked in other cars, eh? Advice for Device, is solicited.

Well, TIA for having read this far. My mobility muscles have informed that I'm cleared for the day's labor -- scraping and painting a two story house we own, be fore Fall, please. May the Powder Smoke be with you.

Some time things go bunp in the night and you never know what it was. A camera might be interesting, especially for the human traffic.

Recent move or observation over time? My Daughter and her family recently moved to Bay Village, west of Cleveland, to be close to the S-I-L's father. I was kinda counting on stopping off in Maumee on the trip out or back.

As for your bear, we have had credible bear sightings here in the oh-so-metro. Coyotes moreso and 'coons don't even raise an eyebrow, even amongst the Young Urban types.

Was thinking on a game camera mounted to the garage, mostly for the two-leggers, but haven't made that move yet.

I'm out in the country and if I had motion detection cameras, they would be on most of the time because of all the animals roaming around the yard (mostly deer) and the edge of my woods (who knows what). When I take the dog out at night, I see eyeballs reflecting the flashlight. Haven't seen a bear...yet.

Wilson and Sumner counties are for the most part suburbs of Nashville, but we had confirmed sightings of a black bear a couple weeks ago. TWRA even had a guy assigned to track it and make sure it was just passin' through. First seen in Sumner Co around Gallatin, then apparently swam across the Cumberland River ( pretty good-sized river) into Wilson Co. then headed back east. Young male black bears will travel long distances to find a place where there's food and they don't get regular butt-whoopin's from older, larger boars.

Your "phantom" was likely a real shore-nuff bear, just traveling through. Did any trash cans get rifled?

the Chessies didn't alert to the scent they were getting last night -- they're kinda OCD about such things. However -- that's not much to make a 'bear-no bear'ID. Happy to hear of other bear-affairs. The trashcans are inside a gate, so they may have been overlooked. Kind of a break from mowing the lawn

The cam goes up anyway -- like so many of us, the places where we live were more rural and small-town. Now we have a different situation, with our former corner six blocks from downtown and two blocks from the city limits.

.....from our property we can see a small development of about 60+ houses, but we are on just under four acres. Neighbors all around us, our side of the "county line" most folks own a minimum of an acre. Within a mile there is a Safeway shopping center, Walgreens, Bi-Mart, a clinic, a swank golf course, condos, you name it.

Gots me bear poop in my yard. Six bucks are eating my dang apples, there is an occasional skonk that I am terrified our fool pup will want to play with, and about once a year a moose wanders through the neighborhood.

Glen Fryxel and Bob Mills/fatboy have been here and can testify that skonk and deer are not unusual, but bear and bullwinkle are out of their element. The density is just a bit high, but they don't seem to care.

Keep that 12ga slug gun loaded, hear?

Otony

to Toledo, Ohio and Lake Erie. Right down the block, is the edge of the long river parklands. As nice a river road as any beast would like. A few years ago, fishing off an islands a buddy and i watched [No!! They don't Exist here -- way out of territory!!!] a big American River Otter sun it's self on a limestone ledge, next to the Maumee river. Eventually, it headed out way, until just a few yards away from the very quiet humans. Then---otter fast outa there.

Fish and Game, college biologists etc, said it couldn't be. HAH!! Wonderful to have seen 'in habitat'

Otters are seen in the Maumee. Wolverines??? When we tried to report the sighting to the local biologists, we were spat upon, thrown down the stairs, and told to go get a good ID book.

So..yeah...there are lots of 'erratics' that can confound all the lines on maps of distribution....and watching a wolverine from that close distance was one of both viewers 'game seeing' highpoints.