Ma and Cub Bear Come Out of Den For Lunch and Sun by Side of Road

 

Yesterday, while driving on a Town Road West of Rice Lake, WI, I noticed a black lump out the passenger side window, and thought it might be a dead bear.  I did a Y-turn, trying to avoid driving off the shoulder myself, turned the car around, and drove back to see what I saw.  I was surprised and glad to see it was a living bear, moving very slow.  

So I did another Y-turn, parked, put the flashers on, got out of the car, and saw a smaller bear moving very slowly at the at the bottom of the slope of the road shoulder.  At first I worried that the bear may have been hit by a car, but then noticed what appeared to be a den behind her behind, and also noticed there was a cub nursing at her breast to her left.

I felt rather rude in interrupting their mid day lumber out of the den.  As I watched them, based on their slow and groggy movements, I figured that it must be one of their first days out of the hiburn-ium.  

The mother slowly lumbered back into the snow cave, and the cub got up, and sort of looked bewildered as to where its meal ticket had gone.

The cub did a bit of stretching, then crawled back in to the den to join its mother.  Although I am not sure, I wondered if the this must be the mothers first cub, and that perhaps in her youthful inexperience she didn't den up until later in the winter, and so just dug into the snow drift at the bottom of the road.  Seems like it would a difficult place to spend the months of winter, but then again maybe it was good spot to give birth and hang out for a while.  Hopefully they will stay off the road, she will find some road killed deer to feed on, and make it through summer to find a better den spot next fall.  But then again maybe this wise young bear has figured out the joy of simple living.