Black bears in Van Buren County (Spencer: snake, poisonous, area)

[Turkey Creek Tom]

The Mountain View newspaper a couple weeks ago had a picture and story of a black bear found 3 miles from the city limits of Spencer. Someone had killed the bear as there was a rope tied to it and signs of it being dragged.
This week's edition has a picture of two bears and a woman telling how a bear attacked her horse, clawing it on the neck.
I am going to be on the lookout for bears if I go to Fall Creek Falls, Bone Cave, Hawks Bluff or Rocky River.
I've romped and stomped over the rugged hills, streams and caves of Van Buren County and never saw a bear...in fact I have never run upon a rattler or copperhead in the wild of Van Buren County. There have been stories of a black panther, in the Hawks Bluff area several years ago. As a boy all I ever saw in that area off Baker Mountain Road were turkey's.

[cqbdriver]

I have been wandering the woods around Rocky River Rd around 30 years. I have deer, turkey, bobcat, fox, wild dogs & recently coyotes. I saw my 1st copperhead last year (only poisonous snake that I have seen up there). I have never seen bear or any one talking about them until recently.