The Mystery of the Large Intruder

In our last newsletter, we posed the Puzzle of the Large Intruder. Some very large animal had climbed over our fence to get into our orchard and vineyard, bending down the fence and muddying the ground as you see in this picture:

Actually, we were pretty sure the intruder was a bear, because a family of four bears drops in regularly to sample our apples and grapes. So we set up some wildlife cameras at the spot and waited to photograph a bear climbing over. But no bear showed up, and doubts began to creep in. Bears don’t fully hibernate around here as they do in colder country, but they do spend much of the winter dozing; it would be unusual to find a family of bears energetic enough at this time of year to prowl around and climb over a fence.

So what could it be? Some readers suggested it was a deer or elk, but that was clearly not the case. There are two strands of wire above the fence, and a deer or elk would have leaped over. Instead, this animal climbed up and passed between the fence and the two upper strands. We had a climber on our hands, not a jumper. Then a nearby wildlife camera, about 200 feet from where the intruder had climbed over the fence, caught this photograph of a bobcat:

So we wondered: Would a bobcat be heavy enough to bend the fence like that? Then the next day’s camera trained on the fence showed that bobcats don’t bother climbing over: They somehow climb through it. We’re still not sure how this bobcat managed to make it through the hole in the fence, but it did. Take a look:

So we were flummoxed. What animal could have bent down the fence? Then we caught this night shot right where the fence was bent:

It’s a bit hard to make out, but it shows a cougar passing by just on the other side of the fence. It doesn’t bother to climb over this time, but a 100-plus pound cougar would be heavy enough to bend the fence and we can’t think who else the intruder could have been other than the bears – who seem to be slumbering. So we’re betting on a cougar. We’re keeping the cameras on the spot and hope to have a photo for you of a cougar climbing over – or maybe a Bigfoot family!

We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and wish you a wonderful holiday season. We’d be failing at our jobs if we missed the chance to note as well that holidays are always better with cider. A traditional cider made from heirloom apples. One that keeps winning national awards and represents American hard cider at its very best. And if you join our cider club in the next couple of days, you can still join our first virtual Cider and Conversation Salon this Thursday, Nov. 30 at 4:30 pm PT or 7:30 pm ET! We’re delighted to have Cider Club members across the country and would be thrilled to count you in as well: Here’s where you sign up.

In any case, we send you best wishes from Yamhill, we wish Bigfoot and the cougar well and hope the bears enjoy sweet dreams.