David et al.,
Refer to your copy of /50 Years of Texas Caving*:/ the section on "Bones", pp 279-285. Bones of black bear (/Ursus americanus /sp.) have been
found in numerous Texas caves. Not surprising because historical accounts mention that there were a great many of them during the 1800s,
especially in the Edwards Plateau/Hill Country, and in far west Texas. In addition to those already mentioned on the list, here are a few more
examples, certainly not all:
(edited excerpts from /50 Years/):
" Edwards County is especially noted for the numerous sites with remains
of /Ursus americanus/, the once common black bear . . .
In 1956, Ken Baker found black bear bones in Saltillo Cave . . .
In 1963, cavers including Pete Lindsley and Preston McMichael collected a black bear skull and bones from Deep Cave . . . (photo by
Pete on p. 284)
In 1967, Kunath found black bear bones in Cardiac Cave . . ."
Also, around 1995, Colorado Bend State Park staff discovered the articulated remains of 2 black bear (mother & cub?) in Cicurina Cave (San Saba
County). They brought out the adult skull, but the rest of the remains were washed away in a major flood event before they could be recovered.
And in the late 1990s, Bill Stiver recovered a black bear skull from one of the
caves on his former ranch in Kimble County.
In addition to bones, numerous claw marks of one or more bears are evident in the upper "boneyard" levels of Deep and Blowhole caves, scratched
into the soft limestone. One can imagine the roars echoing through the cave as the unfortunate bear(s) try to climb up the vertical walls, in
the total darkness, in vain.
*Don't have a copy of /50 Years of Texas Caving/? You don't know what you're missing. You will be amazed how many of your questions about
Texas caves, cavers, cave bears, and other subjects you haven't even thought about can be answered in the 526 pages.
Contact Carl Kunath in San Angelo at carl.kun...@suddenlink.net
orLogan McNatt in Austin at lmcn...@austin.rr.com
Logan
On 1/4/2014 10:28 AM, Mark Minton wrote:
I agree with Andy that the marks David mentioned are likely from a bear. I've seen such marks in several caves in Virginia and West
Virginia, often quite far from any known entrance and also not associated with any bones. We've also found large wallows in mud floors that
are said to be where bears slept. These signs seem to be more common than I would have imagined.
The marks Steve mentioned in Powell's are likely from a raccoon. We found marks like that several places in Honey Creek, also far from
any known entrance. Of course it doesn't take much of an entrance for a raccoon, as opposed to a bear...
Mark
At 11:05 AM 1/4/2014, Andy Gluesenkamp wrote:
Bear? I've found bear bones in SA caves and there was even a sighting in a
local park a few years back.
At 10:42 AM 1/4/2014, Steve Keselik wrote:
Some years back in Powell's cave we were hoping to find a shorter route to the stream passage via the maze. We didn't find any dig sites that
looked promising but we did note some scratch marks about 4' up on the wall that looked like a small animal was trying to get out of the
water as they all were in a horizontal line. If that was the case then that means there was water pretty high in the cave, In retrospect
maybe it was just bat marks but the line was very straight with no projections to grab on toSteve
On Sat, Jan 4, 2014 at 2:47 AM, David wrote:
A caver in the San Antonio area once told me ( while sittiing around the
camp-fire in 1995 ) that they were in a cave in or near Bexar County
and saw claw marks on the wall, that were made by an animal that
appeared to be taller than a man and appeared the animal was trying to
climb out of the cave.I think he said it was a short pit
entrance, and there were no bones in the cave of such animal.
My fuzzy memory is that in this conversation he mentioned a Chivos Cave, but
I don't know if that was the one he was referring to.
I think he said there were 4 scratch marks on each hand though.
Please reply to mmin...@caver.net
Permanent email address is mmin...@illinoisalumni.org
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