Benjiman had a sleepless, bitter-cold night, in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, and I have finished the deer bag marijuana, but I must replenish my marijuana. My heart has been ripped out from my body, but I must take care of Bud and Lucille now. I must get hold of my feelings, so, I can protect them. I must have more marijuana; I must remain calm. Yes, I’m thinking about the PCP laced mar...

 I’m Benjamin [Ben] I’m now a little over a year old and I have just come out of my den this morning.  The trees are swaying, it’s still over a foot of snow, here in Virginia. We have been denned up, now for over 3 months. I’m looking forward to adventures this year. Last year I was a young bear, I had to learn all things that bears do. I learned how to find food to eat, a lot of our diet is plant based. The black berries and ...

                                                         Our Neighbors

After our little snooze, we now have a little fuller feeling belly, after we devoured all the fish yesterday. Oliver and ...

The next morning after awaking, Angel was already awake and had prepared two possums and porridge for breakfast. She was singing and humming while preparing breakfast. Oliver and Sophia were so happy seeing her prepare breakfast, and she appeared to be much happier than yesterday. All the cubs were up and setting the table, getting ready for some delicious possum and porridge. Oliver said the blessing, we all started eating like a bunch of hungry bears. We all chippe...

It’s now spring time and the weather is beautiful, there is a slight crispness to the early morning air. The trees are no longer bare, they have different shades of green showing up everywhere. These fresh new growth leaves are so delicious Ben says to Lucy. Yes, the leave is delicious, but yum these flowers are so sweet and delicious.  They are enjoying all the fresh leaves and flowers, then Lucy happens to find a honey bee hive. She tells me to come over that s...

Its summer time now, the flowers have now turned into fruit. In the meadows there are so many delicious strawberries, so thick you can’t walk without stepping onto them, and along the woods line are the blackberries and raspberries bushes, covered in lush black and red fruit, while deeper in the woods the blueberries are growing on low bushes, that’s at just the right height for a bear to forage on them. With so many choices, I don’t know which ones ...

   Late Summer Time

Late summer is here, it is hot and sticky, and it has a feeling of love in the air. Whatever that means, the love bug hasn’t hit me yet. But lucy on the other hand is just glowing all the time. Her, and James finds every excuse they can to be together. If she not going over there, James is coming over here. I love my blood brother coming over, but he has no time for me. The problem is he wants to spend all his time with Lucy. I’m glad he ...

The Moves

Maverick and Luna now show back up at Angel’s den, Angel sees something, she has never seen in Luna. Angel says Luna you are glowing what’s going on here. Luna now with a very blushed face, says “I’m in love, I guess it was like love at first sight. I know that sound silly but I have never had such a strong feeling towards anyone. I know it was not really love at first sight. I know I’ve known maverick for a while. But literally unti...

With all the love in the air these days and the dens are being changed up. Samuel is moving in with Angel and Maverick and Luna is moving into Samuel old den. Oliver and Sophia say, well looks like we will have to find a den, for Lucy and James to stay in this fall, to start their new family in. Oliver says I know the exact den for them, it’s large and spacious. It’s right across Stone Coal Gap Road from us on the other ridge. The den is low on the moun...

Lost Without Lucy

Oliver and Sophia have never been happier back at our den. They were just glowing, knowing that Lucy are going to be making them grandparents. Sophia is just humming and singing, with all the house work, as she cleans the den. Oliver can’t stop talking about Lucy and James, and how he loves helping them, how he had so much fun with James, while they were hunting. I’m just feeling very down right now, without Lucy, being here in our den, the de...

Well, I have some good days and some not so good days. I’m happy and loving life on my good days. On my bad days, I go out and try to talk to all our neighbors, and family. I prefer to do this, then to go straight to marijuana. There are days when this works perfectly, and I can get myself out of my head. I truly missed out on a golden opportunity with Luna; if I had feeling for her earlier, I wouldn’t be going through this now. Even when I’m very depressed...

As I wake up to the smell of breakfast, that Oliver and Sophia had prepared. We had breakfast together, and I let them know I was going out, and it might be a day or two before I return. I tell them, that I am going out to find me, a sow friend and mate. I’m very happy this morning, I’ve decided since Luna wasn’t available, I would need to find myself a sow, that would make me happy, and I could spend my life with. I not feeling depressed at all, I’m ...

         Fall is here now and I’m hearing the traffic going up and down Stone Coal Gap Road, I’m also hearing the dogs barking in the back of the trucks. I know we can’t be crossing the roads like we have been, or the dogs will get our scent and chase us. I still have nightmares of when the hounds almost caught me, I had to go up a tree to keep from being caught, and tore to pieces by the hounds. I’m larg...

           Both Tom and myself are just thrilled, to have Sue staying with us, I guess the competition to win her over, is on. Not so fast, Tom needs her more than I do. I have my whole family and their mates. Tom has his blood brother, that is all he has in life, I must make sure Sue is his. Without me in Tom’s life, he would dead by now. With Ceasar help we hav...

           Training season is now over, we feel comfortable crossing the roads again. After leaving Tom’s, I wanted to go and visit everyone. James and Lucy are the closest. So, I head on through the woods towards their den. The white oak acorns are so thick that I gorged myself as I go. It’s very important this time of year to put on at least 4 inches or more of fat, to get us through hibernation this winter....

           It was early, on a cold 1st Monday, in December, the official start of bear season in Virginia, hunters can hunt with hounds, and legally kill any bear over 100 pounds. Oliver is outside of his den, when across Stone Coal Gap Road, he hears the hounds beginning to open up and barking. The dogs sound to be right on top the mountain above Lucy’s and James’s den. He is terrified that they will either...

Marijuana Bear

           I hear the sound I heard earlier, of some kind of tool. I move from the door to the window so I can see what’s happening. It’s the hoist lifting Olivers lifeless body up in the air. I hear someone counting numbers as he is lifted further up off the ground, I hear 200, 275, 360, 390, 400, 415, and the final number was 420. Dale tells Rob, it looks like he has killed a marijuana bear...

The next morning as Sophia feared, I was thinking about leaving tonight to go and check on Tom. I will have to take the path we did last night, using the creek to wash away my scent. Sophia wants me to stay. I said my other blood brother may need me. Well at least we will have today, our new smaller family, she is bawling. We get into a group bear hug, then I roll a huge cigar for everyone. They sit and smoke the cigars, everyone has their own tales about Oliver, that they ...

           I give all my good byes to Tom and Sue, I truly hated leaving them, at least I know they will be safe. It would be nice to live in paradise and not worried about being killed. But North Mountain, has always been home, there is no place like home. It’s a little before dark as I head out. I don’t want to cross the county line, until after. The back country road, divides the counties.  It’...

The Great Flood

           Well, looks like we will be shut in for a while, the only way to go through this snow is to tunnel through it. The good news is the storm has stopped, and it’s a beautiful sunny day. It’s morning time, and the temperature is already 40 degrees out. With days like this, maybe in a few days, we will be able to get out of our den again. We have plenty of food to eat, good protein of ...

           After hearing the hounds running on top of the mountains, we have tried to be careful. We know that we down to less than 2 weeks, until the end of kill season. The weather has been warm and pretty. We can hear large equipment that’s been working on the road below us. I decided to walk toward that equipment, to see the progress. It’s a 2-mile hike, the road below the heavy equipment looks good...

           Sophia and Lucy are already about to turn in for the winter, they can feel nature calling them. James and myself are still very active, so we will continue hunting or fishing, until we feel nature saying, it’s time for a very long wintery nap. We also bring Sophia and Lucy some food and drinks to their beds, until they fall off into dream land. It was less than 2 days and they had begun their hibernatio...

James and myself are hunting to get some meat. We have lot of hog meat now, but we could use some deer, turkey, and possum meat. I hate leaving Bud, but a bear must do what a bear must do. James is telling Lucille and Patches goodbye. We know possums are so easy to kill, and high fat content, so we know of a holler not far away, down close to the stream, that usually has a lot of possums. When getting there they are everywhere, we have hit the jackpot. We kill...

           Its 1am now, yes, keeping the cubs up all day, until 10 pm didn’t work either. They are rambunctious and wanting to play. We were able to get them back to sleep at 3am and slept until 6am. We did get slightly more sleep last night, but far from what we used to getting. A bear likes to sleep.

           We had breakfast a...

           After breakfast we get all our poles and a couple of baskets, and head toward Luna’s, she will be our first stop, as we getting close to the stream Bud takes off running to our right. Oh, he is going to the sliding board and hollers for Susie and Dottie to join him, which they did. Bud hits the pool and comes out with a 10-inch native trout. We gave them 10 minutes to play and fish in the pool, then I said, ...

            As I go outside to see who the hell, could be knocking at midnight on my den’s door. I smell a familiar smell, it’s the smell that I smelled yesterday at Ceasar’s, after finding his body. I hear a familiar voice saying, I’m sorry for bothering you so late tonight. It’s the 18-year-old farmers son. I was in no mood to deal with him tonight! I tell him, I have had a long day, and...

           As I lay there in the mud wallow and I’m wallowing around all the bleeding stops. I feel no pain, my head is spinning, I don’t have a clue, what was in that marijuana, that Lucifer had given me, it wasn’t Ceasar’s marijuana for sure. I’m having flashbacks, don’t get me wrong! I am glad that bastard farmer Brown is dead. He had to die, for what he did to Ceasar. I’m no...

           The next morning was bitter sweet, I would be going home, but leaving behind my great friend Luna. We had breakfast prior to our goodbyes. I was almost feeling normal now, I was down to about 4 cigarettes a day. There was so much marijuana, but I took half of it leaving half behind, in care of Luna and Maverick. We both plan to live by Ceasar’s rules. We also gave nothing for the marijua...

           The next morning after breakfast all the goodbyes was said. It has really been nice having Tom and Sue and Jolene here, with us this week, as I continued to heal. Having Tom to help me build a smoker, and help to smoke some killer ribs. This has been a good week, a must needed week, following all our horror of Ceasar being murdered. Then with the help of the purple smoke from Lucifer, I killed the evil...

Sending Lucifer to Hell

After a sleepless night, we all converge in the living room. I tell Bud hey you have really started growing up. I want you, to prove to me just how grown up you are. I’m putting you in charge of Lucy and Dottie. I want to see how well, y’all can survive by yourselves, I want you to go out and forage for your food, this morning, on your own, until noon today. I’m giving you a pack of matches, so any game you kill, or fish you ...

Reflection and Tranquility

Upon leaving Lucifer’s I asked Ann, if she wanted me to walk her home. She said she needs some time before she talks, to her parents about what she had done. I told her she was welcome to stay with us, as long as she wanted to. We both feel at peace now, that the deed is done. We are sad for what Lucifer, has taken from both of us. We need time to reflect, and heal from what Lucifer did to us both. Ann and I made it back to the den.

&...

Training Season and Maverick

Well, it’s the 2nd most unliked time of year has arrived again, it’s now the 1st day of chase season. After having a fulfilling breakfast that Sophia had fixed. I stepped outside, I can hear the dogs across the road from us up in the direction of Luna and James. There are at least 8 dogs that I can hear. They are cold-trailing when I first hear them. But the dogs are now heating the track up and are barking every breath. They seem t...

With the end of chase season, we all decided to celebrate with a picnic around the pond. With farmer Brown being dead, we know we are safe around the pond. We all have a mutual agreement, that we want our resources of rainbow trout to never run out. So, we no longer will keep any trout we may catch. There are plenty of native trout in the streams, to keep us supplied in native trout to eat. We will save the rainbow trout to grow to mammoth size. Bud was happy to h...

Well, the hunters are all out before daylight, there is a nip in the air, as the trees sway. The hounds are out searching the scent of a bear. I hope all my friends and family will be safe this year. Last year losing Oliver was horrible, I loved my dad. He was so smart, strong, old, and wise. I hope to be just like him one day, he was the leader of the forest, only Ceasar was above him. Now Samuel is our leader, as though he is the oldest now, he doesn’t c...

I set right where Sophia body had died, and I didn’t want to move from that spot. I was there all night up into sometime the next day. The trees were swaying to the point trees were falling, and ice hung so thick on the trees by time daylight appeared. My life is over, I can’t go on without Sophia, she has been my rock since losing Oliver. It was almost dark, when Maverick found me, I was not thinking straight. I told Maverick, it was his damn fault, that...

Depressed

Once I was at the den, I immediately started to chain smoke cigars, the pain was unbearable. The marijuana was making me slightly calmer, but the pain and depression I was feeling, the marijuana wasn’t helping but very little. I’m at a loss I don’t know what to do. I wished Tom and Sue were close, maybe he could help me, the way I had helped him. But he is 2 counties away, and I couldn’t even think about making such a long trip. That&rsquo...

Sunday Fun Day

I went back to my den, my head still spinning in circles. I’m mad as hell at myself for using the laced marijuana. I am terrified of who, I’m becoming. But still I so damn depressed, I don’t know how I will survive the loss of Sophia. I lost Oliver first day of the season last year, now Sophia my precious mother the 1st day of the season this year. Who else will I lose. I lost myself turning to the laced marijuana. I had sworn that I would ...

Dottie

           The next week we stayed in Luna’s and James den, it was very nice having a big family there. The cubs had a great time rough housing all week long. Bud was anxious to go to the pond. We said we need to stay put in our den until Sunday because it’s no hunting then. He said all-right in a disappointed tone in his voice. I would occasionally go to edge of the den; to listen, I could hear truc...

Revenge for Dottie

           Benjiman had a sleepless, bitter-cold night, in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, and I have finished the deer bag marijuana, but I must replenish my marijuana. My heart has been ripped out from my body, but I must take care of Bud and Lucille now. I must get hold of my feelings, so, I can protect them. I must have more marijuana; I must remain calm. Yes, I’m thinking about the ...

I get back to the den, Luna says he dead isn’t he. I said yes. She starts crying and said she will miss him. She then said, that he had come a long way to help protect us, due to you Ben. You may not have been nice to us, but you saved a lot of lives today. If the dogs found all us in the den, it wouldn’t been good. Due to you, Maverick had the bravery to confront all the dogs, to fight for his family. I told her that if the poachers, didn’t already have...

Preparation for Hibernation

           After an amazing night together, we know we must go and talk to everyone. To fill them in all the happenings of all the events. We headed over to Samuel’s and Angel’s den, where everyone was patiently waiting for us. We asked the cubs if they wanted to go fishing by their selves. Samuel speaks up NO, hunting season is still in. I tell him that I will explain to everyon...

The Awakening

           It’s been a long hibernation, I’m the first in our den to wake up. I looked at the beautiful bear lying next to me, I’m am so blessed to have Luna in my life. I am still groggy, but I go over to check on Luna, I wake her up. I want her to be part of, checking for our babies. She said it seems like we just went asleep. Then she goes OMG I feel something moving, over here beside...

Search for Dens

           It was bitter sweet leaving Ann’s home, I would love to be with her when she delivers. But I must find at least 4 dens, I need to make sure everyone will be safe. I never want to live through what we lived through this past kill season. I am so happy now, having Luna in my Life, but sad we loss 3 important members of our family this year. As we head to Tom’s, we ate many berries a...

Ann’s Baby

           We give our goodbyes after breakfast, we tell Tom and Sue that we will return, in just a few days and start putting our new dens together. Luna is so, euphoric about her new den, she now has lake front property. Bud not sad either, not sure he will ever get any sleep, for setting on the pond bank fishing.

           W...

Chapter List

Chapter 1    Revenge for Dottie

Chapter 2    Introduction to Benjiman

Chapter 3    Our Neighbors

Chapter 4    The Bad News Bears

Chapter 5    Spring Time

Chapter 6    Early Summer

Chapter 7    Late Summer

Chapter 8    Lucy New Den

Chap...

Blurb

Heads will roll, guts will fly, as you join in for this ride, wait until you see what happens to the hearts. I am Benjiman, I am a black bear from the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia. Join me as I take you though and exhilarating ride. I am basically a good bear, that has had much pain, and sorry in my life. This book will take you though my good times, as well the bad times, that I am applaud at, how could I ever turn so dark. Straight marijuana calms...