The race for sheriff continues to be active, if not one-sided, as far fundraising goes, with incumbent Republican Eddie Hawkins handily outraising Democratic challenger Willie Jones.
Bearpacker is Backpacker’s annual celebration of bear safety, science, and stories.
Rambler, a black bear with brown points on his nose and eyebrows, spends late spring and early summer months in eastern Oklahoma. When autumn closes in, he moves west. As the crow flies, he covers about 60 miles, but as a bear walks, it’s farther. It’s no pleasure cruise: Rambler is after what he and his species need to survive.
Bears have been spilling over into Oklahoma from a reintroduction effort in Arkansas, and females occupy new landscapes more slowly than males do, so Rambler is compelled to travel east along the Ouachita Mountains each spring to find a mate. But, to the west, he finds few other bears nosing around for acorns in the dense stands of oak trees. With no one else to share the feast, he fattens up from about 350 to 450 pounds. Then, he piles up pine straw, digs a divot in the center, and curls up to hibernate in what looks like a huge bird’s nest, its edges 3- to 4-fe