by Jan Fielden
This past week as I sat on the porch drinking a glass of tea, enjoying myself, I heard a terrible noise. It was a sound that was more of a growl than anything else. I thought to myself, what is that horrible sound?
Then, I noticed the cows were running towards the sound. Again and again it came. It was a very loud and very deep growl. I thought maybe a cow was having a hard birth and then I realized, it didn’t sound like a cow…it was a growl.
Then I thought maybe a cow was caught in something and couldn’t get out, still didn’t sound like a cow…it was a growl. Some of the cows changed directions and came running out of the Sweet Gum Grove but not all of them.
Then, it hit me. I knew what it sounded like but at the same time I knew there were not any in Texas. It sounded like a bear. A grizzly bear! Just like the bears you see in the movies or on TV; that exact sound. Can’t be, couldn’t be, but what was it?
It scared the cows, sounded like a bear and I decided the only way to find out was to go see. So, I got in my GMC, pulled out on to the ranch road and headed down to the Sweet Gum Grove.
The closer I got to the grove the more cows were running out of it towards me. I looked in the grove, nothing. I drove all along the grove and couldn’t see a thing. Took the road around the grove and still nothing. I turned around and came back up the hill to the house.
I noticed for the rest of daylight, the cows never went down or near the Sweet Gum Grove again. Strange “Happenings” at the Red Oak Ranch!
