Five people who stumbled on some bones scattered along Stoney Pond Road late on July 7 were concerned about what they’d found. One of them called the game warden.
Cpl. Shaymus McNeely told the caller he was off that Wednesday night and Thursday morning and asked him to collect the bones so he could look at them later.
The caller said the bones appeared to be human, with five fingers and toes, and he wasn’t touching them. McNeely told him to call the sheriff’s department.
Sheriff’s deputy Rusty Pate traveled to the dirt road, which runs east-west in the Cameron and Simmons Branch road area off of Highway 301. Pate agreed that the bones were suspicious. He got Sheriff Mike Kile and Sgt. Brett Dickerson to come, at close to midnight. They agreed that the bones might be human.
There was what appeared to be a pelvis, legs and arms, but no rib cage or skull.
McNeely also wound up coming in on his day off and having a look. “I don’t know,” he said. “The only thing they could be is a bear. We decided to treat it like it was human and have somebody above my pay grade look at them.”
They took detailed photos of the bones before collecting them. They sent the photos to a zooarchaeologist at the University of Tennessee who said they had found remains of Ursus Americanus – the American black bear.
The animal’s claws had been removed, as if someone were keeping them to make a lifelike bear-skin rug. The lack of claws made the bones appear more human-looking.
“I’m sorry for the bear, but glad it was not a person,” Kile said.
McNeely, a conservation ranger with the Department of Natural Resources law enforcement section, said there have been two sightings of bears in Screven County in the last year that he deems reliable. Any bears seen here would just be passing through, he said.
He said wildfires in the Okefenokee Swamp in recent years may have driven some bears north and into our area.
Some parts of the state allow bear hunting and the population is increasing, because hunters who were limited to one bear per season can now kill two bears per season. The bear season generally coincides with deer season, he said.
No bear hunting is legal in Screven County, McNeely said. The nearest place with legal bear hunting would be in the Waycross area, he said.
“Screven County is bear country, historically,” he said. The last bear shot in the county was in 1966 and was near Miller Lake, he said.
The bones found on Stoney Pond Road might be from a bear that was legally killed somewhere else and brought to Screven County to be skinned, or from a bear that died of natural causes in Screven County, or from a bear that was illegally shot in Screven County.
McNeely said he was investigating and would try to find out more about what happened. Anyone with information is asked to call the Department of Natural Resources office in Metter, at (912) 685-2145.
People who are lucky enough to spot a bear in Screven County should keep a safe distance and enjoy the sight, McNeely said. He advised people to give small bears an especially wide berth. “A small bear has a big mom that gets pissed when you bother it,” he said.
“Any bears that we see would be considered transient,” McNeely said. “If some hang around and stay, we’ll be fortunate.”