I’m working for some people who have close relatives that fish N.E. Iowas trout streams almost every weekend. They spend alot of thier time fishing certain areas and today Jim and I got into a conversation about the recent bears sightings plus the cougar sightings. He said his relatives fish these streams and eigther last year or this year asked the DNr there if they have been keeping track of this sow bear with cubs. The response from the dnr was there isn’t any bears in Iowa.
Shortly after that they brought pictures of the sow and her cubs that they had taken pictures of and showed them to the dnr there and he said the dnrs response then was, please try to keep this quiet. I said are you kidding and told him about the bear they were keeping track of this last summer that made it down to 40 miles north of me. He also said they have pictures of a cougar that they showed to the dnr. He said these trout fishermen always take a camera and they got those pictures. N.E. Iowas four most N.E. counties are all hills, bluffs and valleys, Perfect deer hunting and I can see how a few bears could live there. Alot of timbered hillsides are covered with many thousands of acres of dense woods, combined with the rought bluffs and hills I can see how they could stay fairly hidden. N.E. Iowa when I was a kid had 1.200 miles of stocked trout streams, now I think its about 800 miles. Thats alot of water, hills and bluffs and timber. Anybody from N.E. Iowa hear anything or across the river in Wisc. or north of the border in Minn.
