RACELAND -- In nine years as groundskeeper at St. Charles Borromeo Church, Kyle Schexnaydre has seen coyotes, deer and lots of other wildlife lurking nearby.

A week ago Friday was the first time he ever saw a bear, near the church cemetery.

"At first when I saw it walking out in the cane field I thought what the hell is that? It was too big to be a coyote and I thought ëthat’s a damn bear,’" the 43-year-old Schexnaydre said. "I think he caught wind of me and then he headed down the rows of cane." Schexnaydre wasn’t the only person in the St. Charles community just outside of Raceland to see the critter.

Garield Billiot Sr., 63-year-old retired water district superintendent, was preparing for his morning power walk that same Friday morning and saw a neighbor come running.

He saw the bear a moment later.

"I was sitting down in my lounge chair at about 7:10 and all of a sudden I see the neighbor across running. Now he can’t run because he’s got something wrong with his knees, but he was trying to run," Billiot said of his neighbor. "Then I seen the bear, it just crossed into the road across the ditch toward a car, and the car honked the horn and almost hit him. It was a black bear. I seen them already in Tennessee. When I went to the Smokey Mountains I seen them from my car."

MORE BEARS

The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries has received reports of the bear, but no complaints thus far of nuisance behavior.

By now, wildlife officials said, the bear in question could well be in a community miles away.

Paul Davidson is executive director of the Black Bear Conservation Committee, a multi-state alliance of bear biologists. Based in Baton Rouge, he works closely with the state’s Wildlife and Fisheries department.

"They will be more plentiful over time," Davidson said. "The sight of bears will be fairly common."

South Louisiana bear populations are concentrated near the Morgan City area, but Davidson and other biologists said it would not be unusual for any of those to migrate east or south.

Louisiana black bears, Davidson said, are developing healthy stocks.

This is the time of year, Davidson said, when mama bears push their juvenile males out of the den. The young bears look for their own territories and have been known to travel long distances.

"We had one that came out of Pointe Coupee Parish and went all the way to Cut Off, turned around and came back," Davidson said. "There was one in Ruston showed up in the middle of the day a few days ago. It just walked around mid-afternoon, and they moved it out of town. This time of year when they’ve been run away from their mothers’ home range they can show up just about anywhere."

BETTER THAN COYOTES?

Louisiana black bears, Davidson said, are fairly docile compared to other bears. They are not aggressive like grizzlies, he said, but just as with the bigger species they should be left alone and not fed.

They are easily scared off with banging of pots and pans or other loud noises.

"These animals they don’t look to be near people," he said. "Their nose brings them to a smell of something they might want to eat."

Billiot and his neighbors said they kind of like the idea that a bear came to visit.

"Now when I take my walk they tease me, they call him my pet," Billiot said. "I am very glad to tell you the truth. In a way if them black bears could keep the coyotes away I’d rather have the bears."

Daily Comet City Editor John DeSantis may be reached at 448-7614 or john.desantis@dailycomet.com