You can't judge a tree by its cover

Last week a wildlife officer with the Arkansas Game and Fish Department sent me this image of a white oak tree. He told me the tree had a 24-inch trunk diameter, was about 15 feet tall and was hollow from the top down.

Last July a team charged with documenting black bears in Arkansas live trapped a small, 100-pound female and put a locator collar on it. Winter is the best time to go into the woods with a locator device to see where the bears are spending their winter.

The game official told me he had heard of bears wintering in hollow trees, but was surprised when his device "pinged" on the tree. Black bears are common in northern Arkansas and are becoming more common in Southern Missouri. To me it looks like the tree is even trying to do a bear impersonation.