Problem Bears ... Any Tips?

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Patocazador

Patocazador

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Jul 8, 2012
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Location
Central Florida
I have 150 acres to hunt and put out 2 feeders about 2/3 of a mile apart. It only took about two days for bears to show up at both places. Eating the corn is expected but now 2 of them have shown remarkable smarts and are trying to bring the feeders down from their perches high above them on strong narrow limbs.

Hardy Cr. Boar1web.jpg

Hardy Cr. Boar2web.jpg

Boar at FeederWeb.jpg

Sow and Cub2 web.jpg

As you can see, they are fighting over the corn. What I don't want is my feeders ruined but I don't know how to stop it without shutting them down.

They had one 2-day bear hunt here about 4 or 5 years ago but the antis have stopped them since. Also, our game department is not really interested in fighting the antis.

HELP! Please.
 
Patocazador said:
As you can see, they are fighting over the corn. What I don't want is my feeders ruined but I don't know how to stop it without shutting them down.
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Standard practice in the bear country where I have hunted is to hang the feeders from a steel cable stretched between two trees that are 10+ feet apart. An appropriately rated pulley is fastened in the center of the cable and the feeder is hung from the end of another cable that goes through the pulley and down to a boat winch that is fastened to one of the trees. You can raise and lower the feeder with the winch to fill it but the bears generally can't get to it. Bottom of the feeder should be at least 9-10 feet off the ground.
 
My experience with Blackies is, once they discover a food source, they will continue to come back until that food source is gone. Anything you do to keep the bears away at an active game feeder, will keep everything else away too. Only suggestion I would have, is to stop filling it or letting it dispense until the bears get fixated on another food source.

troy fairweather said:
does florida have any programs for trapping nuisance bears.
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That might be the way to go, but I would wonder if Florida F&G would consider bears at a game feeder a nuisance.
 
buck460XVR said:
My experience with Blackies is, once they discover a food source, they will continue to come back until that food source is gone. Anything you do to keep the bears away at an active game feeder, will keep everything else away too. Only suggestion I would have, is to stop filling it or letting it dispense until the bears get fixated on another food source.
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Having had situations with black bear in NC and also where I live in MD..., the above is quite correct.

The fact that they seem to "know" how to deal with feeders shows they've encountered them before. Also the food supply is probably scarce for them wherever they wandered over from, so they found your feeders and are staying put until they need another source of food.

LD
 
I have a friend in Navarre who has a bear in a subdivision raiding trash cans (also, his young daughter is known to sleep walk out of the house- he had to install cypher locks INSIDE of the house- it turns out a sleep walker isn't capable of dealing with these) and a woman in another subdivision in Crestview had her dog killed by a bear recently. Your best bet may be to ask FWC to intervene. The worst thing they can do is say no.
 
troy fairweather said:
lol. does florida have any programs for trapping nuisance bears.
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Yes, but only if they are in an area where they are a threat to humans like a subdivision. My DIL works for FWC but what she has told me makes me think that FWC thinks the bears belong there and I don't.:fire:

My daughter lives 25 miles from this place in a subdivision and they have a bear that has been getting into everyone's garbage and strewing it all over the place. So far no human attacks so they ignore the complaints.
 
buck460XVR said:
That might be the way to go, but I would wonder if Florida F&G would consider bears at a game feeder a nuisance.
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You are entirely correct. The last bear hunt was due to several people including a 16 y.o. girl getting attacked by bears. They wait until there are more than a couple of people injured or, God forbid, killed until they take action. I believe this is due to the majority of the commissioners being non-hunters. They don't act until they have to. Typical of our "public servants."
 
If you're putting out food any animal in the area is going to be attracted by it. Can't blame the bears, there just being bears. In parts of the world where there are large bear populations near large people populations you can be fined for leaving out bird food and not properly securing your trash. It's just a way of life and prevents death and injuries to both bears and people. I'm not a fan of feeding any wild animal, anywhere, for any reason. But I won't pass judgement as long as it's legal. To each his own.

Left alone bears almost never come anywhere near people and almost never bother them. When fed they become pests that will eventually hurt someone.
 
Rule3 said:
You don't have to climb any trees. Use a throw line with a weight to go over a branck then attach you cables of whatever and pul l them over, then attach as suggested by bearcreek post #5
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It seems to me that regardless of how you do it, one end of the "tree-to-tree" cable will have to be secured tightly with a clamp so the cable will be capable of holding the pulley, 2nd cable, and the feeder. A loop could be used on the 1st end and then tightened to the tree on the far side after attaching the pulley and feeder cable. I don't see how the tightening can be accomplished and firmly secured without getting up there and doing it.
 
The Evangelist Cowboy said:
SSS?
Shoot, Shovel, Shut up?
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SSS might be one way to go, and as a long time big game hunter I sure have nothing against killing bears when and where it’s legal. But the following is a paraphrase of a line from “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” (my favorite movie of all time) that shows how I feel about SSS in Potocazador’s situation:

"Let's consider that. Another bear may come along tomorrow or maybe a dozen other bears. You start bumping bears off, just how far are you prepared to go with it? Ask yourself that."o_O
 
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The Evangelist Cowboy said:
SSS?
Shoot, Shovel, Shut up?
Click to expand...

The name of this Forum is called "The High Road".

Hardly think that poaching or even the suggesting of poaching is anything close to taking the High Road.

As jmr40 said, the bears are only doing what comes naturally to them....feeding on available food. Problem is, it's usually food that gets bears in trouble. Folks either put food out for other animals(like deer and songbirds), or leave garbage outside and bears are naturally attracted to it. At some point there may be a negative interaction and most of the time the bear gets the short end of it in the form of being shot. Even wonder why one of the most popular ways to hunt bear is to bait them? Because they are so easily attracted to a readily available and replenished food supply. The best way to get rid of them is to quit feeding them for a while and hope they move on to another food source......or one will have to accept the fact that the bears will eat some or most of that corn meant for something else. No doubt the local Deer and hogs also know where the food is coming from, just aren't equiped like the bears to get to it.
 
buck460XVR said:
The best way to get rid of them is to quit feeding them for a while and hope they move on to another food source......or one will have to accept the fact that the bears will eat some or most of that corn meant for something else.
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I know that I am the source of what may be a problem by putting feeders out but the bears eating the corn is not a problem for me. The potential problem is them tearing up my feeders. So far, bearcreek has the only listed viable solution, steel cables with no branches to them to climb.
 
If you have the permission you could de-limb and cut the top off a tree of 12' tall or so, mount your feeder on top of said tree. Take 2x4's and nail 3" nails straight through the boards so they are sticking out and then attach them to the tree with nail ends sticking out. This will keep the bear from climbing the tree as they will get poked when trying.

Stash a cheap craigslist extension ladder nearby to fill/maintain feeder

Just another option, but a throw rock with cable between two trees is easier.
 
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buck460XVR said:
The name of this Forum is called "The High Road".

Hardly think that poaching or even the suggesting of poaching is anything close to taking the High Road.

As jmr40 said, the bears are only doing what comes naturally to them....feeding on available food. Problem is, it's usually food that gets bears in trouble. Folks either put food out for other animals(like deer and songbirds), or leave garbage outside and bears are naturally attracted to it. At some point there may be a negative interaction and most of the time the bear gets the short end of it in the form of being shot. Even wonder why one of the most popular ways to hunt bear is to bait them? Because they are so easily attracted to a readily available and replenished food supply. The best way to get rid of them is to quit feeding them for a while and hope they move on to another food source......or one will have to accept the fact that the bears will eat some or most of that corn meant for something else. No doubt the local Deer and hogs also know where the food is coming from, just aren't equiped like the bears to get to it.
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Poaching would be hunting the bears for game illegally, the bears in question wouldn't be harvested as such. If the legal recourse is not working then other measures need to be implemented rather deal with a dead bear than a dead person. I would suggest asking your fish and wildlife if such bears would be considered a nuisance problem and if they won't deal with it if you can.
 
Patocazador said:
My daughter lives 25 miles from this place in a subdivision and they have a bear that has been getting into everyone's garbage and strewing it all over the place. So far no human attacks so they ignore the complaints.
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That's because that's a people problem, not a bear problem. Unless people want the bears to be completely eliminated from the region, they have to store their trash properly.
 
The Evangelist Cowboy said:
Poaching would be hunting the bears for game illegally, the bears in question wouldn't be harvested as such.
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No, poaching is killing or attempting to kill a wild animal illegally. It doesn't matter what the reason is.
The Evangelist Cowboy said:
I would suggest asking your fish and wildlife if such bears would be considered a nuisance problem and if they won't deal with it if you can.
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The OP is literally baiting them in. No game warden in their right mind would call bears that are coming to a bait station a "nuisance".
 
bearcreek said:
No, poaching is killing or attempting to kill a wild animal illegally. It doesn't matter what the reason is. The OP is literally baiting them in. No game warden in their right mind would call bears that are coming to a bait station a "nuisance".
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No, poaching is harvesting game illegally. Your not going to know until you ask, that simple if you disagree it don't matter. After all I'm just some guy on internet.
 
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