Black Bears in my yard!

[geekWithA.45]

I was talking to my sister, looking out the window, and there were BEARS in my yard!

I got off the phone so I could step out onto my porch, ensuring I had a good retreat path to a barred door, so I could get some pictures and video.

The bears weren't a problem. There weren't interested in me, they were just ambling by, on their way to do bear stuff in bear places, so we left each other in peace.

Tools and technology matter. The fact that I happened to have my everyday carry .357 and a can of pepper spray on me made it possible to encounter the bears confidently, on at least equal if not superior footing on the off chance they decided they wanted to see what I might taste like.

They were a thing of wonder and beauty, graceful, silent, and surprisingly fast.

 

[ontarget]

When my Son and his family moved into their current house, they had 3 black bears in the yard on the first night.
They see them around occasionally but just keep a very safe distance. Definitely don't want to find yourself between a sow and her cubs.

 

[AK Hunter]

I would keep a firearm handy just in case it is needed. Maybe if you popped them rubber shotgun slugs or bean bag rounds they would not want to come close to any humans home.
An animal that can kill & eat you is not something I would want wandering through my property.

 

[rust collector]

Yep, be sure to make them feel unwelcome. They may be fun to watch but you don't want them comfortable around human habitations. Air horns and slingshots should be posted for quick use. Keep waste cans inside until pickup, clean your grill drip pan, and beware of clueless neighbors feeding them.

 

[silicosys4]

Yep, be sure to make them feel unwelcome. They may be fun to watch but you don't want them comfortable around human habitations. Air horns and slingshots should be posted for quick use. Keep waste cans inside until pickup, clean your grill drip pan, and beware of clueless neighbors feeding them.

There is something about old guys and bears. My grandfather thought it was picturesque to have a bear wander through his yard once in a while. So he started feeding them. That ended with a steel food bowl filled with wet dogfood, one end of a set of jumper cables hooked to the rim of the bowl, the other end hooked to the hot side of the breaker box.
My ol' man thought the same thing, very picturesque, but he was smart enough to keep them off his front porch with the occasional round of birdshot.

 

[Show Me]

My mom used fish oil something in her potted plants. That was a mess. She's 90

 

[CaptHank]

Wow... I grew up in SE PA. Small game hunted in Delaware, Chester and Lancaster Counties. Had to make the haul to Williamsport for bear hunting. Most of my hunting was on Amish farms, they never mentioned anything about bears. The way things have expanded in the area, it's a wonder a bear can find a safe place.

 

[9x56MS]

I have had to use rubber buckshot twice on bears to protect my chickens, turkeys, and goat. But I have never felt threatened by them. We see bears on out property 2 or 3 times a year. Usually right after spring wake up, then when our blueberries ripen and again when the apples drop. I have had to become a bird feeder repair expert as bears seem to love bird seed. Enjoy them from a respectful distance and never run either at them or away from them.

 

[230RN]

Kind of off the site's mission, but after all, it was started by a moderator emeritus. I wonder if coyote piss would work. Its purpose is to keep small herbivores out of your garden, but from what I read in Steinbeck's "Travels with Charlie," dogs and bears hate each other and coyotes are sort of dogs. (Charlie was Steinbeck's dog and on a long camping road trip, he mentioned that if there were bears around he had to keep Charlie in the camper.)

From:

https://pestpointers.com/3-best-coyote-urines-to-repel-animals-and-how-to-use-them/

"Predator urine deterrents come in many different options, including fox, wolf, mountain lion, bear, bobcat, and more."

I'm not sure whether that means you can get bear urine as a deterrent or bear repellents in the form of some kind of olfactory deterrent. ("Put your reader's head on your shoulders.")

But I stopped reading and "researching" at that point because I suddenly wondered if you went around personally peeing on the property, would that discourage bears. Not meant as a joke; seriously.

There is a general discussion of repellents by the same folks as above a little longer on in that article.

I use small plastic bags for kitchen trash and tie up the tops and temporarily store them for a while on my back balcony before I can get a chance to get them to the dumpster. The squirrels and birds would tear them up looking for what smelled so good in the bags, since tying the tops did not make them airtight.

This stopped when I started to put a little Clorox in the bags before I tied them up. Enough chlorine would percolate out from the leaky tops to discourage "investigation" by the squirrels and birds.

Terry, 230RN

Apology: For decades and decades the product was marketed openly as "Coyote Piss," even on the container labels on the store shelves. For some reason most of the referents I found now use the terms "Urine" and "Pee." I have no explanation for the change in the old time-honored nomenclature.

 

[Mark_Mark]

I seen a black bear climb a tree so fast, was CRAZY

light carry for me is .357 or 10mm

 

[stonebuster]

We've had at least two different black bears in our backyard 12 times that we know of since March this year. They've been into the garbage many times. I don't want to keep the garbage cans in the garage because I think they'd tear the garage doors up getting to garbage. Bear population has exploded in Connecticut in the past 10-15 years. We use an air horn to drive them away.

 

[Mark_Mark]

We've had at least two different black bears in our backyard 12 times that we know of since March this year. They've been into the garbage many times. I don't want to keep the garbage cans in the garage because I think they'd tear the garage doors up getting to garbage. Bear population has exploded in Connecticut in the past 10-15 years. We use an air horn to drive them away.

I’m not to worried about black bear here in Seattle, but my concern is Cyotes. They are starting to pack now and have a unlimited supply of bunnies to eat & I live in the Seattle Proper too. Caught this on my ring camera the other day.

as for shooting them, Probably a .22 will work. But houses in every direction here. So that’s mot an option here.

 

[Walkalong]

The bear is cool, we don't have any, just coyotes.

 

[wayneinFL]

I’m not to worried about black bear here in Seattle, but my concern is Cyotes. They are starting to pack now and have a unlimited supply of bunnies to eat & I live in the Seattle Proper too. Caught this on my ring camera the other day.

as for shooting them, Probably a .22 will work. But houses in every direction here. So that’s mot an option here.
View attachment 1222237

I would welcome coyotes. The rabbits are fine, but there are a ton of rats around here that aren't being kept in check.

 

[geekWithA.45]

I think perhaps my major point got plowed under a little bit: being armed made all the difference between being at the mercy of nature with minimal agency as potential food whose only effective option is to throw rocks and pray for mercy, and being able to stand in appreciation of nature as a first class master of circumstance.

Having said that, it looks like folks like to talk about bears and how to deal with them, which doesn't necessarily call for gunfire. This is good.

 

[shafter]

They aren't going to just randomly attack someone unprovoked. You can film in peace all day as long as you don't try to get too close.

 

[jmorris]

If you leave food out for them, they will find it. My BIL sent me this one 6 years ago.

August 6, 2018

www.youtube.com

My sister has sent me videos of my nephew running back and forth inside the house and a little cub going back and forth with him on the other side of the windows.

 

[4v50 Gary]

Neat, but don't leave dog/cat food or even a bird (seed) feeder outside. That attracts Yogi and Yogi will tear your place apart if it gets mad when it can't find any.

I've plenty of damage attributable to Yogi and had to replace a screen door once.

I've also seen bobcats, red, grey and brown fox, coyote, road runners, turkey, deer and elk on my land. I've seen bald, brown eagles, red tail hawks, kestrel, heron, ducks and other birds. About 1/2 mile away I saw three snagglepus. One time I was shooting and noticed about 5 yards to my right a roadrunner. We looked at each other and then I went back to shooting. He got bored and wandered away. No fear but rather curious about humans.

Yogi is why my go to is a Marlin 1895.

 

[DustyGmt]

Yep, be sure to make them feel unwelcome. They may be fun to watch but you don't want them comfortable around human habitations. Air horns and slingshots should be posted for quick use. Keep waste cans inside until pickup, clean your grill drip pan, and beware of clueless neighbors feeding them.

I've had a problem with them pretty regularly for a couple months. I don't have a pickup truck right now and I can only do dump runs once a week and can't just leave a weeks worth of trash inside my place. I've tainted the trash with bleach and ammonia but that only works sometimes. Picking up scattered trash has become a part time job for me, I try to make them feel unwelcome by shooting into the dirt when they come around but it doesn't seem to bother them.

I put 10 rds of 9mm 10ft from a big 300+ lb black bear, he could have honestly been 400+ for all I know because he was huge but it didn't even phase him. When I hear a few of them hooting to each other real close by at dusk I'll usually try to make big noise like touching off a magazine of 5.56 and it's a coin flip as to whether they come by after.....

 

[Bill_in_TR]

We have black bears that have been coming to our back yard for years. They rarely show themselves in the daylight hours. They are attracted to the bird feeders we have. When we get a visit they invariably knock the bird feeders down to get at the sunflower seed. Then we have to leave the feeders empty for a few days. It's annoying because the birds don't show up for awhile. The turkeys will come in and clean up the seed that the bear left on the ground.

 

[Dave DeLaurant]

I envy your front porch view! Maybe not the bears so much, but they probably come with the territory.

In suburban Fresno, the wildlife is mainly limited to possums, foxes and the occasional raccoon, along with assorted rodents. Had a pair of peacocks wander by once. The most interesting exotic wildlife flies overhead, including the occasional escaped tropical bird.

The Neighborhood Foxes

Security camera video of various foxes in and around our street corner. This collection spans several years, but mostly occurred in the early autumn months....

www.youtube.com

 

[230RN]

I think perhaps my major point got plowed under a little bit: being armed made all the difference between being at the mercy of nature with minimal agency as potential food whose only effective option is to throw rocks and pray for mercy, and being able to stand in appreciation of nature as a first class master of circumstance.

Having said that, it looks like folks like to talk about bears and how to deal with them, which doesn't necessarily call for gunfire. This is good.

Oh, I was just jazzin' you. It seemed what prompted the post was seeing the bear and you had to stick in something about guns just 'cause.

I've done the same thing. And see Post #10, which I'm kinda sure was a jape. If I'm wrong, let it be my worst mistake of the month.

Five-shot J-frame. (< Just for board relevance.)



Terry

 

[stonebuster]

I’m not to worried about black bear here in Seattle, but my concern is Cyotes. They are starting to pack now and have a unlimited supply of bunnies to eat & I live in the Seattle Proper too. Caught this on my ring camera the other day.

as for shooting them, Probably a .22 will work. But houses in every direction here. So that’s mot an option here.
View attachment 1222237

That's a pretty scrawny one. Ours are more like German Shepards.

 

[RetiredUSNChief]

They were a thing of wonder and beauty, graceful, silent, and surprisingly fast.

Yep.

Just about every critter in the wild is "surprisingly fast". Even turtles can be surprisingly fast, in their own way.

Except sloths. Sloth's aren't just glacially slow. A glacier will out run a sloth hyped up on amphetamines.

 

[geekWithA.45]

Oh, I was just jazzin' you. It seemed what prompted the post was seeing the bear and you had to stick in something about guns just 'cause.

I've done the same thing. And see Post #10, which I'm kinda sure was a jape. If I'm wrong, let it be my worst mistake of the month.

Five-shot J-frame. (< Just for board relevance.)



Terry

No worries. And for the record, my EDC is a 6 shot Kimber K6S, which is within 1/8" of the dimensions of the 5 shot j-frames. It is a VERY nice revolver.