Bear visited last night.

I suspected he was the culprit that tore up my bird feeder, then when I went out to the pasture to let horses out into fresh paddock, they refused to go. I thought this was strange because they are always quite eager to go out there. When I walked on out there I saw one unmistaken bear track, plus an empty 100 gal. water through was turned over. Funny thing is that he last visited yard and destroyed bird feeder exactly one year ago!! Oh well, he could have done more damage, like coming on porch and tearing up gas BBQ. Also strange that I have 2 dogs that will bark at a flea fart, but they were quiet last night.

Are you close to mountains or a wildlife refuge.

lol some dogs have a sence of when to keep quiet, they know that annoying a bear is a no win situation for them , one of ours will do that too, while the other will take on anything even though the anything is 4 times his size

I think horses are more alert than dogs to danger.

Dogs don't bother kinfolk!

Sourgum,
No I live in Southside Virginia on the Piedmont Plateau, just 5 miles fro NC line. Bears have been moving into our area on their own, probably from the Dismal Swamp on the coast. Strange to say that they have been usually behaving themselves, not preying on livestock or pets; all we hear about is little nuisance events like I just related. Personally I am glad to have them around, but then I am a retired Wildlife Biologist and have perhaps more appreciation of all wildlife than most folks.

(quoted from post at 08:33:55 04/05/14) Sourgum,
No I live in Southside Virginia on the Piedmont Plateau, just 5 miles fro NC line. Bears have been moving into our area on their own, probably from the Dismal Swamp on the coast. Strange to say that they have been usually behaving themselves, not preying on livestock or pets; all we hear about is little nuisance events like I just related. Personally I am glad to have them around, but then I am a retired Wildlife Biologist and have perhaps more appreciation of all wildlife than most folks.

Click to expand...

Here in Albemarle county game cameras last fall showed 7 different bears wandering around my mountain. Not unusual to see one, mostly not close to the house. Good neighbors, if you don't leave out anything they want to eat. This one came over to take a look in the window by my desk. [/img]

Did the bear leave a calling card? You know, the brown pile.

I can see the headline now-

"Bear, enraged by camera flash, breaks window and carries off local resident."

(quoted from post at 12:58:57 04/05/14) I can see the headline now-

"Bear, enraged by camera flash, breaks window and carries off local resident."

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LOL... we're old friends. But it is surprising how large the head of a small bear is. Here's a different one who poked its nose to the front door a couple of years ago. Guests, facing the door, asked "do y'all have a big black dog?". They knew, didn't bother them in the slightest. This one was camera shy.

A bear is something I would not want poking around my property. A bullet to the head would be my advice, you would hate to have one wreck your home, eat your dog, whatever.

Here in NY particularly the Adirondack Mts they
regularly break into cabins if they smell food.
Will do so if people are there or not.

Been living here 20 years, never a problem. They know where I am, frequently making a lot of noise. Recently started 2 tractors, while warming up I looked down the mountain and saw mom and a cub making a fast retreat through the woods.

On the game camera, one sow had 3 cubs. They aren't normally aggressive. I don't feed them, except for deer season when they get the carcases (a long ways from our house).

A few years back my wife called me when I was on a trip to Michigan. Young bear on the patio, intrigued by the CDs she had hanging out there. She tried making noise, it came back. I told her to fire into the woods out the adjacent door. "Shoot the bear?" No, shoot into the woods.

Solved that problem.

The one in the first photo kept coming back, frightened my wife. I fired a shotgun over its head. Took 3 visits and 3 shells before it paired the sound of the door opening with the shotgun blast. Remember Pavlov and his dogs? Fourth time I opened the door it took off, didn't return. Just when I was thinking it was pretty small for the freezer. Bear's very tasty, but I'm not shooting a small one.

Like any visiting neighbor, you just need to get them to act right, or go away. Scat's frequently in our driveway, here's the largest I've seen, nearly 3" d.:

Omnivores that are very opportunistic. You need to make sure you don't feed them. We do not. Our frequently used charcoal grill lives outside here, never been a problem. Maybe the aroma was of over-cooked meat. Hasn't been any bear on it lately.

I was cleaning up the raspberry patch on my roof today and wondered idly about attracting a bear. Hasn't been a problem. OTOH, the damn turkeys took 15 years to find my morel patch. I looked forward to morels with turkey, but that hasn't happened.

Read an article recently about the large increase in game population in general, bears included. Matches my observations here. I don't expect a problem, but if necessary I'll solve it.

Maybe next season the guys who lease hunting here will see a cub-less adult worth taking. My deal is to receive half. Marinated, then over charcoal, is wonderful.

his guy comes around each april-may, i guess out of hibernation and hungry

First bear I saw in the wild was on 23 coming down off the hill into VA from NC.

The same Bear family has been around the last two years. I would think that Mom will kick the kids out by now.

Pretty exciting, eh?

I spent summers as a kid in the White Mountains of eastern Arizona and occasionally saw bears there. I remember Ohio visitors once opening the front door of the cabin and being face to face with a large bear, separated only by the screen door.

Probably the most memorable part of their trip.