Want to kill a bear?

[sardog1]

Now that I have your attention ...

IT'S TIME AGAIN TO TAKE YOUR FEEDERS DOWN, PLEASE.

It's a truism that "a fed bear is a dead bear." That's because bears that learn to associate humans with food eventually do things that humans view as threatening. Like coming into your kitchen through a window while your kids are eating their breakfast cereal. Which leads to bear mortality when the conservation officer or police officer responds with a shotgun, however distasteful that might be to them. (And it is distasteful to them, in a big way.) Here's a short video from NH Fish and Game on the subject:

Take Bird Feeders Down - Bears Out of the Backyard

No bears were harmed (nor were any intended to be) in the drafting of this message.

 

[sardog1]

You thought I was exaggerating, didn't you? Sure you did. But you won't now. Here's a brand new story from LaLa Land, no less:

Bears Break into Occupied Monrovia Home

 

[Red Oak]

Would love to see a bear where I live...I got bird feeders up all year,never a sign of them.I have seen them in the northwood n.h area,but not here in Londonderry/derry area[chester must have them].Beavers are my concern,keeping a mama beaver happy and poacher free to raise her kids in my local pond.Have seen lots of hawks around too,bad time to be a smaller bird.
Maybe north of manchester is the line in the sand for the bird feeders?Excluding south western nh.Is there a sizable bear population in western mass?We all know about maine....

 

[bikehikeskifish]

I had a mother and 3 cubs in my yard two years running.

June 2010

June 2011

Note where they are in 2011... right where the bird feeder hung during the winter.... Did not see them in 2012. May have heard them Sunday AM while leaving to go skiing early in the AM.

Sorry for the blur - taken a dusk or dawn through a closed and screened window...

Tim

 

[sardog1]

Would love to see a bear where I live...I got bird feeders up all year,never a sign of them.I have seen them in the northwood n.h area,but not here in Londonderry/derry area[chester must have them].Beavers are my concern,keeping a mama beaver happy and poacher free to raise her kids in my local pond.Have seen lots of hawks around too,bad time to be a smaller bird.
Maybe north of manchester is the line in the sand for the bird feeders?Excluding south western nh.Is there a sizable bear population in western mass?We all know about maine....

Keep watching:

Black Bear Spotted from Windham Rail Trail

Many people would be astonished to learn how frequently bears cruise through their yards at night.

 

[Red Oak]

Once in a while one gets byNow coyotes are another story.
Nice link.. thanks sardog.Lots of people i know love that trail,but for me its to crowded if it has even one person.Funny how that trail is paved.Seems like the black bear population is slowly heading southwards.

Nice pics Tim.Very jealous

Great picnic photo trail bandit!

 

[bandana4me]

Please don't get me started on this subject...it is very frustrating for me.

Venting:

In the "great" town of Bethlehem, every year they make an ordinance that prohibits bird feeders and trash to be left out. Of course the rule would work quite well if the rule applied to "EVERYONE"! Well this is America and as we know the rules only apply to whoever they want to enforce the rule on. I know this first hand as I have attended several town meetings and approached the subject to the town officials. I always come in armed with my "8x10 color glossy photos with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one" (Thank you Arlo Guthrie) depicting the BIRD FEEDERS on the golf courses, the trash that is left out at the Gazebo (where they have the summer concerts on Sundays in the summer) and the tennis courts off Log Cabin road. The pictures of course show the trash knocked over with bear tracks all around it.

Why is it OK for "THE MAN" to make rules but NOT live by them......oh yeah this is America!

 

[Trail Bandit]

Ok, politics aside, bears are a lot like people. They are opportunists, and they like to be comfortable,preferable with a full belly. Here is a series of photos that have been on the internet for a while but they will give you the idea. Hey man, where is the remote?



I am still having trouble with pictures on this forum. Sorry if they don't work.

 

[rup]

Does that work for bigfoot, too?

 

[Rainman]

First bear sighting of the year in NH has been reported. It was feeding at a bird feeder in Merrimack.

 

[peakbagger]

The local bears visit my neighborhood frequently and take advantage of whatever resources are left out, most folks are now trained quite well after many years of reinforcement by the bears. Unfortunately their route includes my berry patch which they inevitably trash before any of the berries are ripe. I invested in a high voltage electric fence per fish and game recomendations, basically its fencer sized for 15 miles of fence and I have it on 50 feet of fence wire. Its a variation of the setup that beekeepers have to use. One of the techniques used to "train" the bears is to hang tin foil off the wires and coat it with peanut butter, apparently that lets the bear know that the fence is something to avoid. Unfortunately, the fence doesnt keep the birds out but at least they give me a chance to compete with them for the ripe berries.

 

[TCD]

Wow! Sounds like the wildlife is winning! (And you're starting to sound like Trailbandit with the squirrels... ... you guys kill me with this stuff, I get such a laugh, please keep it coming! )

Maybe you should move the berry bushes into the basement, and get a bunch of grow lights. (That's a multi-purpose set up, of course. Then you can get higher than a kite, and post even funnier stuff about repelling bears... "With a purposeful grimace and a terrible sound, He pulls the spitting high-tension wires down; Godzilla!")

Seriously, I'm sure bears walk by my place (in Keene, ADKs). But I am lucky enough to have a deck and a tree set up that lets me have my feeders 20+ feet up on cables. Still get some squirrel action, but no bears.

 

[peakbagger]

Like the godzilla reference. The folks at Fish and Game really try hard to reduce bear human issues and will spend a lot of time educating folks who are willing to learn. The peanut butter is their recomendation. It makes sense as the thick fur on a bear probably reduces the shock from a fence.

I know of more than few "back to nature granola folks" who have invested in 22 rounds, electric fence and barbed wire to deal with animal pests as it ceases to be funny after awhile to lose a seasons worth of organic veggies in one or two nights.

 

[TCD]

Very true! I can see that it would not be a joke if you were seriously farming. It's going to be interesting when the feral pigs get into the area - that will be yet another challenge.

 

[Trail Bandit]

I have had some experience with gardening and the never ending battle with wild animals. I admit that my half acre+ of vegetables is a hobby and I will probably still survive if the various varmints eat everything. Bears have never been a problem but anyone who has had a garden in New England knows what a woodchuck can do to a row of beans or lettuce in a single night. Raccoons can decimate a pretty good sized corn patch in no time. Mice can smell where you planted a pumpkin or sunflower seed and will go down every row, dig a tiny hole, and make off with almost the entire crop. Crows and blackbirds will pull up your small corn plants to eat the still attached seeds and leave your dead plants in a long row.
I have found that the electric fence helps a lot. You need a number of wires at different heights above the ground, one for the mice, one for the wood chucks and two for the deer. The deer tend to hurry along in their travels, especially if they have been zapped by your fence. They don't know what happened but charge straight ahead and rip down your fence and posts. One problem with the standard fence charger is that it isn't on most of the time but emits a pulse about once every second. This leaves plenty of time for small animals to hop right through the fence and never know it is there. I used to have a home made "Always On" fence that worked very well but people with 2 young boys moved in next door and I had do go back to the far safer store bought model.
Ok, this is all a bit OFF TOPIC from the taking down of bird feeders. I haven't had troubles with bears yet in my garden and to date they have only destroyed my bird feeder at home once. (I have learned that if you make your bird feeder out of wood and just tack it together, the bears will just knock the thing apart to get to the seeds. Nothing is broken and all you do is tack it back together.) I am looking forward to the arrival of the feral pigs. Now, there is a critter that is worth sitting up at night with your rifle for. There is nothing like a roast pig to go with your corn on the cob.

 

[sardog1]

Just to bring it full circle – here's a test of a backcountry electric fence setup that has become very popular in Alaska:

Bear Shocked with electric fence

Many hunting guides have been using this sort of fencing for some time to protect their backcountry camps and horses, usually with very good results. And there ain't nothin' wrong with a little aversive conditioning that teaches bears (and other critters) to avoid humans generally.

 

[TCD]

http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthre...bout-increases-use-of-Mt-Washington-in-Winter

Maybe there is another application for the fence...

 

[dug]

Sadly, sardog, your words proved prophetic.


http://www.boston.com/metrodesk/2013/04/07/auburn-man-faces-charges-after-fatally-shooting-black-bear-his-yard/5cYQU8AiEI9Oy9h6zYd1PL/story.html

 

[sardog1]

Sadly, sardog, your words proved prophetic.


http://www.boston.com/metrodesk/2013/04/07/auburn-man-faces-charges-after-fatally-shooting-black-bear-his-yard/5cYQU8AiEI9Oy9h6zYd1PL/story.html

Only my practice of not commenting on a defendant's guilt or innocence on the basis of pre-trial news reports restrains me here ...

 

[TEO]

But I am lucky enough to have a deck and a tree set up that lets me have my feeders 20+ feet up on cables. Still get some squirrel action, but no bears.

I have a similar set-up for my seed & suet feeders. For the seed feeder, I've solved the squirrel problem by hanging the feeder from a baffle like this:

However, the baffle alone isn't sufficient as the squirrels slide Mission-Impossible-style down the cable and vault around the baffle (honest-to-god). The piece-de-resistance: a 2-foot section of 6-inch stove pipe with a cap on the top that rests on top of the baffle (with a hole drilled through the cap for the cable to pass through).

Further notes: The squirrels were able to slide down the 3" diameter stove pipe that tried first. A pulley is secured to the tree branch with steel cable. I use 1/16" galvanized steel cable to hang the feeder. The previously attempted 1/32" cable eventually broke, presumably due to fatigue and not the squirrels chewing through it, as they did to the initial attempt using nylon cord.