Keeping bears away

[Aklogcabin]

Man you're in a tough spot. There not that thick around our place. I think the wolves are taking them. Hey maybe fng will bring you a wolf. Other than taking out a few to put a bit of fright in them. I've No clue. Maybe invite folks out during season to harvest some. But they go nocturnal then.
I'm not a biologist but I've been around animals. Seems those bears are continuing to move the goal posts. And believe that is a huge concern. I can understand why you're posting.
And a good dog is good but a determined bear is no match. Our neighbor woke up to find out all he had left of one on his dogs was the collar.
Hope you're cool with a short story. I went to go black bear hunting with bil. We're sitting having coffee planing hunt when the phone rings. His neighbor 75 year old homesteaders, had just shot a huge black in her garbage. Asked if bil wanted it. Pretty easy hunt. It's front paws had rips clear through both front paws. Every tooth left was infected as bad as the paws. Scars all over. This bear would have done anything to eat and not capable of surviving in the wild. Bad bear.
Hey good luck n stay safe man.

 

[SheepDog]

Bears and big cats only respond to a perceived threat of injury. Wolves are easier to deal with.

 

[ClemKadiddlehopper]

It's Saskatoon picking season and we are having to share the patch with the bears. Not much can be done than to keep eyes and ears wide open and leave the berry patch when they show up. If a bear looks well fed and or cub less, they don't tend to be a problem.

To keep them away, set a pan of my sister's scalloped potatoes outside. No one, not even the bears will go near them. I don't know how she does it, but they are nasty.

 

[phideaux]

Yep , definitely headed toward me.

This pic was posted on FB by a neighbor.
That lone West KY black bear has covered a lot of ground last week.

Jim

 

[Spikedriver]

Just seen pictures of the first black bear spotted in western KY today.
A big one.



Jim

They have begun moving into northeast Iowa as well. Crossing the Mississippi from Wisconsin regularly. The DNR is trying to determine if they have a resident population or not. I'm not real concerned about it, there's two hundred miles of "not bear friendly" land between me and Wisconsin. It's almost all open farmland, very little wooded land. The bears can stay away, for all I care. They're just one more thing I might have to deal with...

 

[Biggkidd]

Bears circuit a very wide area I've heard as much a 100 miles. We use to have that big bear pretty well figured out he showed up in the area every 3-4 months for a long time. Some of them seem to stay localized to an area until the food runs out then they move again. Some hit an area and stay period like the ones living on the SE corner of my land

 

[Spikedriver]

Yep , definitely headed toward me.

This pic was posted on FB by a neighbor.
That lone West KY black bear has covered a lot of ground last week.
View attachment 69984

Jim

If that bear gets to you, Jim, you might have an excuse to get out that big S&W!

 

[ClemKadiddlehopper]

Aside from the scalloped potatoes, I have lots of bear stories from when I was a kid. Bears don't worry me much. The exception is at night, when you have to decide whether one is seeing bear eyes or cow eyes reflecting in the moonlight, on the way to the out house dad built on the side of a hill a gazillion miles from the house.

Then, the decision becomes.. ..just how bad do you have to go?

 

[Aklogcabin]

Aside from the scalloped potatoes, I have lots of bear stories from when I was a kid. Bears don't worry me much. The exception is at night, when you have to decide whether one is seeing bear eyes or cow eyes reflecting in the moonlight, on the way to the out house dad built on the side of a hill a gazillion miles from the house.

Then, the decision becomes.. ..just how bad do you have to go?

Or how bad you absolutely need toilet paper

 

[phideaux]

If that bear gets to you, Jim, you might have an excuse to get out that big S&W!

It's loaded

Jim

 

[Alaskajohn]

Man you're in a tough spot. There not that thick around our place. I think the wolves are taking them. Hey maybe fng will bring you a wolf. Other than taking out a few to put a bit of fright in them. I've No clue. Maybe invite folks out during season to harvest some. But they go nocturnal then.
I'm not a biologist but I've been around animals. Seems those bears are continuing to move the goal posts. And believe that is a huge concern. I can understand why you're posting.
And a good dog is good but a determined bear is no match. Our neighbor woke up to find out all he had left of one on his dogs was the collar.
Hope you're cool with a short story. I went to go black bear hunting with bil. We're sitting having coffee planing hunt when the phone rings. His neighbor 75 year old homesteaders, had just shot a huge black in her garbage. Asked if bil wanted it. Pretty easy hunt. It's front paws had rips clear through both front paws. Every tooth left was infected as bad as the paws. Scars all over. This bear would have done anything to eat and not capable of surviving in the wild. Bad bear.
Hey good luck n stay safe man.

Agree on the dogs, they can be a blessing or a curse with bears. When we moved to Alaska we of course brought our dog with us. He was 4 years old at the time and was trained by the wife to chase everything away from her gardens and flowers including primarily deer, armadillos, etc. We could never get that chasing behavior out of his personality and he would chase anything including moose who often wouldn’t cooperate. I was always afraid of him running back to with an angry bear in hot pursuit like he did with moose on many occasions. That wonderful but crazy dog passed of natural causes 2.5 years ago after blessing us with 13 years of companionship.

We ending up getting a beagle puppy two years ago and we have trained him well. He doesn’t bark or chase moose, and if they are in the area (a daily occurrence) he will simply smell the air and let us know where they are by looking in that direction. For bears, wolves and coyotes he has a unique bark and stays right by our side as we retreat to the cabin to let them pass. When he is outside with us, he does his own thing but is always checking where we are as he always wants us in his visual range. When we hike he doesn’t run off and is always keeping us in eyesight as he scouts 10 yards or so in front of us. Any uncertain scent he looks at me for guidance. Very happy with him and feel this gives me a slight edge with his advanced hearing and smelling capabilities. Certainly not foolproof, but an edge. Unfortunately he is very much afraid of the sound of a gun so he will never be the hunting companion that I wanted with a beagle for the abundant small game in the area. But the perfect Alaskan dog in every other regard.

 

[ClemKadiddlehopper]

That's another $64.00 question. What would you rather face off with? A moose that has you in its sights or a bear? And no, you are not packing an elephant rifle.

 

[Alaskajohn]

That's another $64.00 question. What would you rather face off with? A moose that has you in its sights or a bear? And no, you are not packing an elephant rifle.

I might be able to reason with a bear, but there is no compromise with a pissed off and determined moose! But that is a pick your poison type question.

 

[Sourdough]

That's another $64.00 question. What would you rather face off with? A moose that has you in its sights or a bear? And no, you are not packing an elephant rifle.

I'll take the confrontation with the moose, if I must choose. Strangely most moose encounters that result in injury to a human happen in urban or semi-urban areas. I have always been able to "sidestep" a moose attack, and they have never circled back for a follow-up attack, they have always continued straight away. Dogs are an often instigator of moose attacks, and the human gets involved. Moose also clearly display their agitation, where a bear will often appear not the least bit agitated, but only curious as it approaches.

 

[mosquitomountainman]

We put electric fence around anything we want to keep the bears (grizz and black) out of. We have two fence chargers. One is 110 volt ac plugged into the house wiring. We live off grid so solar power is our source for electricity. The other is a six volt solar powered charger. I charged up a 6 volt golf cart battery and wired it into the panels on the fence charger. We have lots of cloudy days in fall and winter (although the bears "usually" hibernate in winter) so the bigger battery is enough to keep things running, often for weeks, until we get sunshine again. the system has worked well for us. We do not fence the entire "yard," but only the buildings we want to keep bears out of. Electric fence is the only reliable way that I have found to keep bears out.

 

[Cabin Fever]

It's loaded
View attachment 69996

Jim

My wife's bear gun in .454 Casull

 

[Aklogcabin]

Our son packed our, used to be mine but somehow turned to our his, 454 cassul redhawk 6" while moose hunting. After that a 44 felt light.
We had Rosy the beagle. Pound adoption. She could be running full out stop instantly n dig down 8" of packed snow for 1 piece of dog food. N howel till she got tired chasing snowshoes for hours. And she was adorable! We passed her off to a farm family full of kids. And lived happily ever after
On your bear issue, any new ideas? Lot of brown colored bears in your woods too.
Thought this maybe bear boards on their trails. Along grass lines Move them around to act as irritants. But not connected to your home. Acting as a fence line

 

[elkhound]

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