Bears in the Neighborhood - What to Do
- Thread starter JonSR77
- Start date
What to do about black bears
Alligatorob
SF VIP
This is pretty good information, for the most part, I do think allowing hunting helps.
When I lived in Florida we had bears around the house all the time. One trick I learned not here was to secure garbage cans with a bungee cord. It need only be strong enough to keep the lid closed when the can is turned on its side. That is how the bears usually get into garbage cans. If yours doesn't open the bear usually just moves on.
The bears could be a bit destructive, but seemed to me to be little or know risk to people.
This is an article about an incident that happened less than half a mile from our house.
Man Saves 375-Pound Black Bear From Drowning
JonSR77
Senior Member
Have met a few while hiking. Absolute defiance of any etiquette. Also, apparently, murder not a limitation for them.
Alligatorob
SF VIP
I believe the bear in that photo is a grizzly. More dangerous and larger than the more common black bears. The bears I knew in Florida were all black.
Gaer
"Angel whisperer"
- Location
- New Mexico U.S.A.
In Southern Colorado, my late husband opened the front door to a huge, (taller than the door) bear less than two feet away.
He grabbed his rifle by the door and honestly thought about shooting him. He said the fur was a gorgeous red-brown.
But he quickly thought about gutting and cleaning him, so he changed his mind.
It was night, and I was singing, carrying something out to the trailer (the same night).
When I got back in the house, my husband said, "Didn't you see the bear?
"What bear?"
"Jeez! It was only a yard away from you! He was huge!"
"Nope!" haha!
This was an exception! Most of the bears there were tagged brown bears, always on the highway.
Our neighbors across the street would leave food out for them. This was a rather ignorant thing to do.
He grabbed his rifle by the door and honestly thought about shooting him. He said the fur was a gorgeous red-brown.
But he quickly thought about gutting and cleaning him, so he changed his mind.
It was night, and I was singing, carrying something out to the trailer (the same night).
When I got back in the house, my husband said, "Didn't you see the bear?
"What bear?"
"Jeez! It was only a yard away from you! He was huge!"
"Nope!" haha!
This was an exception! Most of the bears there were tagged brown bears, always on the highway.
Our neighbors across the street would leave food out for them. This was a rather ignorant thing to do.
Yeah, we had 'em when living at our mountain cabin.
They're pretty much unstoppable
Went thru our fence like it wasn't there.
They'd open the trash cans by tearing off the extra tight bungies
Had to build a garbage can crib to at least slow 'em down.
Bird feeders?
They'd tear down those little cages and crush 'em with their claws and teeth.
Had one tear the sealed lid of a 5 gal can of cracked corn.
Then lay on his stomach while shoveling it in.
Rather big boy.
Dressed out at 400 lbs
They're pretty much unstoppable
Went thru our fence like it wasn't there.
They'd open the trash cans by tearing off the extra tight bungies
Had to build a garbage can crib to at least slow 'em down.
Bird feeders?
They'd tear down those little cages and crush 'em with their claws and teeth.
Had one tear the sealed lid of a 5 gal can of cracked corn.
Then lay on his stomach while shoveling it in.
Rather big boy.
Dressed out at 400 lbs
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Geezer Garage
Senior Member
- Location
- Steamboat Springs CO
I see them from time to time hiking up the canyon, and have had them at the house a few times. I never have trash out, so no issue with that. Always love to see them, just have to be aware if cubs are around.
JonSR77
Senior Member
oh, brown bears are HUGE!! Much, much bigger than the black bears we have here, on the East Coast...
JonSR77
Senior Member
yes, Abraham Lincoln did, in fact write a few poems. Not Joking.
And one was about bears...
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/po...ld-bear chace, didst,Lies desert in thy brain.
A wild-bear chace, didst never see?
Then hast thou lived in vain.
Thy richest bump of glorious glee,
Lies desert in thy brain.
When first my father settled here,
’Twas then the frontier line:
The panther’s scream, filled night with fear
And bears preyed on the swine.
But woe for Bruin’s short lived fun,
When rose the squealing cry;
Now man and horse, with dog and gun,
For vengeance, at him fly.
A sound of danger strikes his ear;
He gives the breeze a snuff;
Away he bounds, with little fear,
And seeks the tangled rough.
On press his foes, and reach the ground,
Where’s left his half munched meal;
The dogs, in circles, scent around,
And find his fresh made trail.
With instant cry, away they dash,
And men as fast pursue;
O’er logs they leap, through water splash,
And shout the brisk halloo.
Now to elude the eager pack,
Bear shuns the open ground;
Through matted vines, he shapes his track
And runs it, round and round.
The tall fleet cur, with deep-mouthed voice,
Now speeds him, as the wind;
While half-grown pup, and short-legged fice,
Are yelping far behind.
And fresh recruits are dropping in
To join the merry corps:
With yelp and yell,—a mingled din—
The woods are in a roar.
And round, and round the chace now goes,
The world’s alive with fun;
Nick Carter’s horse, his rider throws,
And more, Hill drops his gun.
Now sorely pressed, bear glances back,
And lolls his tired tongue;
When as, to force him from his track,
An ambush on him sprung.
Across the glade he sweeps for flight,
And fully is in view.
The dogs, new-fired, by the sight,
Their cry, and speed, renew.
The foremost ones, now reach his rear,
He turns, they dash away;
And circling now, the wrathful bear,
They have him full at bay.
At top of speed, the horse-men come,
All screaming in a row,
“Whoop! Take him Tiger. Seize him Drum.”
Bang,—bang—the rifles go.
And furious now, the dogs he tears,
And crushes in his ire,
Wheels right and left, and upward rears,
With eyes of burning fire.
But leaden death is at his heart,
Vain all the strength he plies.
And, spouting blood from every part,
He reels, and sinks, and dies.
And now a dinsome clamor rose,
’Bout who should have his skin;
Who first draws blood, each hunter knows,
This prize must always win.
But who did this, and how to trace
What’s true from what’s a lie,
Like lawyers, in a murder case
They stoutly argufy.
Aforesaid fice, of blustering mood,
Behind, and quite forgot,
Just now emerging from the wood,
Arrives upon the spot.
With grinning teeth, and up-turned hair—
Brim full of spunk and wrath,
He growls, and seizes on dead bear,
And shakes for life and death.
And swells as if his skin would tear,
And growls and shakes again;
And swears, as plain as dog can swear,
That he has won the skin.
Conceited whelp! we laugh at thee—
Nor mind, that now a few
Of pompous, two-legged dogs there be,
Conceited quite as you.
And one was about bears...
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/po...ld-bear chace, didst,Lies desert in thy brain.
The Bear Hunt
BY ABRAHAM LINCOLNA wild-bear chace, didst never see?
Then hast thou lived in vain.
Thy richest bump of glorious glee,
Lies desert in thy brain.
When first my father settled here,
’Twas then the frontier line:
The panther’s scream, filled night with fear
And bears preyed on the swine.
But woe for Bruin’s short lived fun,
When rose the squealing cry;
Now man and horse, with dog and gun,
For vengeance, at him fly.
A sound of danger strikes his ear;
He gives the breeze a snuff;
Away he bounds, with little fear,
And seeks the tangled rough.
On press his foes, and reach the ground,
Where’s left his half munched meal;
The dogs, in circles, scent around,
And find his fresh made trail.
With instant cry, away they dash,
And men as fast pursue;
O’er logs they leap, through water splash,
And shout the brisk halloo.
Now to elude the eager pack,
Bear shuns the open ground;
Through matted vines, he shapes his track
And runs it, round and round.
The tall fleet cur, with deep-mouthed voice,
Now speeds him, as the wind;
While half-grown pup, and short-legged fice,
Are yelping far behind.
And fresh recruits are dropping in
To join the merry corps:
With yelp and yell,—a mingled din—
The woods are in a roar.
And round, and round the chace now goes,
The world’s alive with fun;
Nick Carter’s horse, his rider throws,
And more, Hill drops his gun.
Now sorely pressed, bear glances back,
And lolls his tired tongue;
When as, to force him from his track,
An ambush on him sprung.
Across the glade he sweeps for flight,
And fully is in view.
The dogs, new-fired, by the sight,
Their cry, and speed, renew.
The foremost ones, now reach his rear,
He turns, they dash away;
And circling now, the wrathful bear,
They have him full at bay.
At top of speed, the horse-men come,
All screaming in a row,
“Whoop! Take him Tiger. Seize him Drum.”
Bang,—bang—the rifles go.
And furious now, the dogs he tears,
And crushes in his ire,
Wheels right and left, and upward rears,
With eyes of burning fire.
But leaden death is at his heart,
Vain all the strength he plies.
And, spouting blood from every part,
He reels, and sinks, and dies.
And now a dinsome clamor rose,
’Bout who should have his skin;
Who first draws blood, each hunter knows,
This prize must always win.
But who did this, and how to trace
What’s true from what’s a lie,
Like lawyers, in a murder case
They stoutly argufy.
Aforesaid fice, of blustering mood,
Behind, and quite forgot,
Just now emerging from the wood,
Arrives upon the spot.
With grinning teeth, and up-turned hair—
Brim full of spunk and wrath,
He growls, and seizes on dead bear,
And shakes for life and death.
And swells as if his skin would tear,
And growls and shakes again;
And swears, as plain as dog can swear,
That he has won the skin.
Conceited whelp! we laugh at thee—
Nor mind, that now a few
Of pompous, two-legged dogs there be,
Conceited quite as you.
Don M.
SF VIP
- Location
- central Missouri
Black bears are becoming more common in our area...as they seem to be migrating further North each year. I haven't seen one yet in our forest, but a couple of the neighbors claim to have seen one this Spring.
Llynn
Non-ranked Constituent
- Location
- Pacific NorthWET
I encounter black bears occasionally while walking around on my place. In the fall, they gorge on the windfall apples in my orchard. We pretty much live and let live but during cub season I make sure to carry a firearm when away from the house. I have no desire to kill a bear but if there arises a misunderstanding between me and a sow I will defend myself to the extent necessary.
A black bear's strongest sense is smell. Some say they can smell food from a mile away or more. Bird seed, trash, etc., will surely attract them. If you leave food in your vehicle, they can smell that too. One year, my sister found that out. I told her to make sure she left no food whatsoever in her vehicle. She didn't listen and the next morning, she had paw prints all over her vehicle.
We have numerous black bears coming and going on our property. When they can't find anything, they move on. I don't hang bird feeders. I only feed the birds early in the morning on the ground, which they clean everything up by mid-afternoon.
With the stream close behind my house, it's also a joy watching them play in the water to cool off in the summer heat.
We have numerous black bears coming and going on our property. When they can't find anything, they move on. I don't hang bird feeders. I only feed the birds early in the morning on the ground, which they clean everything up by mid-afternoon.
With the stream close behind my house, it's also a joy watching them play in the water to cool off in the summer heat.
jujube
SF VIP
We had a mom and cubs hanging out in the conservation area behind our house last year; she'd wander the neighborhood at night and banged up one of our garbage cans.
A large parcel of woods about 1/2 mile away had been razed for a new housing development and I figure that's where she came from.
Haven't seen or heard her for almost a year, so I think she moved to a heavily wooded area about a mile away. At least I HOPE so.
A large parcel of woods about 1/2 mile away had been razed for a new housing development and I figure that's where she came from.
Haven't seen or heard her for almost a year, so I think she moved to a heavily wooded area about a mile away. At least I HOPE so.
katlupe
SF VIP
- Location
- Norwich, NY
When I lived in the forest I never saw one, though my husband hit one with the car driving through the small town near us. But one killed my cat the year before I moved from there. I could not stand it there after that happened. It still bothers me to think about it.
HazyDavey
Western Exposure
- Location
- Northern California
Black bears are normally not aggressive. Back when I hiked through northern PA, I encountered two black bears on the Appalachian Trail. They scared the crap out of me both times. Much to my surprise, they just kept going about their business. I ran into a fire watcher at one point and told him of my encounter and he confirmed that black bears are not aggressive and mostly just want to be left alone.
If you have ever hiked the AT through PA, you know that it’s very rough land. A lot of rocky ledges and rough terrain.
If you have ever hiked the AT through PA, you know that it’s very rough land. A lot of rocky ledges and rough terrain.
Nice rifle
I hate to down a bear, but......circumstances arise when living in their neighborhood
I think I read that over 3600 black bears were harvested in PA last year. That’s a huge number for Pennsylvania. I never went in for going bear hunting. I really like to just watch them, especially a female (sow) with cubs. They are very protective and will attack a man if they attempt to get near the cubs.
I stopped deer hunting in 2009. In 2008, we were hunting buck on the Monday after Thanksgiving that year. One of the fellows in our party yelled for us to “Come over here!” When we got to where he was, the sight that we saw was totally disgusting. It was so bad that we called the state police, who we thought would only contact the game warden. About 40 minutes later, the state police and the game wardens were there. They were as pissed as we were. There on the ground laid two dead cubs about a month or so old. The mother, who was also killed, laid about 15 feet away. I don’t know if they got the person or persons or not.
I stopped deer hunting in 2009. In 2008, we were hunting buck on the Monday after Thanksgiving that year. One of the fellows in our party yelled for us to “Come over here!” When we got to where he was, the sight that we saw was totally disgusting. It was so bad that we called the state police, who we thought would only contact the game warden. About 40 minutes later, the state police and the game wardens were there. They were as pissed as we were. There on the ground laid two dead cubs about a month or so old. The mother, who was also killed, laid about 15 feet away. I don’t know if they got the person or persons or not.
Alligatorob
SF VIP
In North America we have two kinds of bears, the relatively common black bear, and the much rarer brown (grizzly). The picture in post #2 looks to me like a grizzly, the one in #8 looks like a black. Either can attack and kill humans, however the grizzly is much more dangerous than the black.
Black Bears - smaller (up to 400 or 500 pound) and less dangerous, and not always black are relatively widespread in the US. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_black_bear Black bears represent about 99% of human encounters in the US lower 48.
Brown Bears, Grizzlys - The grizzly can get much larger, up to 1,700 pounds. However the grizzly has been driven out of most of the lower 48 US. Viable populations only known in Montana, the area around Yellowstone, and possibly in the very north of the State of Washington. There are still relatively widespread in Canada and Alaska. Most reported grizzly sightings, in the lower 48, are actually black bears. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_bear
One of the characteristics of grizzlies I wish I had is that they can lose almost half of their body weight just sleeping through the winter!
I have seen a lot of black bears, more in Florida than anywhere, but also in Utah, Wyoming, and Idaho. I have seen lots of grizzlies in Alaska, and a few in Yellowstone. I saw one in Idaho, very close to Yellowstone. However in 7 summers of working in the woods in Teton National forest, just south of Yellowstone I never was sure I ever actually saw one. So real sightings outside of known ranges are pretty rare. Telling the difference can be hard, particularly for someone who has not seen a lot of bears and studied the differences. For safety when in doubt anytime you see a bear, brown or black, try to get away!
Only eaten bear once, we were given a nice roast, black bear. We had it for family dinner, I was not greatly impressed, remember all the jokes about eating bare better than the meat. I had a chance to shoot one once. Elk hunting one wandered out of the woods at about 100 yards and stood still for a while. Would have been an easy shot, and I had a bear tag so it would have been legal. However it was after eating the roast, so I passed on it.
The last verified sighting seems to have been in 1979, and was probably a single loner. It was however near the New Mexico border, which is where I believe you were, so maybe the one your husband saw was a grizzly. Black bears are still widespread in Colorado.
Black Bears - smaller (up to 400 or 500 pound) and less dangerous, and not always black are relatively widespread in the US. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_black_bear Black bears represent about 99% of human encounters in the US lower 48.
Brown Bears, Grizzlys - The grizzly can get much larger, up to 1,700 pounds. However the grizzly has been driven out of most of the lower 48 US. Viable populations only known in Montana, the area around Yellowstone, and possibly in the very north of the State of Washington. There are still relatively widespread in Canada and Alaska. Most reported grizzly sightings, in the lower 48, are actually black bears. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_bear
One of the characteristics of grizzlies I wish I had is that they can lose almost half of their body weight just sleeping through the winter!
I have seen a lot of black bears, more in Florida than anywhere, but also in Utah, Wyoming, and Idaho. I have seen lots of grizzlies in Alaska, and a few in Yellowstone. I saw one in Idaho, very close to Yellowstone. However in 7 summers of working in the woods in Teton National forest, just south of Yellowstone I never was sure I ever actually saw one. So real sightings outside of known ranges are pretty rare. Telling the difference can be hard, particularly for someone who has not seen a lot of bears and studied the differences. For safety when in doubt anytime you see a bear, brown or black, try to get away!
Only eaten bear once, we were given a nice roast, black bear. We had it for family dinner, I was not greatly impressed, remember all the jokes about eating bare better than the meat. I had a chance to shoot one once. Elk hunting one wandered out of the woods at about 100 yards and stood still for a while. Would have been an easy shot, and I had a bear tag so it would have been legal. However it was after eating the roast, so I passed on it.
In Colorado more likely black bears, the brown or grizzly bear is near extinctic in Colorado. To quote: "Do Grizzly Bears Still Live in Colorado? ... The short answer to this question is almost certainly no, there aren’t any grizzly bears left in Colorado––almost certainly, that is."
The last verified sighting seems to have been in 1979, and was probably a single loner. It was however near the New Mexico border, which is where I believe you were, so maybe the one your husband saw was a grizzly. Black bears are still widespread in Colorado.
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