Bears are coming for plums...

[kurt]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...article589775/ Not trying to defend my views,but in the article it does mention the bear was tagged and relocated,also they do have conservation officers that have relocated and dna tests were done on "shot" bears in the past to identify the one in the article.

[Tania]

Kurt, that's the article about the bear attack I mentioned in my post - thank you for linking to it!

I should mention that last year I was stranded at home when a bear with 2 cubs were playing with the neighbours garbage in our cul-de-sac. My son called the animal control and they asked where we see the bear and when he told him that it was in Anmore they just laughed and hanged up. They say Anmore is a bears habitat, and they do not do anything about it, it was our choice to move into the 'bear territory'.

The reason they relocated the cubs is that they thought they will not survive on their own without their mother who was shot after she attacked the man. This is the only case of bear relocation we know of in Anmore, and I think it was special. Plus technically speaking this was not a relocation, as the cubs were taken in to an orphaned wildlife center, so they could be cared for.

[kurt]

Well if that is the case,be careful.during the season keep bear spray handy,have a neighborhood meeting to contain the garbage can lids to non removable(locked type).

[dustdevil]

Originally Posted by kurt

Well if that is the case,be careful.during the season keep bear spray handy,have a neighborhood meeting to contain the garbage can lids to non removable(locked type).

Kurt, garbage cans with lids of any kind are not bear proof. They jump on top of them and break them with their weight. In fact, I've even seen them cave in the tops of heavy duty steel dumpsters by jumping on them for over an hour...bears are smart and know how to use their weight/strength!

[meadowyck]

Tania

me thinks yall ought to think about moving to FL, as just think of all the tomato plants you would be able to grow here as well as everything else and you wouldn't have to deal with bear...LOL

[kurt]

http://www.thegrowlercan.com/ Bears have become a problem for a lot of areas and sparked some new industrys.At our cabin in upstate PA we had a few but a couple of well placed loud gunshots for noise effect usually does the trick.

[JLJ_]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

Tania, I'm delighted to read that you also have Black Bears. This is the first year in five that I had only one visitation . . . Deer? I have a herd of about 12-15 that hang out up in my fields and them I like.

I can't match your "Mom and tomatoes" stories, but I do have a "Mom and the bear" story. Some years ago, when Mom was only in her mid seventies and comparatively spry, she was staying in a little one room cabin we have. It's an old log cabin of big strong logs, with small windows and a stout door, so a bear could not break into it easily, and she wasn't worried about staying there.

One night, though, she looked out the long narrow vertical window next to the door, and saw a fairly large black bear outside. That by itself would have just been interesting, but the bear ran at the window, backed off, ran at the window, backed off, and repeated. I think the bear was probably charging the "bear" it saw reflected in the window, but she was sure it was after her. Her immediate neighbors were older and less active than she was, so she called her older brother, who at that time lived only a couple of miles away. He told her who to telephone for help and said he'd be there as quickly as he could.

She did that, the bear was still charging, so she debated what she could do to protect herself. She quickly fixed a plate of cookies and muffins, which she put on the seat of the chair nearest the door/window.

"If the bear broke in," she said "I wanted it to find something to eat besides me!"

Then she locked herself in the bathroom until she could hear help arriving.

Within a short time, the yard was full of cars, lights, and people with guns, and of course no bear. They put a trap in the yard, but I don't remember whether they caught the bear on not. It's fairly routine for them to put relocation traps out in this area -- not for bears that just pass through on seasonal fruit-munching journeys, but in any case where a bear displays what might be aggressive behavior, or if one remains in the same area for a while.

A few years later I was staying in the same cabin and had a bear look in that window. I had a large dog with a powerful alarm-roar, however. Br'er bear looked in, his reflection roared at him and he teleported halfway up the nearest tree, sat there until he determined that the Fierce Beast that lived in that den didn't seem to be coming out, then relocated himself to a quieter environment.

Concerning deer, we have many all over this area -- the does teach their fawns to stop and look before crossing roads (and of course the ones that don't learn are less likely to have fawns of their own -- so we're breeding smarter than average deer). The funniest deer experience I had was one winter when I had a lot of horse hay in the yard, tarped to protect it from weather and munching deer. The tarp worked pretty well for the adults, but the fawns discovered they could creep through openings too small for the adults and be warm and fed. Occasionally, though, they couldn't remember how to get out -- then they'd "baaaaaa" much like baby goats until I came and loosened the tarp to release them. Didn't seem to scare them enough to discourage them from creeping in again, though.

Many people object to the deer, claiming that the deer population is what causes lions to come. I think a more rational evaluation is that lions come not because they read in the predator's gazette that there are deer here, but because bigger lions have caused them to leave their previous locations. Lions would *stay* in a location where they found deer, but game control people prevent that.

I believe the presence of the deer makes the humans and their domestic animals much safer because the deer not only provide natural prey for the visiting lions -- but the deer behavior, prompted by their preference not to become prey, alerts watchful humans to the presence of lions or bears much earlier than humans would otherwise be aware of the presence of big predators.

Earlier this summer, I was working outside, and heard a deer repeatedly making an alarm-cough. I thought that perhaps I was working near the place her fawn was hidden, but then noticed that she was looking at a location I couldn't see because of an outbuilding. About that time, her alarm-cough apparently awakened a buck who had been dozing in the high grass near the outbuilding. He saw me, stood up, then looked behind the outbuilding and froze. He maintained a fixed stare at something behind that building as he slowly backed fifty or sixty feet toward the doe who had given the alarm. Suddenly they both turned and ran a short distance, then stopped and looked across a field (which I couldn't see because of the building). By the time I got around the building, there was nothing in sight -- but I have no doubt at all that whatever was there was a predator big enough to threaten a grown deer. A lion is my guess, as I think a bear would have made more noise and more impression in the grass. In any event, I was particularly careful for the next few days, until the deer behavior pattern was clearly normal.

The deer's daily movement routines, if undisturbed, give an "all clear" for the humans. This year, for example, there is a doe and fawn that circle the vegetable garden regularly, nibbling any rash tendrils of anything that grow through the fence, or anything I put outside the fence. Sometimes I don't even realize they're nearby until I throw a damaged tomato over the fence and see them galloping to grab it.

:::cleverly segueing back to forum topic:::

[Tania]

JLJ, what a story! Thank you for sharing.

I have not seen any cougars here yet, but people say they are around.

[Tania]

Jan,

Moving to Florida... hmmm... Isn't it very hot there for a northern gal?

[ddsack]

JLJ - thanks for the most enjoyable recollections. I think your clever mother was spot on with the plate of muffins and and cookies for the bear distraction! And you have a good eye for nature.

[dustdevil]

Originally Posted by meadowyck

Tania

me thinks yall ought to think about moving to FL, as just think of all the tomato plants you would be able to grow here as well as everything else and you wouldn't have to deal with bear...LOL

I don't think that will happen anytime soon...Tania is still teaching them to dance and her husband is teaching them to wrestle

[meadowyck]

Moving to Florida... hmmm... Isn't it very hot there for a northern gal?

Yep but you learn really quick that you only go out early and late evening during the worse part of the summer heat. This is why A/C was invented....

[RiverSong]

I am wondering what kind of set up you have for your fence? I live in Bear country too and back up to a preserve...
Thanks! Linda