BEAR!

Well, bears, actually...

For the last month or so, a couple of yearling bears have been making the rounds of our neighborhood. They have been concentrating on a house that is about half a mile away, and have killed a goat and a lamb. The people there managed to kill one of them, but the other is still marauding.

The really scary thing is that even after being shot at, it goes over to their nearest neighbor's property and tries to get into her chicken coop. :shock: There is a cluster of three properties right there that have permanent residents, and they have now all put up open bottles of ammonia, a supposed deterrent to bears.

Well, last night the bear came up to our nearest neighbor's house and tore into their cat coop. All of their kitties are safe, although they thought one was taken. He was found cowering under their porch.

We think one of the bears came through our property a couple weeks ago in the middle of the night. Our dogs went berserk, and then were heard retreating in fear. Hubs went out to check on them, but saw nothing.

I think the only reason we haven't had any losses so far is because we have the six Aussie crosses. The Papillon and my little street dog would just be snacks, so they don't count much as deterrents.

Here is a picture showing where the bears have been, not including one property which is to the left of the Spanish style home, hidden behind the hill:

You have larger bears than we have here, right? My neighbor has a black bear who gets into his bird feeder, but it hasn't bothered my property or animals at all in the years we've been here, so we leave it alone, bit if it did develop a taste for my rabbits and chickens, I'd probably develop a taste for IT.

The local bear I've had wasn't bad at all. :dinner:

Someone on Kodiak island was telling me the bears there were totally inedible.
He said that the smell of rotting fish was all over them.

I've read that diet has a lot to do with flavor when it comes to bear.

That's a little scary, MSD. A bear that takes to marauding is going to keep on doing it. I would think your drought makes it hard for them to find enough food, but still, when they take to killing livestock and pets, something needs to be done. I've heard bear is good eating - depending on its diet - but the meat can carry trichinosis (as I'm sure you know) and must be well-cooked.

I wonder if there is any kind of agency that might be willing to capture and re-locate one? Do you have a game commission that does that kind of thing?

There are a lot of people on the chicken forum that have to deal with bears. Usually big dogs and strong electric poultry netting or multiple wires around the property depending on it's size. In an area where they aren't regularly seen there might be a group that will remove them.

As far as I know, the quickest and most effective long term solution for bear problems is a simple injection ............... of high speed lead :!:

Fish and Game told us that if the bears are just foraging naturally, they are to be left alone, but once they start killing livestock they are to be shot.

Even those of us here that haven't suffered any losses are allowed to shoot it on sight. We can't take any "trophies" such as the pelt, teeth, claws, or even eat the meat... unless we have a bear tag, which we don't... and of course it would have to be in season, and I'm not sure if bear season has started yet. The bow hunters can take deer right now, but I don't know if there is a bow season for bears. :?

The bear population is up this year because California passed a law last year against hunting them with dogs. Consequently, the bear take was down by about 60%, I think. As you can see in the photo above, this isn't exactly a lush area with abundant food, so they are going to be really problematic for a while. :x

I feel for you on this. The bears strike primarily at night and unless you're intentionally up and waiting on them, you aren't likely to get rid of any.
Our game department (in their infinite wisdom) has intentionally let the bear pop. climb probably fivefold in the last 10 years. It will quickly become out of control much like the deer problems along the mid-Atlantic states. More bear means more $ for them. More money means more new SUVS, boats, weapons and accessories (toys for big boys). I used to be the biggest supporter of Game depts. but after our game department leaders were caught in a ring of corruption (taking African safaris with all the frills on the game department budget), I don't have too high of an opinion of them. They no longer make decisions based on anything other than how it will affect their budgets! Sad but reality.

Zass":uro18p2x said:

You have larger bears than we have here, right? My neighbor has a black bear who gets into his bird feeder, but it hasn't bothered my property or animals at all in the years we've been here, so we leave it alone, bit if it did develop a taste for my rabbits and chickens, I'd probably develop a taste for IT.

The local bear I've had wasn't bad at all. :dinner:

Someone on Kodiak island was telling me the bears there were totally inedible.
He said that the smell of rotting fish was all over them.

I've read that diet has a lot to do with flavor when it comes to bear.

Click to expand...

I have friends who hunt and the last time they went deer hunting they killed a bear too... it was SO good!!! :dinner:

We have no large predators because while most of iowa has few people every inch is farmed with no year round cover. Tons of roadkill when fields get harvested. It's a common time to hit deer. Everything gets run out of the home it made that year and often dies from starvation, territory fights, or killed as pests. There's a population of coyotes that you might see once a year before they go back to hiding and foxes. Nothing bigger than that.

Having dealt with predators that developed a taste for livestock in the past, the only effective solution is to end the threat.
A bear cannot be reasoned with, nor can you scare it away.
It has already figured out where the easy food is, and that's your neighborhood.
A bow will take a bear almost as efficiently as a rifle will, but you gotta be a lot closer to place the shot, and that's assuming you don't wet yourself getting that close.
I never relish hunting anything that big that can eat me if i screw up and can't get a second shot off in time.
Do yourself the favor and end that bear, and be done with it.

Do you have electric fences up, even around your chickens (and their feed)? In my experience, in northern NV, they have other options and if they have to take them, they will. But if your farm has high rewards for little effort, they will favor you.

We see it now, the coyotes have no prey up high, even in late summer they are down low hunting in the city. We are trying to gear up, to electrify everything before the bears come down. The coyotes already got a weanling rabbit from a pasture cage (they took a J-feeder off the front, the silly bunny ran out the hole instead of waiting out in safety like mom and siblings).

JessiL":11nr3e70 said:

The coyotes already got a weanling rabbit from a pasture cage (they took a J-feeder off the front, the silly bunny ran out the hole instead of waiting out in safety like mom and siblings).

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Those poor babies must be traumatized, watching their brother/sister get killed and the poor baby that got killed :weep:

I have a raccoon trap you can try to catch it with