Bear.

[A6A6]

Well over the holiday weekend we were upstate enjoying the weather , ATV's relaxation and the food. Apparently the bears were enjoying the rest of our food.  We have a bird feeder down at the treeline in the field and about 10:30 last night while i was standing on the patio I heard a commotion in the bushes about 40 yards from the house. I assumed it was a deer doing its normal, evening pass thru and heading to a neighbors food plot up the road. As I stood there and waited for something to pop out I went into the house and grabbed the night vision and took a look and low and behold it was a large bear. I think it may have been a male because of its large head and being without any cubs but there is no way I am able to tell for sure. At first I didnt think it was as big as it actually was, I saw that its head and neck were large but that could have indicated it would have been yound and its body may have not matured yet. That was until I realized that the bird feeder he was scooping was about 10 ft up the tree. After he demolished it and raped every last bit of feed out of it he laid down on his belly for a few more minutes and stood up and gave me a broad side view. Thats when I  hit him with the 3mil candlepower light .. WOW. It was HUGHHHHH..

After the light , he just slowly pushed his way back into the woods.Later on that night, at about 3 am.  either he or maybe another bear tore up our garbage pales and ripped everything all over the road. My brother in law heard the noise and was able to catch a glimpse of em until it scattered from the outside light.  That act made for a swell cleanup job at next morning.

We also have a friend who lives right off RT-28 and has a chicken coupe. Last week he told us that a black bear tore up his chicken coupe and ate 3 of his chickens while he was out. I asked him how he knew it was a bear, he said the roof was smashed in.  He rebuilt the chicken coupe for the other 9 chicken he had on thursday. Sunday night another break in on the chicken coupe. this time, all but 3 chickens were eaten and  the coupe was busted up real bad again. His neighbor actually had a black bear come up onto his patio acting aggressivly and wouldnt leave after the homwowner repeatdly tried to scare him off and scream him away. That guy even tried using bleach around his patio and garage. He called police and DEC a few times.. On saturday night , it again came up on his patio , breaking thru the swinging wooden gate that he locked ( the gate is just a simple 2x4 wooden frame gate to keep his kid on the patio) rummeged thru his barbecue and then started approaching the glass sliding door.. Thats when this guy pumped the bear with a .300 WSM @ 20 ft away. The bear took the shot straight to the chest and staggered off into the forest.. ..

Is this normal activity for black bear ? Ive never heard of any becoming aggressive to that point without any cubs around. Usually once you make noise or hit them with flash light , they scatter. This guy isnt even sure if he killed it.. The DEC didnt have any other advice to give him other than storing food tight , garbage tight, using bleach around perimeter and keeping light on at night.

Anyone have alot of noticed bear activity ? I know the black bear population is strongly increasing every year but behavior changes too  ?

[Mr VJP]

A few weeks ago I had a big bear come up to me while sitting on my deck at dusk smoking a cigar.  I never saw him until he was right under my feet.  He never made a sound and only trotted 20 feet away when I yelled at him.  He then stood there broadside for a minute before walking away.  I think he was coming for my bird feeder.  I took it down that evening.

This was off Rt 28 just south of Delhi.  What town is your friend with the chicken coop in?

I hear there are about 7 bears in my area.  Just wondering if his place is nearby.

[burmjohn]

Wow crazy story.  I hear more and more of them, so the population must be increasing.  Did the guy go and check in the woods to see if the thing died?  Caint see it taking a 300 and going very far.

That has to be a pretty nerve racking experience having a bear on your porch looking in your glass

[Doewhacker]

You might want to tell your freind not to go shooting bears like that, DEC doesn't like it. They decide if the bear is a menace and will deal with it accourdingly.

[burmjohn]

I would have shot it too if it posed any kind of problem, especially where I or my family felt threatened.  There could be a good chance that there was something not right with this bear if the normal means of getting them to scatter was not effective. 

[Culvercreek hunt club]

Doewhacker...Gotta disagree with you on that one....DEC or no DEC I will decide if something is a menace to my family. People that let others decide for them are called one thing in life......victims

[Doewhacker]

Hey do what you gotta do, just don't go tell any one after        My buddy did just what you said, he had one on his porch, shot it and DEC came to his door. They took all of his guns, sent him to court, fined him a butt load and threated to take all of his meat in the freezer and revoke hunting privilages too. But if you make DEC aware of it ahead of time by repeated calls and complaints you might just be ok to shoot a bear on site.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

LOL...I agree....conversation over a couple cold ones at a bar bragging about it should be avoided. Personally I hate to see it go to waste but I probably would want to butcher it and have it in the freezer. I think the best way to avoid a problem is really monitor what you have around you house that could attract them.

[A6A6]

My buddy and his neighbor live over in Highmount on rt 28.

They had called the DEC and local police officer more than once about the bear problem but to no help the bear did what it wanted to do anyway.

I know he didnt check in the woods for the bear that night, because it may have been wounded and violent trying to defend itself..

I havent spoke to him since then but when i go back upstate ill get the resst of the story. He tried to avoid it by cleaning up the mess of garbage and food but he didnt think about the grease drippings in the BBQ, he even used the bleach around his home..

As for shooting it , I personally would deal with the garbage cans , the BBQ, the bird feeder etc.. etc..

but if it displayed to me that it was on its way to come thru a glass door and i had a child in the house and the rest of my family, ide shoot it too.. .. regaradless of the consequences... off the record , i believe the local police officer had said the same.

Black bear are usually tame non aggressive and timid to humans unless provoked or with cubs. I also believe there may have been a problem with ths bear or it may have been sick. Either way, if its alive lets hope it doesnt come back for its own good and everyone else too.

[Doewhacker]

Recently I watched a show on bears in California, some where in the northern part. Any way there were alot of bears in the area, the reason was two fold. One, they were there first, and two, there was food that was easy pickens every where. The town had a guy that went around scareing the bears away with all kinds of deterents. Some bears just would leave the area but most did, the ones that didn't were either killed or brought to the mountains. Like you said A6A6, it would be easier to clean up garbage and grease to make it so there was nothing for the bear to be interested in then try to explain to DEC why you were shooting bears out of season. Cage up your garbage and clean your grill up just to be safe.

[Doc]

A couple of years ago we had the same thing with the demolished bird feeders and the garbage strewn up through the woods. Now the garbage is kept shut in a shed, and the bird feeder is mounted on a cable that runs from the house to a tree up on the bank behind the house. We haven't had any problems since.

As far as bear aggressiveness is concerned, I think that with the increase of bear populations in areas of high human density, it is only a matter of time before there is some pretty tragic incidents. When they lose their natural fear of humans, there will be some ugly things happening.

Doc

[Culvercreek hunt club]

I agree Doc. When they get comfortable with human presence the normal banging a pot, yelling or just seeing us doesn't work. I went on a baited bear hunt in Ontario Canada and the guides were telling me stories of small bears (under 200) following them to the bait stations. Then after the first night hunt they hand me a bag of ground meat and tell me to rebait my spot in the morning......pucker factor of 10 making that walk in the dark...bait in hand and gun unloaded. I wouldn't want to wrestle with a 50 pounder to say nothing about anything bigger. It was worth the walk though....a one time thing....not my kind of hunting