#31
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My only bear story was in Wyoming many years ago. I was north of Jackson Hole on the Snake River getting in some week day fishing. No one around but me. Every once in a while a drift boat would go past and they would yell something at me. Distance and the river made it impossible to make out. This happened a couple more times until one of the boats came down my side of the river. They, and I assume the others asked, "Had I seen the bear?" they went by before I could answer but the answer would have been "Obviously not since I am standing here with nothing but a 4 oz. stick in my hands"
Few days later, at a ranch about 80 miles south, I borrowed a horse and rode over to a huge glacial lake on the property. I was walking along a sandy beach, casting and walking, when I noticed my prints in the sand were parallel a set of tracks. The tracks were a very big cat and looked fresh. Me and the horse GTFOT. |
#32
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Where I come from, they're called "bars." I know how casual they are about strolling through the yard--I also respect how little noise they make for such large creatures. A couple of years back, a young male came strolling through my cousin's yard at dusk, and neither of our dogs so much as noticed. I watched him saunter off down toward a stream.
Yes, Wade, I heard about the two deaths in Alaska last week; both are tragic. Most folk seem just scared of Grizzlies, and it's true that black bars look rather peaceful. But they outweigh us by right much. And mother bears defend against perceived threats. Whenever a naturalist gets killed just doing his or her job, it sets my biologist/naturalist colleagues on edge, since field work is vital.
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#33
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When their dens are nearby, we have a pretty steady stream of black bears through our yard. I've had a mom teaching her 4 cubs to go through our brand new, never used, no food smells trash can, I've had those cubs all grown up failing to climb my apple tree, and more. I usually just wave.
Our neighbor had one larger black bear attack her car, grabbing the roof rack and shaking. We haven't had any bears the past two summers, and there was an entire family of bears dead on the roadside shortly before, so they may have been the same bears we were seeing every summer. We did have a mountain lion sleeping in a tree in our backyard 3 weeks ago, however. That was pretty cool.
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#34
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One day last week around 6 PM, a black bear walked up to our backyard window after demolishing the bird feeder (won't leave that out again until winter). Our cats were totally freaked out. The bear bent the shepard's hook like it was a straw. I don't take the garbage out after dark any more.
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#35
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Before I retired from commercial photography, I photographed a Las Vegas magician who was going to incorporate a lion into his act (no, it wasn't Sigfreid or Roy)
He had a lion cub that was as playful as a puppy. I couldn't resist scratching him behind his ears and being totally impressed by the density of his fur. I noticed his feet were about 10 inches or so in diameter and I realized he would someday grow into those enormous feet. Anyway, when I got home that day my dog came to greet me like always but stopped about 10 feet away and started growling and sniffing in my direction for all he was worth. He obviously smelled the lion and wouldn't come near me for about 3-4 days. He wasn't pleased... Best, PJ |
#36
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We had two more bear maulings in the Anchorage Bowl this past weekend, one of them maybe seven or eight miles from my house. Brown bears in both cases this time, (grizzlies,) not blackies like the two fatal maulings the week before.
Everyone's seeing a lot more bears around Southcentral Alaska this summer. But in both of this last weekend's attacks, it was defensive behavior by mama brown bears when people inadvertently got between them and their cubs. That's normal bear behavior, and to be expected. Those bears weren't tracked down and killed for acting on their natural instincts. The previous two killings, by contrast, were predatory attacks, no cubs involved. Those attacks are more worrisome because of it. Male black bears do sometimes deliberately attack, kill and - if left unharassed - eat human beings. It's not common, thank God, but not unheard of, either. whm |
#37
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Black bears are becoming very common in suburban New England.
We had one hibernate under our porch a couple of winters ago. She was being tracked by the state wildlife folks who didn't want to disturb her in case she was with child (if she gave birth the cubs did not survive). So she spent the winter under there. Had to warn all the neighbors to keep their dogs tied up, as a hibernating bear is not truly asleep, only in what they call a torpor and can be dangerous if provoked. We had a great view of her from the basement windows and she did get agitated from time to time. In the early spring they came out and shot her with a dart and took her off for her yearly evaluation. We had a little bit of a party for that. My wife called it a "bearwell" party and people brought coffee and bear claw donuts. No bear claw guitars, unfortunately.
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Bob https://on.soundcloud.com/ZaWP https://youtube.com/channel/UCqodryotxsHRaT5OfYy8Bdg |
#38
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#39
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Just the bed, no breakfast (they don't eat during the winter)
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Bob https://on.soundcloud.com/ZaWP https://youtube.com/channel/UCqodryotxsHRaT5OfYy8Bdg |
#40
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You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din. As much as I feel bears should be left alone, I wouldn't be comfortable letting one hibernate on my property. I've never even heard of that happening here in Alaska, so maybe you all have different wildlife policies in Connecticut.
whm |
#41
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Reading this thread has me thinking, I'm glad I live in Australia. I know Australia is up there with deadly animals but they, generally, don't act as if they own the place, and most of them are easily avoided.
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#42
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Until they aren't..... Fortunately, we have no snakes at all up here, much less any venomous ones. Most of the snakes we have are of the two-legged variety, and "serve" in public office. 'Nuff said.... whm |
#43
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Hi Wade, I felt the same way at first. The wildlife people knocked on my door a few days after Christmas asking if I had found a bear collar in the woods. When I said no they said they had better take a look around, they were getting a gps signal from inside the house! She had knocked down a piece of lattice under the porch and crawled into a space about 18 inches high. They knew the bear and that at least one of her 2 cubs from the previous summer had been killed by a car. Normally they breed every 2 years with the cubs remaining with mom for 18 months, but they felt she might have become pregnant "early" due to the cub being killed (I hope I'm remembering the details correctly). Anyway, they said they would be happy to remove her immediately. If they did and she was pregnant she would likely lose the baby as birth was imminent. They explained the risks were were slight if we could make sure she was left alone (keep dogs and kids far away). They said they would come get her in early spring before she decided to come out on her own. So we agreed to let her stay. On New Year's Day she became very agitated for several hours. We felt sure she was in labor. But we never saw any cubs through our viewing windows in the basement, and there were none in the spring. She likely had a still birth according to the wildlife folks. This could have ended badly. She had likely been under there quite some time when discovered. The dog had been acting strange in the yard for a month or so, and I had been raking leaves very close to where she was bedded down just a few weeks before we found out she was there. Bears are pretty common in our area which is very suburban, not rural. But we do have a large river and lots of pockets of forest land. I saw one a couple of weeks ago right down the street. Sounds like Alaska might be safer
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Bob https://on.soundcloud.com/ZaWP https://youtube.com/channel/UCqodryotxsHRaT5OfYy8Bdg |
#44
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Occasionally, there have been hairy moments when someone stumbles upon a hibernating bear. Things happen very quickly when a bear gets upset. They can move. At least here, "hunting" a hibernating bear is strictly illegal. There have been some court cases where the Prosecutor says people went deliberately after a hibernating bear, and the defendant hunters say they ran into the bear accidentally and killed it in self defense. Haven't followed up to know the verdicts.
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#45
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You don't have to worry if a snake there is venomous or non-venomous. They're ALL venomous, they have no non-venomous snakes!
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