Had two black bears walk through our backyard last night.

[Wade Hampton]

We live in a moraine butted up against the Chugach mountains, and a lot of wildlife passes through our neighborhood. Last night it was a couple of black bears: first, a young adult, probably two or three years old, then four or five minutes later a large sow followed, most likely the younger one's mother, tracking her cub.

I've seen bears' calling cards on the lawn many times, (do I need to spell out what that was? Here's a hint: they don't get them printed out at Kinko's.) But this is the first time I've actually seen any of the animals in my yard. Normally bears move through here in the wee, wee hours - around 3 am you'll be awakened to the sound of all the dogs in the neighborhood going absolutely berserk, howling in terror.

"Gotta be a bear prowling around" you think, then roll over and go back to sleep.

Not this time. It was maybe 8 pm, which this far north means broad daylight. First the young one came through, stopped to sniff where a moose had bedded down the day before, then strode onward. We called our next door neighbor to warn her and to tell her to keep or get her dog inside; she told us she was watching the bear climb up the trees where she had suet in bird feeders.

Putting bird feeders out, even when only filled with seeds and bird food, is an invitation to bears. They don't care who you meant the bird food for. Once, years ago, I was in my music room when I heard what I thought was my wife coming up the stairs on the outside of the house to the deck on the second level. I called out to her, but she didn't answer, so I got up and walked upstairs, only to discover that a bear had smashed the bird feeder, eaten whatever was in it, then left, all in the time it had taken me to call out to my wife and climb the stairs.

Never saw that bear, just the aftermath of its visit.

Anyway, about five minutes after the younger bear had left our yard to go raid the neighbor's, Mama bear came through, easily half again as big as Junior. She didn't seem to be foraging for food as much as tracking her errant offspring, and those of us who've raised teenagers might understand that impulse better than those of us who haven't!

The night before the bears came a moose strolled through the yard, seemingly hellbent on eating my wife's apple trees. My wife objected strenuously, and while the moose didn't care and hung around for quite a while, yelling at it did seem to stop the apple tree marauding. (There aren't any apples on it yet; the moose was going to eat the leaves and branches.) But the moose did decide that our backyard was a good place to lay around a while, so she bedded down while my wife glared at her, ever-vigilant in defense of her apple trees.

I missed all that - I was playing music with a friend in Anchorage. By the time I got home the moose had skedaddled.

No big deal. We get moose through here all the time, though not as frequently as when we lived in a house in Anchorage proper. Anchorage has the densest moose population in the entire state of Alaska. You'd think the moose would want to be out frolicking in the wilderness instead, right?

Nah, they love the city. It has big wide streets and backyards full of tasty ornamental trees, and - best of all - while there are some bears and wolves living on the fringes of the town that sometimes pass through, overall Anchorage is a dream habitat for moose. Lots to eat, easy to walk around, and not many predators.

Anyway, we had a couple of predators walk through last night, and it was interesting to watch how matter of fact they were.


Wade Hampton Miller

[HHP]

[KevWind]

Great story
We had a Black bear (summer before last that) came on to our deck about 1:00 am and proceeded to actually separate the plastic bottoms of the hummingbird feeders, 4 of them (without breaking them ) and lick the sugar water off the deck .
When my wife woke up and told me she thought a bear was on our front deck I walked out into the living room and could see him sprawled on his stomach with his hind legs out behind him, holding the one feeder he got down , in his front paws licking the the glass. Unfortunately I clicked on the light before I thought to get my camera ready.

[Long Jon]

Hi Wade, nice camerawork there buddy !

Something about the cast of animals in your tale made me think of Larson cartoons !

Biggest wild critters around here are foxes, I guess I never thought of snapping any pics of them either.

[Mark Hatcher]

Good story! Thanks. We get bears here in NH along with coyotes, coywolves, fisher cats, bobcats etc. We also have a Ragdoll cat, Enzo, who I've always thought was all looks and no brains. However, if there is a predator around he's usually the first to take notice and starts to hang in pretty close to us but, when it's a bear he goes down and hides in the basement. I realized he's got us sized up as to just how much protection we might have to offer. Made me rethink just how smart he actually may be!

[Dirk Hofman]

I am often woken up in Tahoe by a family of black bears. The momma comes down the road with her two cubs, and as she lumbers down the road, the two little ones fan out to the various homes scouting barbecues, garbage bins or whatever. Doesn't seem to matter if it's all cleaned up. Rascals.

[RP]

That would explain why this guy came to my window and said, "Wade sent me." You can see the bird seed dribbling down from his mouth. I got into the habit several years ago of taking down my bird feeders at night during the summer. Have had several bird feeders trashed by black bears, and I live in the lower 48....

[Wade Hampton]

Originally Posted by RP

That would explain why this guy came to my window and said, "Wade sent me."

Okay, you caught me. I told him: "Go eat that RP guy, he's getting pesky on the guitar forum." So the bear swung by your house to see whether you were edible, but you stymied him by being indoors. He texted me back and wrote: "No go this time, maybe tomorrow."

But bears don't have much of an attention span, and he wandered off and went foraging elsewhere the next day. Impatient, I texted him and asked: "When are you going to go eat RP?" And he texted me back: "What'd you say your name was? Who's RP?"

After that I dropped it. Bears might be furry and visually impressive, but they're not terribly bright.


whm

[Photojeep]

Living in Sparks means I have to deal with coyotes from time to time but no bears. Actually the coyotes are no longer behind our house as the wetlands/open field behind our house is being leveled for new houses and they've all headed elsewhere.

Before the construction/preparation however, it was common to hear them yipping and howling at dusk and into the night. It used to freak out my wife when she was alone.

PJ

[Mr. Paul]

Like Wade we'll discover signs of these visitors much more often than we actually see them in the back yard. Once in a while, though ...

back yard bear-8520 by Westcliffe Slim, on Flickr

[RP]

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

Okay, you caught me. I told him: "Go eat that RP guy, he's getting pesky on the guitar forum." So the bear swung by your house to see whether you were edible, but you stymied him by being indoors. He texted me back and wrote: "No go this time, maybe tomorrow."

But bears don't have much of an attention span, and he wandered off and went foraging elsewhere the next day. Impatient, I texted him and asked: "When are you going to go eat RP?" And he texted me back: "What'd you say your name was? Who's RP?"

After that I dropped it. Bears might be furry and visually impressive, but they're not terribly bright.


whm

They're obviously not very picky eaters, either. Given the choice between me and the bird seed, you can see which he opted for...

[JosephW]

Just before hibernation time last year, a grizzly came and trashed our trash can, along with several neighbors' cans.
It's good we have a doggie door, otherwise my gsd would've made her own.
The wildlife guys couldn't find it, so I heard.

[Wade Hampton]

Originally Posted by RP

They're obviously not very picky eaters, either. Given the choice between me and the bird seed, you can see which he opted for...

Another screwup on the bear's part - I'd told him: "Be sure to bring along some Tabasco or soy sauce; I suspect RP's not all that tasty." But naturally he forgot.


whm

[BrunoBlack]

We have all kinds of wild animals, and yes we have black bears. I was walking my dog around 6 AM a couple of weeks ago. I wasn't paying much attention, but suddenly my 120 pound dog pulled up short and did his "I'm a big dog" stance. When I looked up there was a full grown adult black bear about 150 feet away staring at us. I stopped and thought to myself: what exactly are you supposed to do now? We just froze, I held the dog back and after a very long 2 or 3 minutes of staring at each other, the bear slowly moved away into the woods.

They are a social challenge because people insist on putting out bird feeders and don't protect compost piles. On another occasion I watched a bear across the road in a neighbors yard dumping the contents of a bird feeder down its gullet. Amusing, but potentially dangerous.

[Alex6strings]

I'm shocked at the bear stories in this thread. I had no idea. If I had bears in my yard I'd probably move to another continent, one without bears, like Australia. Yes we have dangerous and poisonous animals, but they're all friendly, except the sharks and crocs, and snakes, spiders are cranky to. But mostly, very friendly.

A Koala is not a bear.



stay safe out there.