Ugh, rotten bears!

[GunnyMack]

Tuesday night the patrolman for our club texted me that a bear tore a screen out of our cabin. Oh great, I know where this is going to go...
Yup sure enough the bear was back yesterday evening, this time it tore siding off to get to the fish food. A 40lb bag is missing. Our patrolman showed up and had a heck of a time chasing it off. He cleaned up as well as he could, went home for some plywood and patched the siding. He lives across the river about 300yds as the crow flies but a 10 minute drive. By the time he was done at the river and got home it was dark and the bear and 2 small cubs were at the house.
So today after we poured 14 yds of crete I went home for a sheet of osb and a bunch of 6d gun nails and off to the club to make bear boards. 12"x8' rips, went to town putting nails through it. I put the boards down along the windows , hopefully the bear gets the point!( pun intended)

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[wvfarrier]

A paintball gun to the rump dissuades them effectively.
Or a pepper spray bomb

[GunnyMack]

I keep my 870 loaded with rubber buckshot, as high as the bear population is they have become fearless trash can raiding nuisance critters.

[Drawdown]

Same here, I see em in yard like stray dogs regularly. One tore siding off a house same way last year, about 1/4 mile away. One bit a woman on leg next street over about month ago in her yard. Rubber bullets are a popular item here!

[flightsimmer]

Bears got to eat too and feed their family The problem is there's a shortage of food for them if they had a feeding station way out away from the populated area like they do for deer they would go there instead of around the houses looking for food.

[AJMD429]

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Is electric fence helpful...? I use it on our chicken coop for raccoons...

As a side note my son is hunting bighorn sheep this week and is in grizzly country. He's used to black bears, and I asked him the difference. He said the grizzlies are usually much larger, and running into a black bear is like bumping into a large but ageing hippie who's stoned - probably he'll be pretty mellow and get out of your way. He said the grizzly would be more like running into a drunk and belligerent Hell's Angel biker who has a broken whiskey bottle in his hand and thinks you grabbed his girlfriend's butt.

Unfortunately his handgun is a 9mm Glock vs a 10mm, but he's a good shot, uses hard bullets, and is calm and decisive under pressure.

[GunnyMack]

Absolutely correct they need to eat but damaging dwellings is a sure way to get themselves shot. Our F&G don't even take nuisance bear calls, they have no place to take them, they aren't allowed to euthanize them. Just a matter of time before someone gets killed by a bear in NJ!!!

It would probably work Doc but I'm sure one of our club members would get themselves shocked!

[Grizz]

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Is electric fence helpful...? I use it on our chicken coop for raccoons...

As a side note my son is hunting bighorn sheep this week and is in grizzly country. He's used to black bears, and I asked him the difference. He said the grizzlies are usually much larger, and running into a black bear is like bumping into a large but ageing hippie who's stoned - probably he'll be pretty mellow and get out of your way. He said the grizzly would be more like running into a drunk and belligerent Hell's Angel biker who has a broken whiskey bottle in his hand and thinks you grabbed his girlfriend's butt.

Unfortunately his handgun is a 9mm Glock vs a 10mm, but he's a good shot, uses hard bullets, and is calm and decisive under pressure.

a side note, more people are eaten by black bears than brown bears. is this racist?

AND [Shoemaker] carries a 9mm for bear protection and has killed a bear with it when necessary. i think the story is somewhere on this site - - -

grizz

[GunnyMack]

Yes, I've known that bear stat for many years, someone needs to tell the bunny huggers about it. There have been a few attacks, none lethal. Most have been the morons trying to get pictures or petting.

[Grizz]

Yes, I've known that bear stat for many years, someone needs to tell the bunny huggers about it. There have been a few attacks, none lethal. Most have been the morons trying to get pictures or petting.

https://www.wideopenspaces.com/black-be ... tatistics/
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_f ... th_America
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[AJMD429]

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I think the bottom line for me, would be, I would be less afraid in bear country as long as I had some sort of potent sidearm, then I would be in most urban areas in the United States. In both cases, surviving the encounter is only part of the concern, because in both cases, you face legal repercussions for injuring or killing the thing that was trying to kill you. At least bears don’t usually travel in packs.

[Rimfire McNutjob]

This one is partial to the bird seed in my wife's new feeder with an internal camera. Well ... it was new anyway. Now it's retired.

The first time he brought it down a couple of weeks ago, I told her it was a bear but she said there weren't any tracks and that it was probably a racoon. I told her the bear was wearing slippers ... hence the lack of tracks. She decided I was an idiot ... until he rolled through Wednesday evening before sundown.

Bear with Slippers versus Bird Feeder

[GunnyMack]

I actually had a bear chewing on the corner of my house, trying in frustration to get a bird feeder on the window . I called F&G they told me I was baiting the bears by having bird feeders. So I told the F&G people that if the bear came through the window I was going to shoot it.
You can't shoot it
Why not if it's in my house?
You just can't
I'm going to kill it
Then you better call the police.

Your right, bears don't leave much sign, they are very light on their feet.

[GunnyMack]

Back again and now more damage!

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This time I screwed the nail riddled plywood to the wall also !

[Bill in Oregon]

Will, I was surprised to learn that New Jersey produces some huge black bears. I believe the record killed by a hunter a dozen or so years ago topped 800 pounds. That's just a huge blackie.
I am surprised the fish and game folks don't have better advice to give.
My brother near Fort Collins has a miscreant bear in his neighborhood and Colorado F&G issued him rubber bullets and beanbag loads.
They were a huge nuisance when we lived in the mountains of Southern Oregon, breaking limbs off the apple trees and leaving huge piles of scat. But persistent damage to a residential structure is another matter. I'd complain to my state representatives.

Here's a link to an article with a very interesting harvest chart at the bottom. Those boys aren't messing around with mere deer rifles in most cases.
https://alaskablackbearhunts.com/bear-d ... aig-AK.php

[GunnyMack]

Yes Bill these bears are a true nuisance here. We do grow em big, they are trash eaters for the most part.
The state is so overwhelmed by the complaints they don't even answer the phone calls. Their hands are tied by the bunny huggers in the state Capitol.
North of me the residents just give them a .22 in the guts so they run off to die a slow lingering painful death. It's not right but when you can't enjoy your own property due to fear , we'll I get it.

When I lived in Trinidad CO, the McDonald's in town had 3 culvert traps in the lot all summer. At least a couple bears a week were caught dumpster diving for Big Mac's.
They are very intelligent, once a food source is found they will return.
This bear is a small sow with 2 small cubs- she is trying to survive but is also teaching her kids bad things!