Ooh, that's frightening - bears are scary! How will you be able to relax and garden, knowing there might be a visitor like that around?

If you have bird feeders, this might be a good time to retire them, at least temporarily. One of my sisters, who lives in rural New Jersey, has seen bears at her feeders all winter - I couldn't stand having them around, because I like to 'zone out' when I'm out in the garden - wouldn't notice a bear until it was in my lap. Coyotes and fox are as far as I'm willing to go, in terms of sharing my yard with wildlife; I guess that's why I live in town.

Kind of exciting, isn't it?! I don't know about your bear, but around here, we mostly see what DH refers to as the north end of a south bound bear. They really would prefer to not have much contact with us, and will head in the opposite direction if they are aware of our presence. I do make sure that if I am out in the pucker brush that I make noise so that I don't end up meeting one unexpectedly.

Now moose - those are really scary because they don't care who you are - if you are in the way or at all threatening, they may charge.

Never have seen a bear even in the distance. Glad you are okay, Gardenweed! I think I would like my excitement in a different way then that!!! [g]

I've seen bears before but from a distance when I was white water rafting in Maine, and those were pretty small from where I sat on a bus. We were warned in advance to be absolutely silent while observing them.

This was completely different--the bear was easily twice the size of the bears in Maine. Once I'd hauled a$$ inside, I did think of my seed & suet feeders and will watch those closely from here on but have decided not to bring them inside quite yet. The birds are emptying them so fast currently I just can't bring myself to take them down.

Where do you live - suburbs, more rural? We're on the border of Litchfield & Hartford counties, have hundreds of acres of woods around us, they relocate the darn things here. We've got at least 3 individuals we can ID (1 has 2 ear tags), and they're not afraid of humans. Closest I've been is about 25ft, downhill. It came out of the woods to the north of my berry rows as I was coming out of garage to water. We've had some other encounters too. I don't carry bear spray around the back yard, I do when I'm out farther from house (we have 97 acres, main growing area is 1000ft from house, orchard closer to 1/2 mile and surrounded by woods, we're trying to reclaim it).

Closest my dad ever got was too close - he had a loader he was throwing firewood into bucket of, bear came by him, he climbed into the cab and bear came and stood right on the "running board" - he was ready to climb out the other door if bear made to smash the glass and come after him but it lost interest. That was probably 10 years ago though.

Definitely take down those bird feeders - the birds don't need it now, it's just easy for them. Wish I could convince my parents to take theirs down, they have 2 hanging on clothesline off the back (elevated) deck, the bear comes right to the house, snag the bottom of the feeders, and just pour the seeds right into its mouth. I worry about the kids more in their back yard than mine, though they have a lot more clear area to see the bear coming.

DH sprays our garbage can with ammonia, but it still doesn't keep them away - one spring they knocked over all our sand barrels looking for food b/c they equate any large outdoor container with trash/food, it's obviously not the smell. Had to put a steel cable with a lock across the handles, and a bear still got in it the other night, enough to get a paw in and rip open the garbage bag, pull out a few empty cereal bags.

ajsmama - Thanks for the words of caution. I'm in Tolland County, somewhat rural but there's quite frequent traffic on the road as it's a short cut to town. The area is mostly open (read, extensive lawns) with a small wooded area to the south & west of my little green acre.

I checked with a close neighbor and learned there have been bears on nearby streets in recent years--her husband keeps bees so they've had more close encounters + know of others.

I put trash/garbage in the ND neighbor's dumpster (at his invitation) & which gets picked up weekly--I don't keep trash anywhere near the house, not even a compost pile.

Thanks for suggesting I take down my bird feeders but I'm not yet at the point I feel the need to do that. I'd rather be wary & careful than stop feeding during spring when birds are mating & raising babies.

Well, if you don't have trash or compost you'll probably just see them passing through. They're more likely to go ND for trash and honey. I don't think you need bear (military grade pepper) spray. Other than taking down the bird feeders I can't think of anything you can do differently.

There have been a lot of reports of bears in Simsbury and other suburban towns - more than the rural towns like Hartland. I think that's mainly b/c people in the rural wooded areas don't report them as often. If it gets to be a real nuisance you can call DEEP and maybe they'll relocate it (please not here though LOL!).

Main things to remember are to keep your eye on the bear while moving slowly away to give it as much room to get away as possible. It's probably not all that interested in you but if you run it may chase, if it feels cornered it may attack.

Gardenweed - Some folks leave their birdfeeders out during the day, but then bring them in overnight. It allows the birds access, but the feeders aren't out as many hours to tempt the bears.

DH just told me of someone else in town (dad from Boy Scouts) who lost all his rabbits (not sure how many) to a huge bear the other night. Said they were just torn apart, didn't seem to be eaten. The goat is pg, and they had a baby monitor in the shed to listen if she went into labor, she started making a fuss so they ran out and saw the bear. The neighbor was coming home just then and the car scared the bear off. They've moved the goat to a more secure location on a neighbor's farm until the bear is gone. He did call that one in.

And even with the steel cable, the bear knocked our trash container on its side last night after DH put it out by the road. It was 50ft away in the ND neighbor's yard, and the trash bag containing 3 meat trays from meat I packaged and froze (and cooked for dinner) last night was pulled out and the contents scattered all over. DH spent 20 min picking it up when he went to take the lock off (it was still on, the cable stretches just enough the bear can get a paw in and grab a bag if he flips the can on its side so the bag is near the lid. What I didn't know is that we were out of ammonia so DH didn't spray it.

But the neighbor's (on the other side) trash was all over their driveway and the road too. Our ND's trash pickup was yesterday AM (2 different companies). The bear doesn't seem to bother with the few people who have Thurs AM pickup)

Oh my! No more complaints about skunks, raccoons or squirrels that bust into our trash cans during the night.... I hope all of you who have these portly visitors stay safe.

Is this a spring issue or a year-round problem for you folks who live with bears nearby?

By the way, Nhbabs, it was news to me that moose will charge rather than retreat. That's not something we see down here along the southern CT coast.... have you ever had a moose encounter?

Molie

No, Molie, I haven't, thank heavens. We only rarely get moose here and I view them from near the house.
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Farther north I have seen evidence (footprints and lots of bloated ticks where s/he had bedded down) when I was in the woods. My BIL who does a lot of hiking in the White Mountains has had several encounters and knows to carefully and steadily back away.

Yikes! I think the same bear that was nosing around our ND neighbor's basement windows8:30 Sat AM (not trash day) just came walking up our driveway! I as in garage with door open, car backed out and a folding table near the door. Pickup parked next to car. Saw something out of the corner of my eye, bear was walking behind pickup and headed up the mulched hillside into the woods. I ran into the house and looked out back window, didn't see it so it apparently didn't stop to check out our garden (only lettuce in there now) or compost.

Not good, in the middle of the (overcast) day. We're in the process of buying a chicken coop and getting chickens, I thought they'd be safe in a temporary fence (push-in fence posts and netting) during the day while I was home, and coop at night/when we're not home. May have to rethink this - and carry pepper spray in the garage? This beats my last close encounter - might still have been 25 ft but on the flat.

But this is why I don't let my 10-yr old wait for the bus by herself in the AM. Sometimes she's walked home down the driveway at 4-4:30 but I will have to rethink that too.

This post was edited by ajsmama on Tue, May 6, 14 at 12:36