Bear encounters

[Barnette]

How many of you have had trouble with bears getting into chicken food or coop? I'd like to hear your bear stories and how you dealt with them. I'll share two of mine:

1:
A few summers ago, my little sister and I were in the woods alone picking wineberries. We have trails all over the place. We had crossed a stream to get to the berries, and we were gobbling away when we heard a crashing sound behind us. I turned and saw a medium-sized juvenile black bear standing on the other side of the stream, watching us. I stifled a gasp and froze; so did my sister. The bear gazed at us curiously, then placed a paw in the water and began walking toward us. Fortunately, I knew what to do around a black bear. A lifted my arms above my head and started screaming, swinging my bag on wineberries around like a crazy person. The bear immediately spooked and took off back into the brush. Shaken and exhilarated, my sister and I hurried home.

2:
3 weeks ago, a problem bear showed up. He got into the chicken feed, dragging the whole barrel into the woods and leaving a trail of pellets. He also destroyed the run trying to get to the fly trap. He was coming in broad daylight and bothering the free-ranging chickens, but he didn't hurt anyone. He was relatively small, about two year old. Fortunately, we don't have grizzlies around here. We was a black bear. Of course, we would never think of shooting or trapping him, but he couldn't stick around. He could hurt a dog or chicken - or child. We took down the fly trap, secured the chicken feed (we made a whole new door for the barn) and locked the chickens in their run so the bear wouldn't hurt them. After a few days, he didn't bother us anymore. He had gone off to stalk the neighbors

Let's hear your bear encounter tales and your reactions!

 

[Debbie292d]

This morning.
4 cubs came up through the woods. The dogs (border collie and corgie) scared them so they climbed a tree. Momma bear came up and tried to coax them down. We called the dogs into the house, then they came down. They left the way they came, back down the hill, into the forest.

We have our wild bird feeders filled only with sunflower seeds and hung by a pully in the trees, one on the very tree momma is standing by. We do this because they've came and destroyed our feeders in the past.

We have no issues with them going for the chickens, but today we're keeping the garden shed (Amish shed with coop on one end) locked as they would definitely raise havoc in there!

 

[Barnette]

This morning.
4 cubs came up through the woods. The dogs (border collie and corgie) scared them so they climbed a tree. Momma bear came up and tried to coax them down. We called the dogs into the house, then they came down. They left the way they came, back down the hill, into the forest.

We have our wild bird feeders filled only with sunflower seeds and hung by a pully in the trees, one on the very tree momma is standing by. We do this because they've came and destroyed our feeders in the past.
View attachment 3856439View attachment 3856440View attachment 3856441View attachment 3856442View attachment 3856443View attachment 3856444
We have no issues with them going for the chickens, but today we're keeping the garden shed (Amish shed with coop on one end) locked as they would definitely raise havoc in there!

That's awesome! Good pics

 

[ShrekDawg]

This morning.
4 cubs came up through the woods. The dogs (border collie and corgie) scared them so they climbed a tree. Momma bear came up and tried to coax them down. We called the dogs into the house, then they came down. They left the way they came, back down the hill, into the forest.

We have our wild bird feeders filled only with sunflower seeds and hung by a pully in the trees, one on the very tree momma is standing by. We do this because they've came and destroyed our feeders in the past.
View attachment 3856439View attachment 3856440View attachment 3856441View attachment 3856442View attachment 3856443View attachment 3856444
We have no issues with them going for the chickens, but today we're keeping the garden shed (Amish shed with coop on one end) locked as they would definitely raise havoc in there!

So cute!!!!!

 

[Debbie292d]

So cute!!!!!

It really was neat! We've had bear many times but not like this in broad daylight.

I group texted the two neighbors in our area so they'd know they were here. We do that if there's bear sightings or anything at one of our places the other should know about. They both texted back similar. It wasn't "Oh no, I hope they don't come here," it was "Wow, nice pictures," and "So cute."

 

[ShrekDawg]

It really was neat! We've had bear many times but not like this in broad daylight.

I group texted the two neighbors in our area so they'd know they were here. We do that if there's bear sightings or anything at one of our places the other should know about. They both texted back similar. It wasn't "Oh no, I hope they don't come here," it was "Wow, nice pictures," and "So cute."

That’s awesome!!!! I love bears. As did my mom. That’s kind of “her” animal so I always think of her when I see them. She used to always send the bear emojis in texts

 

[Nym]

This morning.
4 cubs came up through the woods. The dogs (border collie and corgie) scared them so they climbed a tree. Momma bear came up and tried to coax them down. We called the dogs into the house, then they came down. They left the way they came, back down the hill, into the forest.

We have our wild bird feeders filled only with sunflower seeds and hung by a pully in the trees, one on the very tree momma is standing by. We do this because they've came and destroyed our feeders in the past.
View attachment 3856439View attachment 3856440View attachment 3856441View attachment 3856442View attachment 3856443View attachment 3856444
We have no issues with them going for the chickens, but today we're keeping the garden shed (Amish shed with coop on one end) locked as they would definitely raise havoc in there!

Such handsome and imposing animals. Do you think mamma bear is showing them how to stand their ground?

 

[rosemarythyme]

No issue with it attacking chickens or attempting to get into the set up, but so far I've had 2 black bear encounters (possibly same bear). Copy/pasted from state thread:

Oct '22: We came back from walking the dogs and the 2 bigger ones took off and ran to the creek just behind the chicken run. Sounded like someone was tearing down a tree - except that "someone" was a juvenile black bear, and the dogs had treed it just across the creek. We called back the dogs and hubby stepped out a few minutes later and said he could hear the bear splashing in the creek upstream.

Chickens weren't terribly perturbed, and no damage was done. It's salmon season so the bear was most likely following the fish upstream.

Mar '24: I was out free ranging with the chickens and heard some scratching sound from behind me, turned and looked and wondered why a person in a bear costume was hugging a tree. Except it wasn't a person in a bear costume.

I herded the chickens back to the run, then as I was cleaning up I noticed the bear had emerged from the woods and was heading up the creek which sits about 10' from the run, so I locked myself in the run with the coop door open (sorry chickens, but if it decides to try something it's me first into the coop) and watched it walk by.

Once it was all clear I went back in to get the dogs for a walk, and on the walk, who do we run into? The bear, eating out of someone's trash can. The dogs looked at the bear, the bear looked at us, we left him with his trash and went home.

 

[Barnette]

No issue with it attacking chickens or attempting to get into the set up, but so far I've had 2 black bear encounters (possibly same bear). Copy/pasted from state thread:

Oct '22: We came back from walking the dogs and the 2 bigger ones took off and ran to the creek just behind the chicken run. Sounded like someone was tearing down a tree - except that "someone" was a juvenile black bear, and the dogs had treed it just across the creek. We called back the dogs and hubby stepped out a few minutes later and said he could hear the bear splashing in the creek upstream.

Chickens weren't terribly perturbed, and no damage was done. It's salmon season so the bear was most likely following the fish upstream.

Mar '24: I was out free ranging with the chickens and heard some scratching sound from behind me, turned and looked and wondered why a person in a bear costume was hugging a tree. Except it wasn't a person in a bear costume.

I herded the chickens back to the run, then as I was cleaning up I noticed the bear had emerged from the woods and was heading up the creek which sits about 10' from the run, so I locked myself in the run with the coop door open (sorry chickens, but if it decides to try something it's me first into the coop) and watched it walk by.

Once it was all clear I went back in to get the dogs for a walk, and on the walk, who do we run into? The bear, eating out of someone's trash can. The dogs looked at the bear, the bear looked at us, we left him with his trash and went home.

Wow. That's awesome

 

[Lavender Wraps]

This morning.
4 cubs came up through the woods. The dogs (border collie and corgie) scared them so they climbed a tree. Momma bear came up and tried to coax them down. We called the dogs into the house, then they came down. They left the way they came, back down the hill, into the forest.

We have our wild bird feeders filled only with sunflower seeds and hung by a pully in the trees, one on the very tree momma is standing by. We do this because they've came and destroyed our feeders in the past.
View attachment 3856439View attachment 3856440View attachment 3856441View attachment 3856442View attachment 3856443View attachment 3856444
We have no issues with them going for the chickens, but today we're keeping the garden shed (Amish shed with coop on one end) locked as they would definitely raise havoc in there!

GREAT pictures! I'm so very glad we don't have bears in our county. We have fox, wild turkeys, opossum, skunks, wild ducks in winter, wild geese, one jack rabbit (all I've seen) AND neighbors dogs. There has been reports of Bob Cats and Mountain Lions nearer to the hill areas but none here!!