Bear Visit

[mrtrumpet]

Cross you fingers folks. Just walked out on my screen porch and heard rocks move in my pond. Looked over to see probably a 400 lb male black bear scoot straight up the steep bank and on up the mountain (I hope.) Saw one koi. Don't know about the other 5 yet. My fingers are crossed.

 

[sissy]

Oh geeze lets hope he will not come back and hope your fish are OK

 

[j.w]

Not a good thing for your fish for sure! Gosh how do you keep bear out of a pond?

 

[Tula]

Yikes.....keep us posted!

 

[Faebinder]

Temporary electric fence will fix the problem.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Not a good thing for your fish for sure! Gosh how do you keep bear out of a pond?

Pancakes or waffles with gobs of maple syrup.

 

[addy1]

Wow keep your bear there! Hope your liner was not torn up.

That is one of our concerns with the bee hives, so far the one bear seen here many years ago has not returned.

Electric fence with bacon strips on the wires, or aluminum foil covered with peanut butter wrapped around the wires. It gets their tongues and nose. They can't get zapped through their hair. (Info from bear attacked bee keepers)
They will just push through the wires.

 

[mrtrumpet]

Pleased to report all koi present and accounted for this morning! Apparently the few hiding places I do have in my small pond worked for them! Thank you all for your concern.

We have numerous bears in the area. I think there over 7,000 in Western NC, if memory serves. In our community we have a momma bear, two cubs, and several males that frequent the neighborhoods. On my street there are three houses going up with large dumpsters where the workmen deposit leftover lunches, snacks, etc. Hard to keep the bears out of these.

I have been very lucky that this is the first time in 3 years a bear has actually been in the pond that I know of. But I knew this might be a problem and the pond was somewhat designed to keep bears at bay.

What I think happened yesterday is typical bear behavior with manmade (and probably natural) ponds. They're not somuch after fish, as they are to cool off in them. And that's what I think I saw. I believe when I came out he rose up on his hind legs from a sitting position and went straight up the bank past the swing and into the woods. He loosened some rock into the pond in the process. No damage to the liner as far as I can tell, but I have filled the pond up and will see if there is more water loss than usual today.

I'm sorry I couldn't get a shot of the bear making his escape!

 

[cas]

I am going to stop complaining about my blue herons. I would rather have them than bears! Glad everything is OK.

 

[Spartamets]

That is the only predator I am 100% confident will not come to my pond. I've seen pretty much all the rest come for a visit (though only the damn heron went for the fish), but I am quite sure I won't be seeing a bear in Baltimore. I used to live in Sussex County NJ, which is where the Appalachian Trail passes through the state. It is also very dense with bears. They are beautiful animals, but they can be scary. Anything that big with teeth and claws is inherently dangerous, even if their intent is generally to avoid us as much as we want to avoid them. I'm glad your fish are all OK.

I like your little spot, by the way. That's a cool stream/waterfall.

 

[mrtrumpet]

Thanks, Spartamets.

Folks in our community often run into bears on our trails. So far no problems. Those with bird feeders, however (usually newbies) tend to find out very quickly how destructive and hungry our bears are. About the closest I've ever gotten was to walk out on my deck, phone in hand, and capture this cub running up a tree right off our deck as momma (below and right) is looking for cub #2. Glad I wasn't down there.

 

[MitchM]

Pancakes or waffles with gobs of maple syrup.

Or a pic-a-nic basket!

 

[Tula]

View attachment 100835 Thanks, Spartamets.

Folks in our community often run into bears on our trails. So far no problems. Those with bird feeders, however (usually newbies) tend to find out very quickly how destructive and hungry our bears are. About the closest I've ever gotten was to walk out on my deck, phone in hand, and capture this cub running up a tree right off our deck as momma (below and right) is looking for cub #2. Glad I wasn't down there.

Someone I know , who lives in Maine brought their bird feeders and seed storage inside. One night they heard glass breaking and the bears broke into their laundry room, for the seed !!!

 

[mrtrumpet]

They do like their bird seed

 

[Spartamets]

I have had several run-ins with bears when hiking. A few were quite scary, but most were not at all. The worst is when I was on a trail that went through a little cornfield adjacent to the Delaware River in Pennsylvania. I was coming up form the river back to my car when two cubs ran across the trail. Because there was tall corn and I couldn't see off the trail, I didn't know if they were running towards or away from their mother. That was as scared as I think I've ever been hiking, because I knew there was real danger if the cubs were on one side of the trail and the mama bear was on the other.