Speaking of bears...

[trancejeremy]

I just saw one.

I was outside with my dogs (I usually hang out with them until their bedtime), when all of a sudden they starting barking like crazy. Which they do pretty often. Usually I can tell from their bark what it is.

Anyway, this sounded like their "There's a dog on our territory" bark. So I figure I better check on them so they don't get into a fight. So I run and get a flashlight and chase them and low and behold, indeed, there are 3 pairs of eyes instead of just 2. So I look at the new "dog" and think "Hey, that's a pretty big dog, at least the size of a Newfoundland. In fact, bigger than Rufus was (he was my parent's old Newf, who was about 180 lbs). And those eyes look a bit farther apart. And it's walking kind of funny, like it's swaying or shuffling. Wait a minute, that's a bear!"

Not exactly scary, but it was sort of unsettling being that close to a wild animal like that. Not that black bears attack people often, but still, they are one of the few remaining animals around that can seriously hurt you.

Wasn't real afraid of me, either. It didn't follow me as I backed up slowly, but didn't run off, either. Was still around after I got my dogs inside and came back for another look, but it was shuffling off towards the woods.

 

[bento]

Weird and wild encounter with nature!

Did you have to keep your dogs from attacking? I'd think something like a bear nearby would drive them nuts.

 

[trancejeremy]

I was afraid they would do something stupid, but thankfully they didn't. I had a hard time getting one of them away from it, though. 1 of my dogs is super-obedient, the other is super-stubborn.

 

[trancejeremy]

Well, crud, it looks like the bear ate one of my cats. One of my barn cats. Something ate her anyway, she was missing, but now doing a thorough search, in a spot that had been very well flattened by a large animal, I found one of her legs.

I guess it could have been a coyote, but they've never really been a problem. I wouldn't think a bear would eat a cat, but given the timing, it makes me think. Next time I see it, I won't be as friendly.

 

[Ferret]

What are you going to do if it turns up again?

 

[trancejeremy]

Good question. I guess shoot at it. Not hit it (even if I wanted to, which I don't, I don't think I have a big enough gun to kill it outright), but being shot at generally scares critters and keeps them away for good. I also have some mace around here from when I used to run (and would occasionally get chased by wild dogs), but I really don't want to get close enough to use it.

 

[Jesus_marley]

Good question. I guess shoot at it. Not hit it (even if I wanted to, which I don't, I don't think I have a big enough gun to kill it outright), but being shot at generally scares critters and keeps them away for good. I also have some mace around here from when I used to run (and would occasionally get chased by wild dogs), but I really don't want to get close enough to use it.

Bears really do not like loud noises. an air horn would do very well in scaring the bear away.

 

[Ferret]

Yeah, that sounds likely...I also saw a guy use some sort of mace spray on a TV program where he raised orphan bears (he used it on the aggressive adult males who would attack the cubs). So I googled Bear Repellent .

 

[Lewis526]

You need much stronger mace to repel bears than you need to repel humans. Something like "Counter Assault" bear spray would do well.

As others have said, really loud noises work well to chase bears off. The mace you should use if you're attacked, but a bullhorn would probably do fine to run it off. There's no need to waste your ammo. On the other hand, you might want to call animal control or the forestry service, and see if they can relocate the beast. If it finds a source of food on your land, it's going to return over and over again.