Building a Hobby Farm- from woods to eggs

[tony123]

Two more melons gone this morning! Whatever it is, they are just going to feast until they're all gone!

I looked around hard for tracks, and nothing. But I did notice. One of my stacked firewood piles is knocked over, and something dug up several large yellow jacket nests from a hole in the ground.

[tony123]

Forgot to mention, I didn't find any Hornworm. But I'll keep my eyes open.

I'm feeling down on the whole garden now, and may just let it die out for the year. We were going to do fall crops, but may not now. Maybe I can get into more tractor projects if the garden goes on hold. I'd really like to use the PHD and get some trees planted this fall! Maybe start on the fruit trees.

[Happyman]

Originally Posted by tony123

Two more melons gone this morning! Whatever it is, they are just going to feast until they're all gone!

I looked around hard for tracks, and nothing. But I did notice. One of my stacked firewood piles is knocked over, and something dug up several large yellow jacket nests from a hole in the ground.

You have a bear.
They turn over log piles, planters and anything else looking for grubs, ants, bees, etc. I think they're eating your melons for desert .
Like I said before, get a game camera and mount it near your garden. The kids will love to see the animals and it's fun to see what really goes on in your yard or in the woods at night and during the day when no one is around. Go for the infrared cameras, not the regular flash cameras.

[TwinWillows]

Yellowjacket nests dug up... sounds like the work of a skunk to me.

[Happyman]

Originally Posted by TwinWillows

Yellowjacket nests dug up... sounds like the work of a skunk to me.

But what about the log pile? Skunks don't push over log piles .

[Tororider]

Guys it sounds like we need to give some encouragement.

So what can Tony do about having a bear? Would running a live wire around the garden and having it be live only at night do anything??? What if anything can be done?

Don't give up Tony, you have been encouragement to so many people in this forum. You finding a solution will help all of us, especially me as I think I am going to have to find a way to keep deer/coons/coyotes out of my proposed garden. While those aren't bear, hopefully there will be some crossover.

Although no one could blame you if you did trade fall crops for more seat time on the tractor.

[barneyrb]

If in fact you do have a bear, PLEASE let me know how you get rid of them. We have SEVERAL on our hunting camp and we don't have a season in Louisiana yet. The fines for killing one would be close to $50k so that is out of the question. We have one boar that goes close to 400# and he has been real close to our camp.

[Lil_FarmerJim]

A neighbor of mine up in the Pocono Mt's used high voltage electric fencing. Worked pretty good, until he put rabbits in with the veggies, then the bear had a full course meal.

[HoustonBrama]

That's the problem with the animal population these days. The Government has so over regulated hunting that the species is growing ten fold and becoming problems in all states. From bears, dear and mountain lions. We have mountain lions and other wild cats in states now that we never had before do to hunting regulations.

[Happyman]

If my bear becomes a nuisance, I can call my local game and fish warden and they will either trap it or give me a permit to shoot it. Same with deer out of season. If they become a problem i can get a permit to cull the heard in the off season.
Virginia is pretty good about working with the local farms and residents on this kind of matter.