Black Bears

[mjarrels]

I'm up in age and have spent alot of time in the woods, mountains, state and national parks but have never seen a bear in the wild. Yesterday, I was putting some stuff in my burn barrel, turned around and there was a 200 pound black bear looking at me. Both of us went the opposite direction. I live in a rather developed area, 36 hole golf course next door, housing development north and south, large dairy farm east. Makes me wonder where that bear came from?

mark

 

[groundcover]

When two bears love each other very much.... :laughing:

 

[2LaneCruzer]

When two bears love each other very much.... :laughing:

I can give you maybe half credit for that answer gc.

 

[Clint S]

We get them here every now and then. This spring my dad called and asked if my dog was loose (he is a big dog) as he saw him across the road where I throw fish carcasses after I fillet them. I said no he is right here, looked across the road and there was a smallish black bear eating. Over the next few weeks saw him in my compost pile. Finally it moved on

 

[timster2]

I was putting some stuff in my burn barrel,

mark

Burn barrel BBQ all the same to the bear. Holiday weekend he was looking to crash your BBQ perhaps have a few beers. Most bears in the wild will go the other way rather than make you "dinner".

 

[Marveltone]

I can give you maybe half credit for that answer gc.

TBN... It's free to play and the points don't matter.

Bears are opportunists. They often make their way into residential areas if they think there's more food available than they can find in the wild. We've had many instances where black bears have had to be moved out of town for that very reason. They typically don't want anything to do with the people, but we'd still rather they stay out of the city limits.

Out here on the farm, we have to be real careful in picking up any food scraps when we eat in our screen porch. We've had to repair the screen a few times because somebody left a little scrap out there and a bear came crashing through the screen looking for a free meal.

Joe

 

[timster2]

My wife's cousin, who lives a mile or so from me, had a black bear jump through his screen door to get at a bag of trash he had left on his screen porch. Seems he forgot to take it to the dumpster, he lives in a gated community. They heard a crash from the porch and watched through the sliding glass doors as the bear helped himself to the trash. After he had his fill he jumped back out the screen door and was on his way. They get bolder and bolder and are no longer afraid of human contact. Don't leave anything around that the bear would consider food and he will move on looking for some easy pickings.

 

[dmccarty]

There have been black bears seen in two of the cities around me in the last couple of years. Last month there was a bear seen in the middle of a large town/small city near us that is very developed. People have seen black bears in my county but it is rare.

I was watching a show about FLA and they were talking about a black bear that had a tracking collar. They showed the path the bear walked, which went from SW FLA, south of Lake Okeechobee, up to I4 at Walt Disney World. The bear walked along side I4 for quite some time. It surely looked like it was trying to cross I4 but could not figure out how. I guess it wanted to go to the Bear Jamboree at Walt Disney World. :laughing::laughing::laughing: The bear then headed back south and went back to the area it started from. I have seen the show twice and we can't figure out how long it took the bear to do this walk. The show was unclear but we think it was only a few months.

Later,
Dan

 

[KTurner]

The newspaper here runs a story on bear sightings about once a year or two. People will see a bear and call in the sighting as its rare to see them here. The news story says these bears were out in search of new territory and crossed the river. Depending on where they crossed, it was between a 1.5 and 5.5 mile swim. Either they like it here, or they don't want to repeat that swim

Keith

 

[sfloggie]

Our land is 2 miles East of the Dismal Swamp. Bears travel from the swamp under the new HWY17 via a "bear route". Our surveyor saw one year before last that was about 250lbs and 50' away. It moved on as thye stood still.
Yesterday my neighbor to the West saw a mom and two cubs with one in a tree. He stood still with his dog and watched the mother atch his dog as te treed cub came down They then moved off.
I have smelled them in the cold, but not seen one. The Warden said he had to put a 400 pounder down that got hit by a truck. It was sad. A lady was leaving food for it and it would cross the road. Never should have fed it as this got it killed.