Man ! I love living in the sticks !

[NIXON]

About an hour ago I went to let the dogs out when I noticed that one of the outside lights is on . I didn't think much about it at the time . Then Harley (my lab) starts going crazy .
I walk out on the porch to see one of my deer feeders up ended ,with a bears head sticking out over it ! Harley's about 15 feet away doing his best impression of a brave dog . Mr. bear just looks at both of us , and ambles into the night . stopping to check out one of my bird feeders on the way .
Harley is around 100 lbs , so judging by size the bear was 300 + lbs . He was absolutely beautiful to watch . This is the 8th time in 3 years I've had encounters with black bears at the house . As long as they don't hurt me or the dogs they are more than welcome to come here . They are just so impressive to watch . John

 

[InlineDieselFan]

On the 23rd of this month we will close on our 20 acres. When I went out to look at the property with the well drilling guy one day we saw a big pile of Bear scat. He said there have also been several cougar sightings lately.

steve

 

[shoppintractors]

I classify that as an "Awesome Encounter of the Bear Kind." Wow, a bit scary too.

Where's the camera when ya need it....

Don

 

[Bird]

John, when I was doing gas leakage surveys, I spent 4 months at Sayre, PA. My company mailed monthly newletters to those of us traveling on jobs and one of them had an article (reminder) to beware of dogs (we had several employees bitten by dogs every year). It so happened at the same time that the local newspaper in Sayre had stories about a bear being seen there in town two days in a row. So I clipped that newspaper article, wrote across the top "And you said to watch out for dogs?!!!" and mailed it to my boss.

 

[NIXON]

Steve , Back in the day as they say , I was an avid varmint hunter We used to call in coyotes with a rabbit call . One morning we didn't have much luck . But when I looked at our tracks there were cougar prints on top of them less than 10 feet from where we set up our blind . I still get shivers over that ! John

 

[NIXON]

Don , Actually I didn't find it all that scarey . I was just hoping Harley didn't decide he was bigger than the bear ! My first encounter was indeed scarey . I was walking around the corner of the house when I came face to face with a bear . I don't know which of us turned and ran fastest ! They're SO BIG at that range ! But I count myself lucky to be able to just see them . They are truly magnifiscent creatures !
As to taking pictures ..... Seems like they don't go in for posing /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif John

 

[NIXON]

Bird. I find Feral dogs to be more of a worry than the occasional bear. Bears seem to have a decent fear of us ,. But feral dogs don't . I'm just hoping that the local bear population doesn't become accustomed to hearing and seeing me and the dogs . Afew times a year is fine . But if they start coming onto the porch , it'll be a different matter /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Junkman]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( As to taking pictures ..... Seems like they don't go in for posing /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif John )</font>

Same with the bares around here. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Egon]

Bears are cute, nice to watch. But; if they start making a habit of comming for food it's just a matter of time till they invite themselves into the house.

Egon

 

[boustany]

Not exactly my back yard, but Moosey hunting last year in Newfoundland we came across Moma and 2 cubs feating on a magotty pile of moose guts. From about 50 feet.

Anyhow, we watched them, in broad daylight, for about 5 minutes an Mom sat up, and the cubs sat up and looked at us (the cutest thing you ever saw), and then they decided they'd had enough and ambled away.

I told this to somebody and he said "you have to be pretty brave to get that close to a mother bear with cubs." I pointed out there is something about us both having loaded 7mm magnums, thumb on safety, which engenders courage! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif