We've had a young bear poking around the house for the past few weeks. This isn't an unusual thing for us - we've learned that bringing in the bird feeders at night for a week or so generally results in Yogi leaving us alone for the balance of the summer. Well, about a week ago this little bugger managed to get into the garbage can (long story - I usually have it locked up). My oldest son heard the bear messing around out there so he stepped out of the house and fired a few rounds into the air with a .22 just to scare it off.

He returned last night at dusk. We watched him circle the yard a few times and then head for the feeders. I hadn't brought them in yet for the evening. So I stepped outside and yelled at him while I walked over to pull the feeders. He climbed a tree about 20 yards away. I had barely returned to the house when he strolled back over to the bird feeder pole and started cleaning up spilled seed. I stepped out and emptied my 9MM into the air.

The bear ran about 20 yards away and sat down in the yard and looked at me. He was never more than 35 yards from me as I fired the shots. As I stepped back into the house, he walked back to the feeder pole.

Oh well. I went to bed. This morning I see that he managed to tip over the wooden cage system that I'd built to contain the recycling & garbage cans. He pulled the garbage can out and had a picnic. Joy.

We are expecting a significant amount of company this weekend (son's grad party) and the plan is to have all of the kids sleeping in tents in the yard. That notion will now be met with a bit of resistance, I'm afraid.

I dunno. Maybe I'll step out of the house and hit the bear with some pepper spray next time. The biggest reason I didn't do that last night is I know that doing so will expose me to that nasty stuff too.

Thoughts/suggestions?

Pepper spray?

Yeah I have a few big cans of pepper spray for when I go elk hunting in Idaho. Pretty long range - but whenever you deploy that stuff you are bound to be exposed and I just didn't want to deal with that last night. I'm a huge fan of sleeping at night.

Shotgun and a little better aim. Pepper him. Otherwise borrow a good dog, couple nights of the dog on duty should push the bear off.
I'm sure you know Rally Hess, he may have an idea or two, lives south of town there great guy.
Last option call the DNR maybe they will trap and move it or..... Give you a nuisance permit.
A final thought. Years ago I acquired a load of used fryer grease from a Kansas City rib joint. Smelled incredibly good and strong and had a lot of spices by the taste. Bears went crazy for it, once. Every bait I used it on was never visited twice, all sights went dead. Maybe whip your bear up a treat his tummy won't like?
Osky

The DNR dosent trap the Bears and move them anymore....too mant just returned. Depending on the circumstances they should issue a nuisance tag.

Get rid of the feeders.
That bear is going to cause some big problems.

Stop firing your guns into the air.

Pierce his ear with a .22 if you can shoot with pin point accuracy. No real harm to the animal. Don't ask me how I know this works. Also totally remove food sources.

I have had GREAT luck with rubber buckshot. I can bring you a couple of rounds tomorrow. Hit him once or twice with that and they NEVER return. Lesson learned, just make sure the bear is headed in a safe direction when you hit him the first time. They will run over anything in the way to get away...…….fences, bird feeder poles, small trees...……...

#8 bird shot anywhere in the back 1/3 of the bear at 40 yards or so; works wonders.

People who phone up the DNR deserve the tickets they receive for harassing wildlife. Why would you trade one problem bear for one problem DNR which will keep coming back. (rhetorical)

It seems you are missing the point in you have a young bear who is hungry. That points to the mother was shot in the spring bear hunt, dead from a wolves eating her, or for some reason she weaned the cub, as in the DNR bear saturation, there is not enough food, so Smokey jr. has decided to cross your boarder for the work you are providing in food.

The cub is really hungry and the reason it is there is there are other larger bears out there that will eat it, if you try to scare it off, so it starts eating some other person's food. You can try the rubber buck now that it has learned that the only food in the country is what you have, but it will get hungrier and more aggressive.

You are stuck in a Mexican stand off, in you have been schooled to not kill things as it will get you into DNR trouble. The DNR is not going to do anything as it is too much work and they like getting money in licenses for the number of trees to hide behind. The human who shot the sow created this problem for you, but they are probably back in Minneapolis drinking Hamms. People created this problem, not that cub, as it is just trying to survive in a world of boars which will eat it.

Your best frowned upon DNR fix is the buck, but you will still have a hungry bear. The next step is to get cheap dog food, adopt the cub and feed it further away from your house, for the summer in a clearing, where it will not decide to charge you, and then hope that some Minneapolis hunter arrives to end the problem.
But scaring this cub off is just shifting the problem to another person, who doesn't want your problem, any more than you want the problem the DNR does not want, which was created by a dolt who should not have been shooting sows with cubs.



Please DO Feed the Bears, Biologist Says - Latest Stories
[Search domain news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/04/100429-feeding-nuisance-black-bears/] https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/04/100429-feeding-nuisance-black-bears/
Please DO Feed the Bears, Biologist Says ... Prior to the feeding, bear house break-ins numbered in the hundreds—in some areas, bears broke into two to three houses a day, the BEAR League says ...

Star Flakes, if you are going to give such deep and profound advice you could at least make it somewhat believable. MN does not have a spring bear season so your accounts of a hunter killing the mother this spring doesn't hold water. Even if we did, it is illegal and unethical to shoot a sow with cubs. The advice to start feeding the "cub" (He did say small bear, not cub) is BRILLIANT! Then he will have 6 problem bears coming for the food instead of just one. Keep wearing your tin foil hat and the DNR will keep leaving you alone. Other than these points your post was riveting...…………….

12 gauge with a bean bag round followed by a few cracker shells around his head.

It sounds to me as if the OP is dealing with a 1 1/2 year old that was just pushed off mama this spring. Those up in this country are in the 125 lb range give or take?
The thoughts of 160, White, Wag.... I think are a bit more on the mark. I would do it very soon because that place of yours is going to smell like an absolute smorgasbord come party time this weekend and I’d want that buggar licking his sore but and bruised ego a looooong ways away.

Osky

first mistake was posting on open forum

second was people answering

I found the odd small caliber bullet in bears I have skinned

Are you a trapper?Trap it and relocate it out in the bush.
When I get a bear in the yard I borrow one of my buddy's cages and get rid of it.

Electric fencing works. Stronger the better. Kencove and Premier1 both have preassembed electric netting fences for easy set up. The trick though is to make sure they get a taste of it on a sensitive spot. Bait the wire with something tasty like peanut butter.

Well I will tell you what I would do here, and no problem posting it on a forum.

1. Take picture of damaged property
2. Shoot the bear
3. field dress the bear
3. call my co, and tell him what happened, and that I wasn't going to waste the meat.
4. Fire up the meat grinder.