There is a power pole on my lawn and every year bears chew the heck out of it. This year they started on the bottom. I took this picture day before yesterday, today I see they have chewed it at about 6 feet. Watched one do it last year, he sat on his behind, rubbed his back then turned his head and bit out a chunk. Looks like the one who bit the bottom did it while laying on the lawn.

I know they like to chew on gas cans and oil jugs, must be something in the treating of the poles they seek out, maybe creosote.

Bears love power poles. They mark up the ones on my camp property all the time. Never seen one do it though, that would be cool to see.

I don't have the bear problem but I an no fan of Squirrels , the little huffers have eaten the spouts on 5 gas cans and chewed up the gas cap on my rototiller.

they won't touch bar oil jug spouts same exact spout on a gas can marked bar oil

not had any deisel cans get chewed eather , but 91 octane premium with or without 2 stroke oil and they chew a bunch of holes in it

Chemicals in the creosote. Supposedly salty. All poles down here are gnawed on. Power company has to replace them occasionally as they gnaw almost through them over time.

Here is another bear ravished power pole from Sussex County! In Vernon Township, near my winter place on Hamburg Mtn. This one appears to be clawed, not bitten. They also rub their backs on, lending credence to the theory that it the chemicals might be helping with external parasite issues. My favorite theory is that it is just a "scent marking" location, where the territory of several big males overlap. Other poles nearby are untouched.

Are those poles red cedar? Smell the wood and see if if has a cedar odor to it. I know of places where red cedar doesn't grow naturally, that if red cedar post is introduced the bears will chew them it up. My guess it has to do with the natural insect repellentcy of red cedar.

I have seen creosote sign posts worked over by bears,back East.Some were annihilated, some were barely touched.That was before trail cameras.

Here,I have used cameras on marking trees.They favor cedars by far,over other trees.Some trees are used by multiple bears of all sizes,male and female,including sows with cubs.Activity starts as soon as they come out of dens and tapers off when the rut winds down.On these rub trees I see way more rubbing than the clawing and biting seen on the pictures above.These rub trees are usually on prominent trails.Neat pictures,guys.

They love the National Forest signposts.

Should be hair on the pole.

Bear rub their backs on these and aromatic trees as scent marking posts. They turn around and bite with their back against the tree. They often try to bite as far up as they can to show how big they are. (They can bite higher than they can scratch with their claws) It's unusual to see them chewing on the bottom, but there may be some salt content or something. They eventually killed the tree in this video.

This will teach them to chew and rub on poles.

shocking

That bear is plainly out of Charmin.

thing i've found amazing here is the first sign i usually see in spring is where they been diggin and eating skunk cabbage.thy hit that even before the pit a death.

I was approached by the state some years back to deal with some bears that were destroying large power poles.
Awful big poles and they were ripping thru them with time. All that damage wa pretty much 6’ up and higher, obviously from claws. I believe it’s the dip used and the state folks thought the same.

Osky

Lol about the bear

Eric,I'll gladly come up and help you this Fall thin out a few if you have to many

We had that problem at our cabin as well. Poured used motor oil on the pole and they haven't touched it since.