Bear?
#7297063
06/30/21 10:38 PM
06/30/21 10:38 PM
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Joined: May 2009
Posts: 15,538 Champaign County, Ohio.
KeithC
OP
trapper
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OP
trapper
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 15,538
Champaign County, Ohio.
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I have a small number of black bears in my area. I saw one 3 times a few years ago. One of my neighbors, who lived 6/10ths of a mile down the road from me, saw a black bear a lot. Last year when the black raspberries were on good, something got in most of the bigger patches and smashed them flat and ate the ripe berries and tips off. I figured it was deer or coons. A few nights ago, after dark, I could hear something smashing black raspberries down. It made a lot of noise when I went towards it, but moved slowly away. I took my catahoula pups out, shortly afterwards and Louie, the male pup, ran off into the hay field and stared at something, without barking. When I shined my weak light past him, I saw 2 widely spaced, small eyes, a little lower than deer height. Whatever it was turned and ambled off. I could not get it to look back again, even though I made bunch of different noises. Last night, I went out to kill 42 chickens and heard something in another berry patch huffing and growling. It got louder when I went toward it and then got silent. If it is a bear, how easy is it to find sign? The ground is dry and hard right now, so I doubt there will be any tracks. Does bear hair get stuck on briars easily? Do bears defecate in the open or sort of hide it? How likely is a bear to push through wire mesh to go into a barn after pigeons and poultry? I have a 240 pound aggressive dog and a 160 pound dog in another area. I would guess if I put them where I don't want the bear to go it won't go in. Do bears usually stay away from dogs? Keith
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Re: Bear?
[Re: KeithC]
#7297099
06/30/21 11:45 PM
06/30/21 11:45 PM
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Joined: Feb 2021
Posts: 24 Arkansas
Flattail1961
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Feb 2021
Posts: 24
Arkansas
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I have a small number of black bears in my area. I saw one 3 times a few years ago. One of my neighbors, who lived 6/10ths of a mile down the road from me, saw a black bear a lot. Last year when the black raspberries were on good, something got in most of the bigger patches and smashed them flat and ate the ripe berries and tips off. I figured it was deer or coons. A few nights ago, after dark, I could hear something smashing black raspberries down. It made a lot of noise when I went towards it, but moved slowly away. I took my catahoula pups out, shortly afterwards and Louie, the male pup, ran off into the hay field and stared at something, without barking. When I shined my weak light past him, I saw 2 widely spaced, small eyes, a little lower than deer height. Whatever it was turned and ambled off. I could not get it to look back again, even though I made bunch of different noises. Last night, I went out to kill 42 chickens and heard something in another berry patch huffing and growling. It got louder when I went toward it and then got silent. If it is a bear, how easy is it to find sign? The ground is dry and hard right now, so I doubt there will be any tracks. Does bear hair get stuck on briars easily? Do bears defecate in the open or sort of hide it? How likely is a bear to push through wire mesh to go into a barn after pigeons and poultry? I have a 240 pound aggressive dog and a 160 pound dog in another area. I would guess if I put them where I don't want the bear to go it won't go in. Do bears usually stay away from dogs? Keith
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Re: Bear?
[Re: KeithC]
#7297109
07/01/21 12:01 AM
07/01/21 12:01 AM
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Joined: Feb 2017
Posts: 2,180 Priest River, Idaho USA
SundanceMtnMan
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Feb 2017
Posts: 2,180
Priest River, Idaho USA
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If it is a bear there will be a lot of scat around. It should be east to find. They will definitely flatten a berry patch.
"They Say Nothing is Impossible, But, I Do Nothing Every Day."
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Re: Bear?
[Re: Flattail1961]
#7297168
07/01/21 07:13 AM
07/01/21 07:13 AM
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 19,930 SEPA
Lugnut
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 19,930
SEPA
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In my job as a wildlife biologist I've worked with wild black bears for over 30 years now. I've never heard a black bear growl. An aggressive sound they make when threatened is more of a huffing sound, followed immediately by popping their jaws together. I've heard females make a low grunting sound to warn Cubs of danger and they'll respond by climbing the nearest tree. As for livestock depredation I've never documented any actual killing of livestock, especially any that have dogs around. In short black bears look for an easy meal that they don't have to chase down. They may feed on dead livestock killed by something else and maybe on a rare occasion where they encountered a sick or newborn animal catch it. They are far more interested in getting into your livestock food supply like corn, grain sweet feed, etc. As for a bear and dog interaction, a small terrier can tree a 400 lb male bear and keep him in a tree as long as he barks. As for bear sign, tracks are hard to mistake. Bear scat or poop is typically loose like they have diarrhea. They don't digest plant material well and one feeding on berries will leave obvious loose scat with berries easily seen. Your best preventative to avoid bears is to keep a clean place with no easy food sources like grain, dog food, fish grease or cooking oils. They have a phenomenal sense of smell and will seek out these foods and are resourceful at getting at food items that aren't secured well. Hope this helps. Flattail's experiences mimic my own and his information is spot on. There are exceptions to his info on dogs though. I've seen beagles chasing a bear and watched the bear get fed up with it and turn on them. The bear chased the beagles a short distance then ambled off, the beagles kept running away. For the most part though black bears are pretty timid and will run away from the sight or sound of a dog or dogs. I've never heard a bear growl either. In addition to the huffing and jaw popping warnings and the females grunting to warn cubs, bears also make a loud snuffling type sound when trying to locate prey by scent. I've been stalked many times while turkey hunting and have seen and heard them doing it. If a bear has been raiding your raspberries there will almost certainly be crap nearby. It will be large and loose as described above and full of raspberry seeds. They don't try to hide it. We have constant problems with bears at the fish hatchery the gun club near my camp runs. We even put up electric fencing but the bears tear it down. They are not after the fish but the fish food. Once they know a food source is available they are relentless. Does Ohio have a bear season?
Eh...wot?
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Re: Bear?
[Re: KeithC]
#7297201
07/01/21 08:12 AM
07/01/21 08:12 AM
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Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 3,103 7mtns of CENTRAL PA
GROUSEWIT
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 3,103
7mtns of CENTRAL PA
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All this info is null and void if its a sow with cubs and u or dog gets inbetween them!! It's not pretty! Just sayin!!
NRALIFER,PRPA LIFER,HUNTER,FURTAKER
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Re: Bear?
[Re: KeithC]
#7297254
07/01/21 09:42 AM
07/01/21 09:42 AM
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Joined: May 2013
Posts: 5,101 Northern Michigan
J.Morse
trapper
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trapper
Joined: May 2013
Posts: 5,101
Northern Michigan
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A flattened berry patch is standard bear M.O. As stated above, bear crap should be there in quantity.....bears crap early and often. The snuffling, huffing and tooth-popping are my experience as well, but have been in on some hand-to-hand between bruins and hounddogs where the bear made some pretty hair raising growly type noises. I personally never literally shat my drawers during those intense hound/bear encounters, but a time or two my tupper string did get frayed a bit.
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Re: Bear?
[Re: KeithC]
#7297267
07/01/21 10:03 AM
07/01/21 10:03 AM
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Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 20,241 The Hill Country of Texas
Leftlane
"HOSS"
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"HOSS"
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 20,241
The Hill Country of Texas
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How likely is a bear to push through wire mesh to go into a barn after pigeons and poultry?
I don't know but I've been told they can be trained to exclude themselves with a hot wire fence
“What’s good for me may not be good for the weak minded.” Captain Gus McCrae- Texas Rangers
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