bears and bird feeders need advice

[rfuerst911sc]

Originally Posted by KC911

AB....I agree with ya man, I truly do. I do everything possible (within reason) to "live and let live"... I really do. I'm gonna leave this thread now....I need to go kill stuff....weeds

You bastard weeds have rights too Sorry couldn't resist . Let me clarify my statement about shooting the bear , I should have said I would shoot it if I or any of my family or pets were put into a defensive position and my mind has not changed but I wouldn't shoot it just for the fun of it . I don't need a bear rug and I prefer for him/her to live their life in the woods . As I stated I haven't killed anything in 30 years except brain cells via beer

We took a first step yesterday to make us less bear friendly , if that isn't enough we'll make the next change . Today we are going to purchase a couple of game cameras to see what is going on at night . So far no one has discovered our garbage can if they do we'll have to address that . We do have peach trees and have no thoughts of removing them but last year all we saw were deer eating from them . I'm done with this thread thanks to all that replied .

[ckcarr]

Game cameras are fun. They vary hugely in sensitivity though.
I have two. Coyotes, deer, raccoons, skunks, cats, unknown critters...
I missed it but last year they trapped and relocated a mountain lion out back..

[sammyg2]

When my daughter was little, the neighbors gave her a bird feeder and bird watching book for her birthday. Hey they were old, OK?
So I put up the feeder and filled it with seed.

Soon after i started dealing with the critters. We don't have bears around here but we have racoons, possums, mice and rats. Big friggin rats with tails this long .....
Sorry I got side-tracked.

We never had a critter problem before and haven't had one since, but that feeder sure brought them around.
The mice got into the attic and garage and caused all sorts of trouble, including chewing through the wiring on my wife's honda pilot. About a thousand dollar's worth.

I got rid of the bird feeder and eventually got rid of the critters. Learned a lesson there.

[sammyg2]

BTW bamboo has rights ....

[gtc]

While the letter of the law may not apply to this situation, I would suggest that the animal welfare act of 1966 grants animals the right to humane treatment and care.

Personally, I would pepperspray the crap out of that bear if you saw him again... making him scared of people will be doing both him and your family/neighbors a favor.

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by Crowbob

No. Seriously, I do not understand the concept of an animal having rights. It makes no sense to me that animals have rights.

I haven't been able to find anyone who can explain to me how it can be that an animal has rights.

If animals have rights, why then don't plants have rights?

They don't.
it Isn't a question of rights, it's a right vs. wrong thing IMO.

[cjh]

Soak a towel in bleach and leave near the feeders.

[rfuerst911sc]

Thought I would post a follow up : have had two trail cams up for about a week now . One in the front of the property and one in the back . Both are about 3 ' - 4 ' off the ground . Since we moved all the bird feeders up 10 - 12 ' high we have not seen Smokey jr. and no indications that he has come back . Yesterday I pulled the SD cards and looked at the pics , plenty of deer and rabbits but no bears . We will continue to monitor the cameras but it looks like he has moved on to easier eats .

A side note one of our neighbors has a bird feeder hanging about 4 ' off the ground and his has not been touched , I guess that proves my wife is using the " good stuff "

[rfuerst911sc]

So it's been about 2 months since I originally posted this thread so I thought I would update . After we raised all the bird feeders into trees about 10 ' - 12 ' above the ground and on branches that won't support a bears weight all was good . I purchased two game cameras and kept moving them around the yard to get different shots . Plenty of rabbits and deer but no bears . We have a neighborhood chat website and a few folks were stating they had a bear sighting but they were brief and the bears moved on without any incidents .

So last night at 8:15 I get up to go into the kitchen and as I normally do I look out the French doors leading to the deck in our back yard and I see a bear coming out of the woods into our yard I called to my wife stating a bear is in our backyard , in the time it took her to come over to see two cubs came out of the woods to follow mama ! We watched through the French door for about 3 minutes then I slowly opened the door and we watched from the back deck . Mama bear constantly had her nose in the air but I don't think she smelled us as they were at a very slow pace walking through the yard and investigating .

Mama bear did stop at one of our bird houses , gave it a sniff and decided no food there and kept moving . In total I would say mama and cubs were in our yard for 6 - 7 minutes it was VERY quiet and strangely no dogs were barking . It was interesting to watch them . Here are a few pics that my wife took .

[afterburn 549]

Thank you.
Great work!