Bears...

[Sunrise Point]

I woke up at 1:15 AM to some sort of animal sounds right outside the camp. It was an adult (mother?) bear with 3 cubs. She was helping herself to sunflower seed from my birdfeeder. My suet feeder was nowhere to be seen...presumably she tore it down and enjoyed the suet as well. They didn't react to the light when I put the back porch light on and we were able to watch them for 10 minutes before they left. I tried to take pictures from inside the camp but the flash didn't reach and I wasn't going outside to get a better shot!

I didn't refill the feeder before we left because I don't want to encourage this. Does anyone out there have any experience with bears? I have always enjoyed watching creatures come to the bird feeders but this was a little unnerving.

[ITD]

Last summer, they (the bears) carried away 3 of my trash barrels, found 1 a couple hundred feet up the street, found the 2nd about a mile and a half away, never found the third.

[Irish mist]

We are having trouble with bears at my condo assocation because the "neighbors" will not stop filling their bird-feeders even though the association has warned them again and again not to do it. The NH Fish & Game Dept came down and got into shouting matches with these people to stop this behavior........no luck.

The threat of thousands of dollars in fines is not working. Nothing stops them from filling their feeders. Of course when the bears tear off the siding, damage the decks, and ruin the flowers & shrubs guess who is asked to cough up the money for repairs ?
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Ferrari 212 Export Specifications

[RattlesnakeHunter]

Originally Posted by Irish mist

We are having trouble with bears at my condo assocation because the "neighbors" will not stop filling their bird-feeders even though the association has warned them again and again not to do it. The NH Fish & Game Dept came down and got into shouting matches with these people to stop this behavior........no luck.

The threat of thousands of dollars in fines is not working. Nothing stops them from filling their feeders. Of course when the bears tear off the siding, damage the decks, and ruin the flowers & shrubs guess who is asked to cough up the money for repairs ?

Why would a bear tear off the siding, damage the decks and ruin the flowers and shrubs?

Don't they know that you were there first and they should go back into the vast wilderness looking for their plethora of food?

Priceless!!!

[Sunrise Point]

Obviously the bears have been here long before me and hopefully will survive long after I'm gone. As I said, it was a little unnerving to see them the other night. We have always been careful to either bring our trash home with us or lock it up securely in the garage. I didn't consider the bird feeders as an enticement for them (my mistake).

[Weirs guy]

SP, my in laws used to have a place in Sanbornton near I-93 and had a similar bird-feeder-bear-buffet issue.

We were sitting on the deck one day (myself, father-in-law and my 2 kids who were about 5 and 2 at the time) when we saw one not 50 yards from us trying to get at the bird feeder. The bear was full grown, standing on its hind legs eating out of the feeder. When it noticed us watching the bear turned sideways and attempted to hide BEHIND the pole holding the feeder up. The bear ate a little more, then wandered off on its way. It was a little nerve racking.

The solution to the problem was to tie a clothes line between the house and a nearby tree about 10' off the ground and suspend the feeders from that. Seemed to have worked, but then we had to watch out for bear "presents" around the cars.

[parrothead]

My parents woke up one night to a crunching noise. When they flashed a flash light out the window they found a bear chewing on the corner of their hottub cover. Did a pretty good job on it too.

[parrothead]

Don't think the bear can levitate. My guess those large claws could do a pretty good job on the side of a house, a deck, or some flowers.

Originally Posted by RattlesnakeHunter

Why would a bear tear off the siding, damage the decks and ruin the flowers and shrubs?

Don't they know that you were there first and they should go back into the vast wilderness looking for their plethora of food?

Priceless!!!

[Sunrise Point]

Thank you WG...I am going to try and raise the feeder 2 -3 feet next time I go up there. Right now it's hung by a length of nylon twine from a high branch. I will have to use a ladder when it needs to be refilled, but it will be worth it if I can keep feeding the birds. I really enjoy watching the birds and would hate to give up the feeders.

[Sunrise Point]

WG, are you saying that the bears are deliberately using your parking area to make their feelings known???

We call those "Turds of Outrage".

[ike]

Put a pulley on the high branch and use sash cord. Run the sash cord from a hook, through the pulley, down the tree, and wrap the cord around a couple of spikes. When you want to feed the birds, just lower the feeder.

[Sunbeam lodge]

We had three bears on Veasey Shore Road. They were seen there about 3 weeks ago. They must be moving around looking for food.

[Rose]

Originally Posted by Sunrise Point

Right now it's hung by a length of nylon twine from a high branch.

We put our feeder on a high branch after we had a bear visit in the night. He just climbed the tree (leaving proof for us to show everyone), then pulled the branch down, nearly breaking it. He left a nice butt print in the mulch as he sat trying to figure out how to get into the feeder.

[Irish mist]

Excuse me RSH for not wanting a bear and her 3 cubs to be walking around the parking lot of a 180 unit condo development. The only thing "priceless" is reading your constant pro-wildlife drum-beat at any price. We only ask that the neighbors don't put out bird-feed at this time of year. This condo BTW is in Laconia, not the woods !
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VAPIR AIR ONE

[RattlesnakeHunter]

Originally Posted by Irish mist

Excuse me RSH for not wanting a bear and her 3 cubs to be walking around the parking lot of a 180 unit condo development. The only thing "priceless" is reading your constant pro-wildlife drum-beat at any price. We only ask that the neighbors don't put out bird-feed at this time of year. This condo BTW is in Laconia, not the woods !

Yeah, what was I thinking..."Pro-Wildlife".........

You are right, develop every inch of the world until it is wall to wall people.
Have you ever stopped for a moment and thought about how quickly every bit of forest is being developed? No of course not, you just don't care.

Question, do you know what an Eastern Cottentail Rabbit is?
Where are they? What has happened to all of the rabbits? The Eastern Cottentail is now becoming an endangered species..... it is a rabbit!

I thought rabbits were prolific? We are the ultimate lifeform and devastate the environment as we live our daily lives. How are we pushing this rabbit into extinction? There are too many people, we fragment the habitat and leave little room for other creatures to live.

Who is more important to Man's way of life in the United States A common Honey Bee or 100,000 people?

The Bee!

The Honey Bee is our chief pollinator...take it away and we are in serious trouble.

You were talking about it destroying the condo siding, ripping up a deck and messing up your flowers and bushes. You did not say you were afraid of it walking around in your parking lot. Come to think of it, you should call my friends over at Fish and Game and tell them to come over and kill them so they don't destroy the landscaping.....

Why do you think the bears are there? Could it be that they are running out of habitat? Could it be your "Condo" was once woods or a meadow?

Pro-Wildlife is far better than Pro-Pavement but by far the underdog...

Have it your way, Pave the Universe!

[Irish mist]

Your're a troll. You don't know me from a hole in the wall. You go from thread to thread flaming people, trying to personally insult them, and yap about how terrible man is. The bears are here because people are feeding them. I'm not afarid of them. If you took the time to read my post you would see that I berate my "neighbors" for drawing the bears to the condo with their bird feeders. I don't want the bears relocated, or harmed. I want my neighbors to act in a more careful manner, nothing more, nothing less. I'm not looking to drive all wildlife into the sea. You have a problem with over-population.....call congress ! They let millions of people immigrate here every year, putting pressure on our resources.

Take your irrational, and self-satified out of context arguements elsewhere.......or at least out of my face. I don't need your childish musings.
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Lincoln mk9 history

[SteveA]

Rattlesnake is a flamer... and hopefully will soon be off this forum

Here are the guidelines: (and Don does a good job of keeping us all in line. That's what make this the best forum around..)

Take Your Agenda Elsewhere

If you are here just to push an agenda you'll have a problem with the moderator. Members are expected to participate in a friendly and helpful way and to respect everyone's views and opinions.

Sad thing is... if you go back to his very first post about Timber Rattlesnakes... he/she got lot's of support, and lot's of information about sightings... Yes a few jokes.. and Yes a few tugs at his agenda... and he found out some people are afraid of snakes.. (like me )

Problem is, I suspect that He/She ( not trying to be provocative.. RH has used so many names in his sig.. I'm unsure of gender) isn't going to let anyone have an opinion.. and respect any opinions other than the one He/She holds.

I'm old... What I learned along the way to getting old is that what I think isn't always right.. or even important!

RH.. will learn it.. but I suspect, not very soon.

I'll make another guess here... it won't be the first, or last message board He/She is thrown off of...

In the meantime... use the IGNORE feature... if you can't see his posts is he really here?

[Irish mist]

Thanks everyone, especially SteveA. I'm done with him.......I just hate to see a person like this insult people, and mess up the forum. He could always go to Democratic Underground, or some other political forum where he can engage in this type of behavior.
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Fe Engine

[Knot Droolin']

Thanks SteveA I must voice my agreement with your post.

It is a good thing we only have "little" black bears in the NE. Imagine the problems people have out west with garbage/food left out attracting brown bears...

[WINDinmySOCKIES]

I am a wildlife advocate, but I have social skills too, I hike a lot and WOULD HAVE BEEN happy to have given rattlesnake hunter any input had I seen any activity this summer. However, Its clearly atttention he/she wants and not information. This is why the "ignore" button , although difficult to use, is highly effective.
"It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice."

[Major problem]

Bear-skin rugs are nice !!!

[Grant]

Wow, what a pile-on.

I'm out.

[ITD]

Originally Posted by RattlesnakeHunter

Question, do you know what an Eastern Cottentail Rabbit is?
Where are they? What has happened to all of the rabbits? The Eastern Cottentail is now becoming an endangered species..... it is a rabbit!


Have it your way, Pave the Universe!

Cottontail, it's the Eastern Cottontail Rabbit and they are doing fine. In fact they are a non-native species introduced from the Midwest in the first half of the twentieth century.

Maybe you're thinking of the New England Cottontail Rabbit, their numbers are dwindling since the sixties. They like large open areas, like abandoned farms, harder to come by because of REFORESTATION and development. Some heavy logging in NH would probably bring their population right back. (No, I'm not advocating heavy logging)

It took me all of about two minutes to get the correct story on them. I highly recommend that you know what you are talking about before you pontificate, cajole, berate and lecture others, makes me wonder about the accuracy of your statements on your other causes.

And what's with Pave the Universe? Who here has said that ...... except you.

[Dave R]

Originally Posted by RattlesnakeHunter

Who is more important to Man's way of life in the United States A common Honey Bee or 100,000 people?

The Bee!

The Honey Bee is our chief pollinator...take it away and we are in serious trouble.

Honey bees, while excellent pollinators (and really interesting creatures), are not even indigenous to North America. They were brought here by Europeans in the 1600s. In NH, there are very few "wild" honey bees. They are very susceptible to mites (and other problems) and require substantial care and management to survive our harsh Winters. Most of the honey bees in NH are the result of professional or hobbyist beekeeping.

It's quite possible that the introduction of honey bees in North America directly or indirectly caused some other species of insect, plant or animal to go extinct.

[Gavia immer]

Originally Posted by Irish mist

Excuse me RSH for not wanting a bear and her 3 cubs to be walking around the parking lot of a 180 unit condo development. This condo BTW is in Laconia, not the woods !

With the arrival of spring, "wild" bears will wander looking for food, sometimes upsetting city people with their presence. But others aren't concerned at all about some other animals that are found at condos!

Irish mist's message came to mind when reading at another site and came upon this "domesticated" animal's photograph.

[wildwoodfam]

That might solve the deer problem for sure - maybe the black bears too - but me thinks that a good swarm of honey bees might be able to take this guy out - not too mention what a rattler could do.



[/QUOTE]

[Dave R]

Originally Posted by wildwoodfam

but me thinks that a good swarm of honey bees might be able to take this guy out -

[/QUOTE]

I realize it was written in jest but:

Nope, honey bees are utterly harmless when they swarm. It's not an aggressive behavior, it just looks scary. They are just moving to a new location. If you ever see a swarm, leave it alone, unless you wish to kill them for no reason. They are just resting while scouts look for a new place to live. They'll leave on their own.

[LIforrelaxin]

Originally Posted by RattlesnakeHunter

Why would a bear tear off the siding, damage the decks and ruin the flowers and shrubs?

Don't they know that you were there first and they should go back into the vast wilderness looking for their plethora of food?

Priceless!!!

RSH, we all understand your pro wildlife stanse, and that is fine and you are more then welcome to your opinion and to voice it. But don't step onto your soapbox so often it gets old. And here it is not warrented.

No one has said anything more here then that they have had trouble and discussed ideas with how to deal with the bears, so that they and family can stay safe.

I love the wilderness and wildlife more then most people know....but when I wildlife gets into the proximity of humans precautions need to be taken. And if at all possible, which I think the people in this thread are discussing how to make things less inticing to the bears, raising the bird feeder etc. and this is the best way to start. But if the bears keep comming around and find new things to get into steps my need to be taken... Sometimes relocation is the best thing, it keeps the people safe and keeps the bear alive..... My advice to you folks is to work with the Fish and Game officers, they will guide you along the way and have the ability if deemed absolutely neccessary to relocate the bear.

[SAMIAM]

Good post,Irish...."troll"......I love it.Haven't heard that in along time.
Going through rt 301 in Florida a few years ago I came upon a store that sold all kinds of rattlesnake stuff.I bought a cane with a huge stuffed rattlesnake head for a handle....fangs over an inch long.It's send it to RSH to torment him,but I have too much fun teasing my grandchildren with it.Maybe I'll pick him up a nice belt when I go through next year.