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Frigging bears!

893 views 9 replies 6 participants last post by  Thunderstick 
#1 ·
Well that got the ticker pumping!

Just took the dog out for a pee before hitting the sack. I just started putting her on the leash first thing in the morning and after dark, after we opened the door the other morning first thing to take her out to be greeted by a big frigging bear standing over the bird feeder 20’ away at the pine tree off the deck. She took off like a shot chasing the bear into the woods and thankfully never caught it.

We walked right past the pine, within feet, and I had checked to make sure the bird feeder was still up (my ******* raccoon & bear detector). I waited while the hound did her business and then we both started back to the nest. Suddenly the dog runs to the end of the leash toward the pine tree, barking like a maniac. I can hear a hissing sound and scratching on the bark. The porch light just reaches the base of the tree before fading to black. I live out in the sticks and it is dark at night, especially overcast nights like tonight.

I assume it’s just a **** looking for a late night snack of black oil sunflower seeds, so the dog and I head towards the pine to tree it. All of a sudden I am seeing what the dog sees… a bear standing with 2 feet on the ground and 2 feet in the tree, hissing like a pissed off ****… and a bigger bear on the ground behind the tree that start’s huffing! The dog is going more bezerk by the second, both bears are making weird noises, and I am hollering, “Get the F@*! out of hear! Do you want to get shot!”

I manage to get the dog up on the deck and in the house. I grab the flashlight from beside the door and back out on the deck to try and see what the hell is going on. I can hear one bear up in the pine, 20’ away, and the other one is pacing back and forth behind the tree huffing and puffing and popping its jaw. I stomped on the deck, beat on the railing and yelled at them to “GET OUT OF HERE!” but the one on the ground wasn’t going anywhere without its compadre in the tree.

After I came back in the adrenaline started to subside and I am kind of freaked out. I have seen a ton of bears, both here and out west. But that is as by far the closest and most unsettling (after the fact) encounter I have ever had. We were literally within swatting distance had either one been so inclined, both going out and coming back to pee the dog. I am very thankful that I had my dog on the leash, as I am sure she would have provoked an ‘attack’ as she is only a border collie but thinks she’s a lion. She is only about the size of the hind leg an hip of the big one she chased the other morning. Chasing them is one thing. Bringing one back pissed off, or provoking one up close is a whole other matter!

I have never hunted bear, as I am not a huge fan of the meat (taste is fine, psychological hang up over eating a bear), and wouldn’t shoot one just for the hide. But I am thinking I am going to start getting my tag. Buggers get into my garbage container a few times a year, they’ve destroyed countless bird feeders on me, ripped the door off my baby barn once, and are generally becoming a nuisance.

The other morning when my dog chased the bear, my neighbours across the street had a bear (I assume same one?) go through their electric fence after their 2 lambs and a goat, running them off. Luckily and amazingly they got all three back after three days… on the lamb.

I can hunt them right from my house, and Linnie will happily take the meat as he really likes it but doesn’t hunt them either.

I know I am usually long winded at the best of times, but that close encounter got me stirred up. I was exhausted when I took the dog out, but I don’t think I will be nodding off anytime soon after that. Exhilarating to say the least! Glad my dog never got her block knocked off!

Frigging bears!
 
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#2 ·
Well that got the ticker pumping!

Just took the dog out for a pee before hitting the sack. I just started putting her on the leash first thing in the morning and after dark, after we opened the door the other morning first thing to take her out to be greeted by a big frigging bear standing over the bird feeder 20’ away at the pine tree off the deck. She took off like a shot chasing the bear into the woods and thankfully never caught it.

We walked right past the pine, within feet, and I had checked to make sure the bird feeder was still up (my *** raccoon & bear detector). I waited while…
It seems the overly politically correct automated censorship monitor is starring out r e d n e c k as well as c o o n, as in raccoon, in my post above. In case anyone is wondering what the missing words are.
 
#3 ·
Living in the sticks you never know what may greet you when you open the door to let the dogs out at night.
Barred Owls sitting on a close branch, bunnies eating the lawn, Deer doing the same.
We have bears around and a really big one has been seen but not while out with the dogs...so far.
 
#4 ·
True dat! No shortage of wildlife around here, which is part of why I live where I do. Could be more deer though, seems they have gotten more of a taste for city life and are concentrated in town. LoL

She'll only chase deer and rabbits to the edge of the mowed lawns. She knows she can't catch them, border collie & frisbee flyer extraordinaire that she is! LoL Skunks, porcupines, racoons and unfortunately bears however get confronted with the ferocity of a lion defending its territory & pride. She's INSANE!

We see bears regularly in the yard, and on the road. She usually barks and they usually run as soon as they are noticed. The way it should be. She's treed them a couple times, but its usually young cubs that she trees and the mother stays on the ground near the base.

Last night however, we walked right past the pine & bird feeders in the dark heading out back, and had to be within a few feet of the bears when we did. It wasn't until she finished her business and we were walking back to the house, and back past the pine, that the dog noticed something in the dark and started going ballistic pulling on the lead. Like I say, I heard the scratching on the bark and a hissing/snarling sound just like a big old racoon caught in the act of being the night bandits they are. It wasn't until I was not much more than arms length from the tree that I could make out that it wasn't an angry racoon we had disturbed... it was a frigging decent size bear standing looking at us ready to go up the tree, and a bigger bear on the ground just behind the tree that started huffing and jaw popping.

My neighbours (all 5 or 6 of them on this road) must have thought there was a bloody home invasion taking place if they were awake at still at midnight. The dog was barking like it was a pack of beagles on a whole herd of rabbits, the bears were pissy and huffing & puffing, and I was hollering at the top of my lungs "Get the BLEEP out of Here!", "G'wan Git!", "Do you want to get shot!". It was a wild scene for a minute or two, until I wrangled the dog onto the deck and got her in the house. I can just imaging what it must have sounded like.

I'm convinced that had I kept walking up to the pine tree, assuming we were just running a racoon up the tree, I most likely would have been Nova Scotia's first officially documented bear attack victim. They were very cranky bears, and my dog got within a couple feet of the closest/smaller one and was on the attack herself. Thank gawd I've been putting her on the lead in the morning and after dark, since she chased the big bear into the woods the other morning. Had she been loose she'd have been on those bears, and they'd have shredded her. In the moment I'd have been right in there and that wasn't going to end well... for me or my dog! I don't blame the bears in the least. In fact I am extremely grateful that they were both as 'composed' as they were. They could have easily confronted both me and the dog in the dark as a threat that was definitely within their safe approach limits and caused serious injury or death to either me or the dog. They were the maddest bears I've yet encountered, and I could tell just how upset the bigger one was when I went back out with the flashlight. It wasn't until then, once I got a decent look at the big one without the racket of my dog barking and me hollering, I saw just how 'angry' it was by the way it was pacing back & forth huffing and jaw popping. It wasn't until then that the adrenaline started to subside and a healthy dose of respect (fear!) set in and I quickly went back in the house and left them to calm down and exit stage left of their own accord. Standing on the elevated deck only about 5' off the ground, with a thin wooden railing between me and 2 very amped up bears only 20' away I started having visions of Cocaine Bear flying through the air in the movie trailers, to land on whoever he was chasing. I was exhausted when I took my dog out to pee, but it was 3hrs before I could get to sleep!

Frigging bears... thanks for being only as aggressive as they felt they needed to be, and not as aggressive as they could have been!

One last thing... every time I see a bear I am always amazed at how black they are in comparison to the surroundings. It shocks me every time, nothing is as black as a black bear I don't believe. Even last night out here in the middle of nowhere with zero light pollution and overcast skies I found myself stand a few feet away from a couple in the pitch black and when I finally could make them out in the darkness, they were still shades blacker than even the night! I think my favourite shade of black is what you'd have to call 'black bear black'.
 
#8 ·
That's a close call with the bears ALW especially with a dog to add to the excitement.
I agree on how black they are, came home one night from my grandsons hockey game and a bear crossing the road on our gravel road stopped to look at us in the middle of the road and it seemed blacker than black even with the headlights on it.
 
#10 ·
Well that got the ticker pumping!

Just took the dog out for a pee before hitting the sack. I just started putting her on the leash first thing in the morning and after dark, after we opened the door the other morning first thing to take her out to be greeted by a big frigging bear standing over the bird feeder 20’ away at the pine tree off the deck. She took off like a shot chasing the bear into the woods and thankfully never caught it.

We walked right past the pine, within feet, and I had checked to make sure the bird feeder was still up (my *** raccoon & bear detector). I waited while the hound did her business and then we both started back to the nest. Suddenly the dog runs to the end of the leash toward the pine tree, barking like a maniac. I can hear a hissing sound and scratching on the bark. The porch light just reaches the base of the tree before fading to black. I live out in the sticks and it is dark at night, especially overcast nights like tonight.

I assume it’s just a ** looking for a late night snack of black oil sunflower seeds, so the dog and I head towards the pine to tree it. All of a sudden I am seeing what the dog sees… a bear standing with 2 feet on the ground and 2 feet in the tree, hissing like a pissed off **… and a bigger bear on the ground behind the tree that start’s huffing! The dog is going more bezerk by the second, both bears are making weird noises, and I am hollering, “Get the F@*! out of hear! Do you want to get shot!”

I manage to get the dog up on the deck and in the house. I grab the flashlight from beside the door and back out on the deck to try and see what the hell is going on. I can hear one bear up in the pine, 20’ away, and the other one is pacing back and forth behind the tree huffing and puffing and popping its jaw. I stomped on the deck, beat on the railing and yelled at them to “GET OUT OF HERE!” but the one on the ground wasn’t going anywhere without its compadre in the tree.

After I came back in the adrenaline started to subside and I am kind of freaked out. I have seen a ton of bears, both here and out west. But that is as by far the closest and most unsettling (after the fact) encounter I have ever had. We were literally within swatting distance had either one been so inclined, both going out and coming back to pee the dog. I am very thankful that I had my dog on the leash, as I am sure she would have provoked an ‘attack’ as she is only a border collie but thinks she’s a lion. She is only about the size of the hind leg an hip of the big one she chased the other morning. Chasing them is one thing. Bringing one back pissed off, or provoking one up close is a whole other matter!

I have never hunted bear, as I am not a huge fan of the meat (taste is fine, psychological hang up over eating a bear), and wouldn’t shoot one just for the hide. But I am thinking I am going to start getting my tag. Buggers get into my garbage container a few times a year, they’ve destroyed countless bird feeders on me, ripped the door off my baby barn once, and are generally becoming a nuisance.

The other morning when my dog chased the bear, my neighbours across the street had a bear (I assume same one?) go through their electric fence after their 2 lambs and a goat, running them off. Luckily and amazingly they got all three back after three days… on the lamb.

I can hunt them right from my house, and Linnie will happily take the meat as he really likes it but doesn’t hunt them either.

I know I am usually long winded at the best of times, but that close encounter got me stirred up. I was exhausted when I took the dog out, but I don’t think I will be nodding off anytime soon after that. Exhilarating to say the least! Glad my dog never got her block knocked off!

Frigging bears!
You must live ina terrible place with all those bears. Have you ever thought of moving 😀
 
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