some backyard bear pic's

[frnash]

There was an article in the (click →) Daily Mining Gazette, of Houghton, MI back in the spring or summer of 2007 reporting that a bear got into the back porch of a house in Chassell, turned over a refrigerator then couldn't get out because the fridge blocked the door. The bear finally broke out the sheet rock and the walls to get out of the house!
The picture in the paper & online was worth a thousand words, to borrow the old expression!

---

I did some serious searching, but couldn't find that article in the DMG archives, drat!

 

[mrbb]

well since the above stories I can share one as well

about 7-8 yrs back, I was keeping my bird seed on a small enclosed porch(it was on second floor, so access was in from the deck)

it had a screen door and then a basic security door, as access into it!
well, one day in mid summer I was sitting inside doing what ever, and heard this loud BANG, and was pretty sure it came from that porch!
I know I left the main door open to let air in porch, and heat out !
the door into the house was closed, so , not like anyone could gain access to the house without kicking in that door!

SO< I look out a window to see if anything is on the deck, and NOPE< don;t see anything'
so, I start to walk towards the porch and I can hear for sure something is in there?

I at first thought MAYBE a squirrel, as sounded like something small, but then as always, due to so many bears here I start to think, OK< what will I do if its a bear, as maybe its stuck in there, maybe it closed the wooden door and NOW doesn;t know how to get out!??
SO, I am thinking, should I walk around house and open things from the outside,
or open things from the inside?? Options and none sound that great but OH well, bears always seem to like me,
so I say Heck I will just walk out and see what happens!

Well I open the door and on the other side is this smaller male bear, a 3 yr old, I knew him well, rather goofy guy of a bear!, was in the yard almost every day for a few weeks prior to this!


SO< as I open the door he is standing on his hind legs, holding a 50 lb bag of sunflower seeds, with this OH CRAP look on his face, as he is staring back at me?? LOL

I was about to yell at him, and he jumped OUT the screen door upper window like, top of screen door was a removable window with a screen in for summer time

seems he must have leaned against the screen and it busted, so he seen all the bird seeds and sunflower seeds, and I guess he thought he won the lottery with the score!
well that sucker, manged to JUMP thru that window opening in the door, a GOOD 4 ft off the ground, never touched the door, with that bag of seeds in his mouth,
when he landed however, he dropped the bag, and RAN for dear life off the deck and out of the yard

he looked back ONCE< with a head down as if he knew he got caught with his paws in the cookie jar! LOL

he never came back for like 2 weeks, and when he did show up, he was a whole new bear, all humble and not brave as he was before

I think it cost me like 4 bucks for a new screen!
so, for me it was money well spent to SEE that bear jump thru that opening with a bag of seeds as he did
I never would have thought a bear could do that! and I been a around a LOT of bears in my life time!

as I said, there always showing me something new, and why maybe why I find them so fascinating!

and I do wish I would have had that all on video, would be worth watching over a few times, IMO! !!

and as for bears ion a house,
I have seen the damages they can do TRYING to get out, or just going thru things looking for food!
its a some what common thing here in some of the hunting camps, in some parts of the state, but its almost always due to foods being left inside, or the likes

NOW ME< I have had a bear in my house on a few occasions, but I have never had a lick of damage minus that one screen being torn, and a bag of seeds busted??

I had one female that followed me in one, she watched to learn how to twist the door handle and OPEN the door, she was also a bear cub I helped raise, so, she was easy to get out, all I had to do was ask her to follow me out and she did!

second bear I had in, she got in due to a screen door that didn;t close all the way and she(a female also) managed to open the door with a claw grabbing the end of the door(I know this as I seen her do it the next day, but caught her in time)

but I was sitting watching TV and she walked on in, and and came over to me and laid down!
another one of the rehab bears I worked with, a few yrs before!, she normally would sit on deck with me when she passed thru the area if I was outside!

and again, all I didn was ask here what she thought she was doing and to follow me outside! and as the first one did, so did she!

Guess it helps to KNOW some bears as I do here!
and also, the fact I can ID many and know what I MIGHT be in for before reacting! LOL

I have a LOT of bear stories , from yrs of being about them! and to date IMO< not a bad experience YET!

 

[mrbb]

a couple more pictures for those that like them and a little info

one of my long time regulars, was recently hit by a vehicle
now has a pretty bad limp, busted front shoulder and a broken front ankle
so have a slight new project here
and she is also in heat, with mating season, so she has been attracting some new large males, that, quite honestly DON"T care that she is injured, as a fact, its making it maybe easier on them to catch her!
not so great for her, but is what it is!

 

[mrbb]

and a couple more pic's
the deer is still shedding its winter coat and looks a mess, the fox, is a red fox, I have lots of them here, the larger male is a new to me seeing, and mated with the female with the injuries last night in my drive way! and cub, is here almost every day with its mom, eating green apples off my tree's, little sucker has NO fear of falling and will go out on limbs as thin as a ink pen, its crazy how it doesn';t fall out of tree or branches break
I doubt I will have many apples in the fall on a few tree's LOL
I don;t care, there there for the critters any how, so, all good with me on that stuff!

 

[frnash]

mrbb, I love your critter pictures.
You sure seem to have more critters hanging around your place than most folks have in da UP!

At first glance I thought this one …

(Click thumbnail for larger image.)
… showed a terrified wabbit (circled above) .
But I guess it's only a flower or weed.

 

[mrbb]

mrbb, I love your critter pictures.
You sure seem to have more critters hanging around your place than most folks have in da UP!

At first glance I thought this one …
View attachment 61953
(Click thumbnail for larger image.)
… showed a terrified wabbit (circled above) .
But I guess it's only a flower or weed.

you mean like this??
but the rabbit isn;t scared at all LOL

see them together all the time
same with foxes and coons and skunks, all with in feet to inches of each other at times

and believe it or NOT< I have seen about every animal CHASE a bear out of my place and have NEVER seen a bear chase anything BUT another bear, and its mostly when large males pick on a female e looking for love and love isn't wanted , other wise, bears here are more likely to get run out of yard by deer or even coons and things

NOT that a bear cannot hold its own, but most times they move off when there out numbers by deer and or small things, seems too many eye's and legs make them nervous, too hard to keep track of them all, so they will l\eave and come back later!

seen this a lot in my food plots, when 1-2 bears would show up and then a dozen or 3 of deer and the bears would RUN off, leaving all the food behind

bears seem smart enough to know food will be there later so why bother with them!

 

[mrbb]

You know whats funny dare Mrbb....for something that some say don't exist....theres sure alot of people that report seeing one....lol

2032 per year in Washington state

1697 in California

Pennsylvania, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Oregon and Texas with 806 sightings.

And this is only the US.....Same with UFOs....hate to tell you this....but both are real with that many seeing them...police car cams....pilots....military....hunters.....astronauts....and on and on....and all those see both of those things....and FYI....I have only seen a live bear once in 50 years....and there's 1000s more of those things.....works both ways...if you want to see a bigfoot there are things you can do to attract them....but just like bears....once you do you wish you wouldn't of....i hope you do see one or tracks sometime.....its life changing and makes you respect things more overall....there by you in PA.....1300 reported sightings as well.....good luck on it.....i find it intriguing and scientific myself

and sorry tracker, I messed this some how, just seen it now

as for PA< having a LOT of Bigfoot sightings, well, yeah we do, we also have a lot of Cougar sightings too, yet, there has never been verified to be here, minus a rare/exotic pet that got loose
and I actually seen and video'd one , a Black panther , a few yrs back and it also was super special to see and I doubt I will ever forget it
so I can fully agree it is life changing to witness some things!

But I still again, find it hard to believe in ALL these yrs, NO body of a big foot was ever found, that can PROVEN without a doubt of there being one recently!

I truly hope there are some, but for me, I still cannot say I believe in them!

maybe some day will change, but till then I am sadly a NON believer

 

[mrbb]

a few more pictures for you, and my female that was hit by a vehicle, is still doing OK< getting better every day, but slow goings, she will be lucky if she is ok by hunting season, but odds are she will need a winter sleeping and off the leg all together or it to heal, so, that all comes down to IF she makes it thru hunting season!! with all the new hunting days here, its a lot harder now than ever for them to make it.
last yr the state opened up bear season to 3 times the amount of hunting days on them, little over kill IMO
but will see as time goes by what effect it has
I know I typically loose about 1-2 every season, last yr I lost 7?
so that's a BIG jump on hunting kills in my area!
and then I had one vehicle killed and 4 poached one's,
making 12 killed here near me, most ever in one yr that I know of!

still lots of bears here I have been seeing 9 different one's this week here, there starting to eat my green apples a lot last few days!
and even been sleeping in the yard a lot afterwards! LOL
in the last pic if you look, there is a second bear down the road, sleeping there!

 

[mrbb]

some cub pic's from tonight, there hitting my apple tree's pretty hard , might not be many red ones at this rate LOL

the cub is about 25-28 ft up and zero fear of falling, will even take a nap up there while Mom eats in other tree's

 

[mrbb]

and a couple more for you;s

 

[jacinda]

thanks for sharing

 

[snomoman]

you mean like this??
but the rabbit isn;t scared at all LOL

see them together all the time
same with foxes and coons and skunks, all with in feet to inches of each other at times

and believe it or NOT< I have seen about every animal CHASE a bear out of my place and have NEVER seen a bear chase anything BUT another bear, and its mostly when large males pick on a female e looking for love and love isn't wanted , other wise, bears here are more likely to get run out of yard by deer or even coons and things

NOT that a bear cannot hold its own, but most times they move off when there out numbers by deer and or small things, seems too many eye's and legs make them nervous, too hard to keep track of them all, so they will l\eave and come back later!

seen this a lot in my food plots, when 1-2 bears would show up and then a dozen or 3 of deer and the bears would RUN off, leaving all the food behind

bears seem smart enough to know food will be there later so why bother with them!

I know with that Fox is thinking, he’s thinking soon as we get out of this camera angle I’m gonna jump on and eat that little rabbit because then I won’t be seen anymore ... LOL

 

[mrbb]

all the yrs here I never seen a fox go after a rabbit, and I see them both pretty close to each other all the time
I DO< see the Foxes catch and kill turkeys though,
a few yrs back I had a fox den just behind my place , I think she had like 6 little one's that spring, and every day she dragged back a full sized turkey for them little one's to devour !

and I think a full sized turkey is a BIG critter for even an adult red fox, as there not that big a fox, but that one was extremely good at getting turkeys
the whole area about the den was full of feathers, them little one's would play with them all the time, was funny to watch!

 

[chunk06]

You're a lucky mrbb to have that stuff going on in your backyard. I live in Prairie farmland area where i'm lucky to even see deer anymore. Over the years more and more fence lines got removed so we don't see much anymore