some new backyard critters

[mrbb]

OK so, I get a LOT of bears here , average about 20 different one's a yr that I can tell, and have foe 30+ yrs now.
I know not a lot of folks get to see them as often as I do, (Almost daily most of the yr)
one of the female's that's been coming here about 12 yrs , just showed up with a set new cubs, very late to be showing up, she normally shows up about end of March/ early April,
so was starting to think something happened to her, was last here end of Dec.
but she is in the 5 th set of cubs I can tell.
so far this yr I have had 8 different bears here, one rather large male, about 500 lbs or so, (he is a twin, has a brother of same litter that is a little larger) the two have been coming here since they too were cubs, about 10 yrs ago!
Anyhow, figured maybe you's would enjoy a few pic's>

NO big foots yet< but I do run a bunch of trail cam's and my local TV News station, just ran a story on Bigfoots, stating PA. is #3 for reported sightings of them LOL
I'm still waiting for my first encounter though! fingers crossed, HAHA, but maybe all my bears here keep em away?

here are the two cubs, the mom laying down, and then the one larger male, his brother is the father of the cubs too! seen the breeding last summer.

 

[xcr440]

Very cool - The bears are about the only thing I really miss from having my cabin in northern Sconnie - they certainly were entertaining to watch!

 

[mrbb]

yes they are fun to watch, yesterday, I had a young male here chasing a bumble bee around my yard,,
it was as funny as it gets watching it do so.
I am not sure what he planned to do if he caught it? Maybe eat it?? or get stung on the nose, but they sure do a lot of silly things, very curious animals, both big and small one's!

 

[byr 13]

awesome !!

 

[WorkHardPlayHrd]

Wish I had a picture of what I saw in the road 25 ft ahead of me the other day. It was a wolverine and I'm 100% positive! I didn't have my phone so I couldn't snap a picture, but it stopped dead center of the road and looked right at me. Was definitely not Bucky the Badger. Beautiful glossy dark brown. Size of a good sized Australian Shepherd. Defined weasel like head, and that funny loping gait they have. Was to be honest very pretty, but I wouldn't want to get any closer.

 

[1fujifilm]

yes they are fun to watch, yesterday, I had a young male here chasing a bumble bee around my yard,,
it was as funny as it gets watching it do so.
I am not sure what he planned to do if he caught it? Maybe eat it?? or get stung on the nose, but they sure do a lot of silly things, very curious animals, both big and small one's!

Beautiful pictures for sure!

Our 2 year old female GSD chases bumbles around too and got stung last weekend. At least she is not allergic.

Bear

 

[mrbb]

being allergic to bee stings can sure be a dangerous thing.
most of my life I never had any issue's with stings, but last few yrs, WOW< if I get bite now(mostly my yellow jackets) I get crazy pains and swell up like a balloon.
I kind of joke and say, we all have "X" many stings we can get before we run out of what ever keeps us from being allergic to the bites, some run out sooner than others and I must have hit my fill on stings, as over the yrs, I had my share, found a few ground nests the hard way LOL
I recall hitting one once with a machete, before I knew it they were up my pants leg, under my shirt, and having a good old time stinging me like mad, as I ran away shredding my clothes and beating my self up trying to kill a few LOL
went back later that night with some gasoline for some pay back , HAHA!
think I got about a 100 stings on that day, also maybe why I found it funny to watch a bear chase a bee about !! just asking for trouble! young and dumb, OH how we all find out things the hard way some times!

 

[snoden]

I have a place in the North central mountains in PA., we used to get a lot of bears as well. They were always fun to watch. Where our camp is located we have 12 acres of field that we plant corn, soybeans and food plots. The game came to feed daily, it's fun watching deer, turkey, bear, elk and many small critters do there thing in the wild. We don't see many bears anymore, the problem started when the elk showed up. We had 5 big bulls take up residence on our property and boy do those things have an appetite. We stopped planting corn hoping they will leave, they would eat the entire stalk to the ground even before the corn would sprout ears. That's is why the bear stopped coming, no food for filling there bellies before there long winter slumber. I do miss seeing them.

 

[mrbb]

I have a place in the North central mountains in PA., we used to get a lot of bears as well. They were always fun to watch. Where our camp is located we have 12 acres of field that we plant corn, soybeans and food plots. The game came to feed daily, it's fun watching deer, turkey, bear, elk and many small critters do there thing in the wild. We don't see many bears anymore, the problem started when the elk showed up. We had 5 big bulls take up residence on our property and boy do those things have an appetite. We stopped planting corn hoping they will leave, they would eat the entire stalk to the ground even before the corn would sprout ears. That's is why the bear stopped coming, no food for filling there bellies before there long winter slumber. I do miss seeing them.

Elk are too far NW of me, but I think I would enjoy seing them here if they were, even with there damaged to food supply's
I used to plant 16+ acres of food plots every yr, and drew in critters from pretty far away being the only AG type food for miles!

and its amazing HOW Much destruction and damage wildlife can do to crops,
many folks never understand how much damage they can do, and what the costs are to farmers!
I part time farm as well!
even had a few farms I rented I stopped, due to so many deer and bears and?? eating crops, I wasn't making any money off the lands, was loosing more crops than it was worth to plant there!
but having a large food source, sure does allow one to see wildlife!
Double edge sword of sorts!

And I have experienced and seen countless times, how DEER will run bears out of food plots, bears just don't like to be hassled by them, even if bigger and stronger, deer can out number them and make them nervous, I would imagine Elk being a lot larger, would have even more effect on chasing them away!, and a bear likes easy laid back eating, so, being hassled, they will move on to other food sources!
being able to eat about anything, sure helps them find food else where too!~ LOL

 

[wirev]

I have a friend is MT that claims $35-50M on crop damage by elk.

 

[mrbb]

I have a friend is MT that claims $35-50M on crop damage by elk.

WOW< he must have a lot of land/plant a lot of acres, and I gather this is added up over a bunch of yrs! too.
~ as this is a crazy amount of damage, I hope he allows hunting on his lands LOL

 

[rp7x]

My son and I would be happy to help him thin the elk herd down

 

[blkhwkbob]

Those cubs are so cute. Don't you just want to walk out there and pet them?

 

[mrbb]

Those cubs are so cute. Don't you just want to walk out there and pet them?

over the yrs I have been lucky enough to been able to hold some cubs of this age and smaller(some larger too)
this female in the above pic's has been coming here so many yrs, I can walk up to her and she won;'t move, even with the cubs.
but I don;t want them learning to be that close to people, won't do them any good down the road.
But I do think they are way cute little suckers,
I love to watch them wrestle each other and jump on there mom at times , till she has enough and gives em a smack LOL