Nuisance Bears

Rusty Shackleford

Rusty Shackleford

CGN frequent flyer
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Location
Bradford, Ontario
My mom's noticed a few times this summer a couple bears hanging around her cottage in the Haliburton area. She doesn't seem to be overly worried about it, but I'll be heading there for the long weekend with my 10 month old and won't be taking any chances.

I'm planning on bringing my shotgun, but thought I'd try and find out what the rules are regarding what I can and can't do in the (unlikely I hope) case that we're confronted with an aggressive or overly curious bear.

I don't have a hunting license and have never been hunting in my life.

Advice please.
 
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advice:

Don't leave your 10 month old alone on the deck dripping in honey while you and the wife go to town for more whiskey.

You'd be better off using the telephone to deal with the bear, if required, then risking tragedy with your shotgun.
 
Ok, having seen Mrs Shackleford in action, I'm beginning to question Rusty's motives here.

Admit it. In a foot race, kid in arms, she's still going to leave you in the dust as a chew toy for the bear. The shotgun's just for the manly outcome to what is otherwise a story about getting beat by a girl, right?
 
Canuck223 said:
Ok, having seen Mrs Shackleford in action, I'm beginning to question Rusty's motives here.

Admit it. In a foot race, kid in arms, she's still going to leave you in the dust as a chew toy for the bear. The shotgun's just for the manly outcome to what is otherwise a story about getting beat by a girl, right?
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Ha, damn you.

I'm almost 100% sure it won't come to it, but I just want to be prepared in case of the worst. Hiding out in the cottage will be the likely scenario, but I just wanted to know my options were and if there would be legal problems if I shot an animal without a license.

Calling police is an option I guess, but we'll be about 40 minutes out of town.
 
Make sure you don't leave any food, garbage, especially fish guts (if you intend to fish) out anywhere around the cottage. If there is nothing to attract them, then you shouldn't have anything to worry about. Oh, they do like BBQ's as well.
 
i ran into the same problem last week and the mnr told us to carry an axe in the bush .yah right,you think i would tell anyone about an aggressive bear around my kids,
 
In all seriousness, it's bears just like that, that can be the most dangerous. Bears that are seen routinely, habituated bears. Sometimes, they lose respect for humans. Often you get some 'Treadwell type', that is feeding them on the sly etc...

There was a tragic case in B.C., where a scenario exactly like that played out. A black bear that had been frequently seen in and around an area of acreage homes, wandered into a yard where a 2 year old kid was playing. It saw the opportunity for a meal of kid and ended up killing the little guy, although the kids mother fought desperately to save the boy.

Turns out some 'bear-whisperer-wannabe' had been feeding the bear off and on.

The story is in one of James Gary Sheltons books. Really sad frickin' story, when you read it.
 
You can always tell when it is spring in Haliburton county. The cottagers all walk around carrying their preferred bear defence guns.
Heavily loaded .45-70 Marlins are popular, as are pistol grip shotguns, loaded alternately with buckshot and slugs.
Local chiropractors report that they treat numerous cases of neck injuries caused by the constant swivelling of heads, nervous parents looking over their shoulders.

You obviously should not visit the cottage. Living in a constant state of stress would spoil your visit.
 
tiriaq said:
You can always tell when it is spring in Haliburton county. The cottagers all walk around carrying their preferred bear defence guns.
Heavily loaded .45-70 Marlins are popular, as are pistol grip shotguns, loaded alternately with buckshot and slugs.
Local chiropractors report that they treat numerous cases of neck injuries caused by the constant swivelling of heads, nervous parents looking over their shoulders.

You obviously should not visit the cottage. Living in a constant state of stress would spoil your visit.
Click to expand...

Don't beat around the bush. Tell me what you really think. :p
 
Where is Haliburton county, what province, and is this crown land or private land? I know in Alberta on private land a few years ago if there was a problem bear :sniper:
End of problem!
 
crazydave said:
Where is Haliburton county, what province, and is this crown land or private land? I know in Alberta on private land a few years ago if there was a problem bear :sniper:
End of problem!
Click to expand...

About 2.5 hrs north of Toronto. It's private land, just a small lot though. Less than an acre.

To be honest I'm not overly worried about it. I know black bear attacks are pretty rare. And my mom's chased these ones away before by honking the car horn. I just thought it might be prudent to have a firearm in the cottage. Especially considering one of these 2 wandered up to the front door after my mom opened it a few weeks ago.
 
Pistol grip shotgun, alternate buckshot and slugs... a round to scare/enrage, a round to stop. But IMO, if it isn't scared away by yelling at it, it should probably be shot before it "bothers" the other cottage owners kids.
 
We used to have them come up on the back porch at home from time to time.

There are 3 main types of bears.
Hunted: they flee when they see you
Habituated: they see humans as a source of free food
Wild: Unpredictable, and possibly predatory to humans (most you never see, they take off)

In cottageville you will most likely be dealing with habituated bears. They can be unpredictable, especially if they have learned that they can push people around to get what they want. For the most part they are very tolerant and do not see humans (even little ones) as food, just a source of it.

Plan A) if you have a shotgun would be to put a 12G bear banger in front of it and watch him crap himself and run.

Chances are you will never need to shoot anything more at a black bear.

Now if you own this cat, take him with you as it obviously works better than most of the methods I have used and studied in the last 15 years.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfgV9X1uLZ0
 
Just to add a little northern perspective:

It's a common occurrence around here (Sault Ste. Marie, read:Northern Ontario) to shoot the bold ones. The Bear Wise program is horrible; they seriously added "consider carrying a long handled axe" to the list of suggestions this year (as noted in a previous post). I have it on a glossy flyer!

The last bear in our freezer was terrorizing a neighbour's dog; his freezer was already full so we took it off his hands. He called the ministry to report it (like yer supposed to) and they came and were miffed that we'd already gutted it (it was 25 degrees out, darn straight we'd started into skinning right away). They were disappointed because they had a pool going as to how much it weighed on the paw. (This particular bruin was known as Peeping Tom because of his tendency to peek into people's windows. He'd been trapped and relocated three times before.)

Our gun club's had a bunch of the 3D archery targets maimed this year (happened several years back too; we raised the money to fix 'em by having a Bear-B-Q) and the ministry has given their blessing; 3D archers with valid PALs can carry a self-defense gun while shooting a round now.
 
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