Nuisance Bears

llwyd said:
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.
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They get used to this too. A couple years back, one of the gun club's furry residents got in the habit of hanging out downrange while trap league was being shot. The number 8 shot probably tickled in a pleasing way or something.

One of the bigger ones near our camp got protective about our food plot. Got reports of him coming to eat, then sauntering off but trotting back to show possession of his grains if he heard anyone coming.

(On the other hand, our runt-of-the-litter Golden Retriever scared a decent sized one out of the shop parking lot. Anyone who's ever had their hand licked off by her knows how terrifying a dog this is.)
 
I called a few years ago to the MNR about a bear doing damage at our camp.They told me my first way to get rid of the bear was to make a lot of noise.Guess loud retort after pulling trigger worked
 
I grew up in NW Ont with a never ending supply of bears in the yard each summer so my advice is:

-lock and load! Its within your rights to have a gun at the cottage
-keep your cottage area spotless so you don't lure in bears
-if one shows up, just go inside and play cards until the bear leaves again.
-shooting at a bear in the yard will end badly, you can expect grief from the CO at minimum (can you explain to him exactly why you had no choice but to shoot the bear?) and given that you haven't practiced and there are kids/neighbours around you could easily end up shooting something you will regret in adrenaline fueled haste.

Sorry to piss on your parade. :redface:

In the meantime, search all the wonderful bear defence threads here and enjoy the wealth of (mis)information. :D
 
jaydog said:
In the meantime, search all the wonderful bear defence threads here and enjoy the wealth of (mis)information. :D
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Indeed; looking for bear information on a gun forum is like asking Sylvester for advice on keeping your Tweety bird.

I had a black sneak out of the bush, get behind me and take 6 trout from within a foot of me while fishing once. They really have little interest in people for the most part.

A spotless camp or cottage is always the best defense. Bears that become habituated to gunfire (as pointed out above) are not going to last long in this world unfortunately.
 
jaydog said:
I grew up in NW Ont with a never ending supply of bears in the yard each summer so my advice is:

-lock and load! Its within your rights to have a gun at the cottage
-keep your cottage area spotless so you don't lure in bears
-if one shows up, just go inside and play cards until the bear leaves again.
-shooting at a bear in the yard will end badly, you can expect grief from the CO at minimum (can you explain to him exactly why you had no choice but to shoot the bear?) and given that you haven't practiced and there are kids/neighbours around you could easily end up shooting something you will regret in adrenaline fueled haste.

Sorry to piss on your parade. :redface:

In the meantime, search all the wonderful bear defence threads here and enjoy the wealth of (mis)information. :D
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Great advice. Thanks for this. You're not pissing on any parade, I'd rather not have to shoot anything.
 
Take Jaydog's advice

The only point of debate is if you should go in and play cards When a bear shows up or if you should rain terror and mayhem down on him immediatley. Noise, pepper spray, dominant behavior, lawn chairs sailing through the air...... What ever it takes to convince your visitor he is not welcome. IMHO it is more fun then crazy eights and lets you know right away if the bear in question is capable of staying in his place.
 
jaydog said:
I grew up in NW Ont with a never ending supply of bears in the yard each summer so my advice is:

-lock and load! Its within your rights to have a gun at the cottage
-keep your cottage area spotless so you don't lure in bears
-if one shows up, just go inside and play cards until the bear leaves again.
-shooting at a bear in the yard will end badly, you can expect grief from the CO at minimum (can you explain to him exactly why you had no choice but to shoot the bear?) and given that you haven't practiced and there are kids/neighbours around you could easily end up shooting something you will regret in adrenaline fueled haste.

Sorry to piss on your parade. :redface:

In the meantime, search all the wonderful bear defence threads here and enjoy the wealth of (mis)information. :D
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If you do not have to shoot the bear that is a good thing, jaydog is right on there but DO NOT go inside and play cards! try to scare the bear away, one of my coworkers had a cougar sneak under his front step and wait for the guy to let his dog out.
Anytime you have a dangerous animal around keep a eye on it even if it is from a distance. The last thing you want to do is come around a corner and startle a bear up close, if he feels cornered you will have a big problem on your hands.
 
In the big town, called a city, where I live, bears commonly come out of the hills and bush to see what the town looks like. There usually is no resident CO, so the police get the calls. Especially in the evening, people would call the police and say a bear, or a bear with cubs, was in her back yard. A typical police answer was, "Go to bed and by morning the bear(s) will be gone."
In one good residential area the people looked out of their house in the afternoon and saw a bear with two cubs, up a tree in their back yard. They didn't pay any attention to the bears,except some people driving by on the street would stop and take pictures.
The next morning the bears were gone and there was no indication thay were anywhere in the neighborhood.
 
david doyle said:
What ever it takes to convince your visitor he is not welcome. IMHO it is more fun then crazy eights and lets you know right away if the bear in question is capable of staying in his place.
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More fun than a barrel of monkeys! :D

crazydave said:
The last thing you want to do is come around a corner and startle a bear up close, if he feels cornered you will have a big problem on your hands.
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Absolutely.

crazydave said:
try to scare the bear away...
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I'm not a big advocate of having people unaccustomed to the behaviour of dangerous species 'scaring' them. No sense in creating a hazardous situation if its not needed.
Having said that, a strong initial hazing will do wonders to make a bear not feel welcome and ever come back. Just don't cross the line between scaring the bear and making it fight for its life..... Its one of those skills that isn't easy to acquire! ;)
 
I had a bruin tear apart my 45 gallon barrel garbage locker last night for the wet bag. It kept the raccoons at bay but it is time to get the welder out and come up with something else.
Having them go through my yard is no big concern to me but if this tearing things apart continues there will be a little cold war for a few weeks that may or may not get hot.
 
If the original poster shoots the bear, and all the complications to come, he can rest assured he can escape any dire results.
He asked the experts on CGN what to do. They told him shoot the bear, so that is his defence. Can't fail.
 
I just got back from Bancroft last night, there were several bears at the dump, and then I saw 2 on the drive home. I have never seen so many bears in the area, and it is far past due for the MNR to reintroduce the spring bear hunt. I talked to several neighbours up there, and they are all sick of bears tearing up their garbage and showing no fear of humans. I told them to contact the MNR and complain about the number of bears in the area...maybe some ordinary locals complaining will get our spring hunt back.
 
Its one of those skills that isn't easy to acquire!
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Yeah the learning curve could be pretty steep but on the bright side you'll be absolutley certain you crossed the line when it happens. No wondering about it later LOL.

If a guy wants to have a little confidence do the research to discover how many meters per second a bear can move. Then figure out how fast you can turn and run in meters per second. Now you know how close to saftey (door) you need to be and how far from the bear you need to be. (it is a short way and a long way if you want to be certain he wont get you!)

Chances are at the first sign of hassle that bear will scoot quick. If he just turns his back to you and peers over his shoulder at you do not get any closer!

Hazing is best learned during an open season where it is legal to shoot with a trusted friend standing 2 feet behind you ready to go into action when you drop and curl.

Had a chance a couple days ago to watch a native bear monitor do some Quad based hazing. Wrath of god is not too strong a description! I actually felt sorry for the poor bear but his terror then will likely keep the same fellow from needing to kill him the future.
 
H4831 said:
If the original poster shoots the bear, and all the complications to come, he can rest assured he can escape any dire results.
He asked the experts on CGN what to do. They told him shoot the bear, so that is his defence. Can't fail.
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I was not telling him to shoot the bear as i do not know the regulations where he is from.
I was just letting him know that in Alberta a while back problem bears could be dealt with that way on private land.
I don't know whether that is still the case though.
 
crazydave said:
I was not telling him to shoot the bear as i do not know the regulations where he is from.
I was just letting him know that in Alberta a while back problem bears could be dealt with that way on private land.
I don't know whether that is still the case though.
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I was not referring to you. There have been others, some trying to be discreet, but the meaning was to shoot it.
Besides, it is all in fun and I hoped would be taken that way.
 
H4831 said:
I was not referring to you. There have been others, some trying to be discreet, but the meaning was to shoot it.
Besides, it is all in fun and I hoped would be taken that way.
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Not offended at all, meant for the op and others just wanted to be clear to them they should find out the legal options available.
After all if he was to shoot it i wouldn't want him to say (but you told me to)
It's all fun and games till people take stuff to seriously;)
 
I know we have lot of bears around this year when we get hippies calling us for help. Of course she called the MNR first and they told her to pickup a cage and it would cost her 100$ !!! We went to take a look in her property (4 lots down on the same lake)by the time we got there she had fleed to town and we didnt' find the bear....We think he's wounded and he's still around unless someone else has shot him already.
 
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