Black bears have suddenly started showing up at my cabin and I have no idea why

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I have always known there is a large bear population on my hunt property (trail cams), but they have never come closer than 3/4 mile to my Cabin. In last 6 weeks, my trail cam has picked up two different males paying casual daytime visits to my cabin. This weekend's memory card is full of 60 second clips of a sow with two cubs at night, making themselves quite comfortable on my porch for couple of hours, with cubs playing and nursing...(little buggers are actually quite cute!).

I have been noticing a mini population explosion among the bear population on my property for the last year or so. I attributed the appearance of the first two males to being pushed out of the other males' territory and have been getting ready to thin out their population this fall. But this last sow is puzzling.

This is not a normal behaviour for bears in my area. There are no garbage dumps in my area and these bears are as wild as they come, not conditioned to associate humans with food. They actually avoid humans like plage. Food and garbage is not the issue with my cabin either as I have always made sure there isn't even a hint/smell of food outside or inside. Any comments?
 
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you would be surprised how easily bears can associate humans to food .... or even gunfire / pepper spray to food .

more than likely this is like "urban sprawl " with bears ... all the other territory's are full up and they are now forced to encroach upon human territory .
 
You can't get rid of all odours... bears have incredible noses... have you ever cooked with a window open? Your done. How about BBQ'd on the porch? Your done. You get the drift...

Just do your best to keep things locked away and ignore the movement... they are not looking for a fight, they are looking for food... which is what bears are always looking for...

If your property is getting damaged or you feel threatened by aggressive behaviour then take care of business... but I wouldn't be too concerned.

I live right in the middle of prime bear country... they are in the yard every day... had one on the deck last night... we coexist just fine... on a couple of occasions I gave a particularly cheeky bear a pellet to the rump, but that is only after yelling and other measures had no effect.
 
We have most of our bear problems in the spring of the year. Bears getting pushed around, grizzlies can shake things up when they decide to come around, which is not an issue for your part of the country. Sounds like the pop. is up and you are right in the middle of a healthy black bear population is my guess. The spring bear hunt usually deals with most of these problems in our area. People around here are very bear aware and do nothing to invite them in but they come anyway.
 
We have had a number of bears on our trail cams around the cabin this year as well.... haven't had that for about 4 years... Looking forward to September :)
 
Friend of mine was concerned about the high incidence of bear sightings around his cabin on the Montreal River in NE Ontario.
When I visited the camp I discovered he was throwing his fish guts and other garbage into a 45 gallon drum that was located at the back of his cabin.
The guts were in plastic bags and there was a lid on the drum but in the late June sun the odor was quite detectable from 10 yards away and if I could smell it at 10 yards a black bear could from a mile.
DUHHHHHH !
 
hoytcanon said:
You can't get rid of all odours... bears have incredible noses... have you ever cooked with a window open? Your done. How about BBQ'd on the porch? Your done. You get the drift...

Just do your best to keep things locked away and ignore the movement... they are not looking for a fight, they are looking for food... which is what bears are always looking for...

If your property is getting damaged or you feel threatened by aggressive behaviour then take care of business... but I wouldn't be too concerned.

I live right in the middle of prime bear country... they are in the yard every day... had one on the deck last night... we coexist just fine... on a couple of occasions I gave a particularly cheeky bear a pellet to the rump, but that is only after yelling and other measures had no effect.
Click to expand...

I would agree......there have always been bears around , but we never really noticed them , but with the trail cams , it becomes more apparent . In general , the bears will hightail it with the sight of a human.....I do not think you have much to worry about , but it never hurts to be prepared in case you get a bear with a bad attitude.....
 
This bullsh^& with cancelling the spring bear hunt is responsible for the drop in moose tags and the lack of tags available. Calf moose as well as adults are one of the main food sources in the spring. With the increase in bear populations you will have a decrease in moose and deer populations.
Bob
 
hoytcanon said:
You can't get rid of all odours... bears have incredible noses... have you ever cooked with a window open? Your done. How about BBQ'd on the porch? Your done. You get the drift...

Just do your best to keep things locked away and ignore the movement... they are not looking for a fight, they are looking for food... which is what bears are always looking for...

If your property is getting damaged or you feel threatened by aggressive behaviour then take care of business... but I wouldn't be too concerned.

I live right in the middle of prime bear country... they are in the yard every day... had one on the deck last night... we coexist just fine... on a couple of occasions I gave a particularly cheeky bear a pellet to the rump, but that is only after yelling and other measures had no effect.
Click to expand...

I agree and no panic here. I have been around them and I have a healthy dose of respect for them. Its just that after 6 years of no bears around the camp, I had let my guard down. I often arrive at the camp alone and passed midnight. I used to keep the bushes around my cabin all cleared and I would always turn the headlight towards the cabin for a thorough visual inspection before exiting my truck. Alway with a loaded gun. In the last few years I have become lazy and I take none of those precautions. :) I will go back to my old routine.

On a (maybe) related note, I have noticed there are no fawns showing up on my cameras. I have seen a half a dozen Doe's with no fawns following them which is unusual for this time of the year. Normally by this time of the year, I see tons of them but not this year. Initially, I suspected our long winter, but now I am thinking maybe too many bears.

In any event, there is going to be a very productive bear hunt this coming fall. I am thinking maybe 5 bears and I will see how it plays out.
 
Gunoholic said:
Friend of mine was concerned about the high incidence of bear sightings around his cabin on the Montreal River in NE Ontario.
When I visited the camp I discovered he was throwing his fish guts and other garbage into a 45 gallon drum that was located at the back of his cabin.
The guts were in plastic bags and there was a lid on the drum but in the late June sun the odor was quite detectable from 10 yards away and if I could smell it at 10 yards a black bear could from a mile.
DUHHHHHH !
Click to expand...

Knew a guy in Ft. Mac. Welder who doubled as a guide, lived in the trailer court in the middle of town . He collected beair bait and welded it into 45 gallon drums, he kept in his yard. Management made him get rid of them, cause the bears could evidently smell the goodies and were coming right into his yard. ;)

Grizz
 
Yup lots of bears this year. They are showing up all over the place and the police are having to deal with them. I was fortunate enough to hunt the spring hunt in Northeast Ontario with a buddy this year. He saw 2 and killed one. I saw one and killed it. I hunted one night - lol The funny part is I can't buy a fall tag now. HELLO - how is that going to cut the bear population down if I can only have one tag. Is there anybody out there - MNR? Please correct me if I am wrong.
 
We have a ton of bears on the move ion Alberta, but mating season just ended and smaller bears got pushed off from their mama. The bigger bears see everything as a threat and the smaller bears are agitated and nervous from the presence of bigger bears. Some are looking for new territory. We leave no garbage or food for them but we still can see several a day right in the yard of the farm/cabin. Warning shots usually work most of the time but if not and deemed a danger, shoot and dig a hole.
 
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