Bear or Coons???

Neighbors dogs were going crazy the other day, stood outside and listened to the dogs but did not hear anything in the front woods. So went back inside, then about an hour later went out to back porch to check on the coop and sure enough something came through and knocked over the feed container, but did not open it. Guess it didn't like crushed oyster shells. So for right now I have put out moth balls around the coop and the feed box until we can figure out something out.

Want to thank all of your for your help and advise.

Last bear we had was a grizzly sow with cubs, and she was so use to people that with me 5 ft away yelling a lot of BAAAAAD language and waving arms at her I didn't even get her to acknowledge me....
Coop lights and farm lights didn't work, radios on loud in the coops didn't bother her either and her way of dealing with electric fence was busting thru it at top speed(and we use e-fence designed to keep bulls in check). Had her less then 3 feet from me sniffin at me @3 am one morning. I was seriously glued to my chair since I could hear her panting and her fur brushing at the fence but she was on the otherside of the fence then I was and it was pitch black on that side..... and I didn't want to accidentally shoot a horse so shooting blindly in the bears direction was a no-go.

She liked to go into our feed room(after tearing the door off) and take the feed bags and spread them on the ground and lick it up... she really liked layer pellets.
Mind you that was after she killed 90% of my flock(165+ birds from gamebirds/exotics to chickens and waterfowl). Ended after 2 weeks with me putting a bullet in her from less then 10 ft because she tried to break into the last of my enclosures and ignored my attempts to chase her off(@ 2 am - me yelling at a 7ft griz with young cubs in my pjs with a rifle in hand... I had enough, if the rifle would have jammed I would have used it like a club, I was so ticked)....

Black bears I think would respect e-fence a bit more tho, that may be a good deterrant. Looks like its a youngster the way he works the feed bin, an adult would tear right in, but if you got a juvenile that just left mom he will be a bit clueless, probably hasn't even figured quite yet that there are chickens to be had. A youngster is easier to train to stay away too, they are more "impressionable".

A younger bear...yes I agree. Wow, you have nerves of steal...

This is terrible! If this happened to me I would set some bear traps around the coop and get my rifle ready! I really hope you do not have anymore problems!

We are home now to a monster blackbear boar who minds his own business on the treed part of our property and never attempted to come visit the house. Mind you I have never seen this one except his tracks down by the creek(I hunt these guys and going by the prints he is an old bear that is probably around the 6-7ft from nose to tail and probably good 400lbs) where the berry bushes are and peoples testemony who have seen him graze with our cows in the mornings.

That grizzly was bad, she was 3 times relocated by Conservation Officers in the past 5 yrs because she had started breaking into peoples homes to eat their cats. Since they are protected they try everything not to kill it. In the end they put both live and kill traps out everywhere and she ignored them all.

The blackbear now is ghost-like and its my favorit past time in the summer to catch sight of him, this is the third year now of trying

Altho I did see a small- maybe 5 ft if that- grizzly sow last fall cross our pasture, what a pretty bear she was esspecially cause she moved thru. But I guess thats what we get for living on one of the oldest game trails of the regions, we get to see every large game there is.

Caught this boy in the pig pen, going after the feed, but the hogs didn't know that! 30/06
That was years ago when I lived out in the country.
I live in the city now, no bear problems. But I have seen racoons!lol!
Good luck!

SCC

NICE PIC

Timely thread. I just saw what I think is a juvenile black bear sauntering near the coop and run. It had removed and rolled away a metal trashcan that was half full with BOSS the night before. This time I heard it because I couldn't sleep and I was able to chase it away with banging a spoon in a pot. I am going to invest in the premier electronet and a charger tomorrow. I have no problem with bear on my property but they need to leave my chickens alone!

fiddlebanshee said:

Timely thread. I just saw what I think is a juvenile black bear sauntering near the coop and run. It had removed and rolled away a metal trashcan that was half full with BOSS the night before. This time I heard it because I couldn't sleep and I was able to chase it away with banging a spoon in a pot. I am going to invest in the premier electronet and a charger tomorrow. I have no problem with bear on my property but they need to leave my chickens alone!

Click to expand...

After coons cleaned out a metal trash can that had the lid chained to it, we went with the large black container with clamps. Well it kept the coons out but apparently not a bear. So now feed is kept in the house. What is amazing is that he only went for the container after have we had bought a bag of scratch and put it the container. Oh well lesson learned. I did put out moth balls after its last visit where it dumped the container again after all feed was removed but not the crushed oyster shells. It pulled the container over again but left with still an empty belly. It has not bothered the pen or the coop as of yet.

Look Yogi finally came through during the daylight hours just so I could take his pictures. No bother to the chickens or pen area, walked right by. But came back through during the night and decided he want to check the feed container to see if it was full. Sorry Yogi, no more food is stored outside.