We live in the middle of the Shasta/Trinity National Forest and up against the Trinity Wilderness boundary. We see a lot of Black Bear. I fly fish local waters and stumble upon bears regularly. However, after more than 10 years we have yet to have a bear incursion on the Chicken house. Bears don't like fences and the field fencing seems to have kept them out. Some years ago we had a bear tear a metal shed totally apart in the pursuit of some trash bags that were inside. They are very powerful creatures and not much will stop a bear who really wants to get inside unless the building is industrial strength. They have found a neat trick to get inside of my plastic trash cans. They tip them over and jump on top of it and it pops off the lid as easy as pie.
One day I heard our dog Buzzer ( the picture of my avatar) barking. When I looked out side there in the back yard (before we fenced the area) there was Buzzer nose to nose with a auburn colored black bear that must have been pushing 400 lbs. The bear had a startled look on its puss and seemed amused that it was being challenged by a 10 lb. mini pin. I had to holler at Buzzer several times to get him to disengage but once he came away the bear took one look at me and hit the woods. After securing Buzzer I went back outside and fired off a couple of rounds from a 12 ga. shotgun, just to let the bear know that we were now on the look out for it. Some bears have no fear of firearms or the sounds they make. That is alarming.
