Barryville is so close! I am actually considering enrolling my DD in the Homestead school up that way. My grandmother was born and raised in Barryville. Her mother had a boarding house up there. I went to Port Jervis High School (Montague doesn't have one). My cousin had a place in Glen Spey, I know she always had problems with the bears up there.
Uuuugh, what was that little bird thinking? Why do they do things like that. Your poor son must have been devastated.
One day last summer, my daughter was playing outside in the sprinkler. I was working in the garden and had just gone inside to get us some water. She came bolting in the back door screaming "bear... bear by the coop". Now, I was far more concerned that it walked right into the yard while we were outside. I imagine it had been there for a while and neither of use saw it. I was just watching the chickens and sitting there. I tried noise making, rocks, car horn, the dog out, etc, It didn't budge. They are so brazen here. My uncle (who lives next door) stung it with a bb gun twice and it finally ran off and didn't come back. We had another, much, much, larger bear, maybe 40 inches or so at the shoulders. He scares me. A. Lot. especially when I am locking up the coop at night in the spring. He was sitting in the driveway one day and I didn't even notice him (I am much more careful now) when my daughter and I were going out to the car. We made it to the car, I started the engine, and drove up to him honking the horn. He looked at me, scratched his ear, got up and sauntered (yes, I said it) down the driveway at a snails pace. All the way down the road we went, like a parade. No scaring that guy off. Thankfully he doesn't seem overly aggressive toward people... for now. The crazy sow we get here in spring is a story for another day. She is small, often has twins and triplets, and is totally bat shiRt crazy. I never know what side of the house she is going to pop out on.
If a bear starts raiding my property for livestock I will have to apply for the "special permit" from fish and game. We have had them deal with several nuisance bears over the years, all of them developed problems secondary to being adapted to garbage can dining or people feeding them. My uncle heard a ruckus in his basement one night and went down the steps and flipped on the light to find a bear had broken in through his basement door and was raiding his pantry. Can you imagine? Yikes!!! I am not sure if people realize how much damage they do to these animals when they feed them. Before anyone says the bears were here before us, we have been on this property for 3 generations and there have never been any problems with bears until the past 10 years or so. Too many people with improper trash management and/or birdfeeders are tempting them out of the state park up the hill from us and there is less open farm land around (they don't like to cross those open fields when they can avoid) that allows them wooded alleys to get access to the residential areas. It is just a bit scary when your kids are out playing in the yard and would have no chance to make it to safety in time since we are wooded all around.
Haven't seen a bear around here in quite some time but I'm sure they're around. We mostly have deer and hawks but we've heard coyote (from a distance). Haven't had a problem with them (yet). I suppose we'll be seeing a lot more predators soon. They're probably desperate for food.
I'm excited. When I let the Nuggets out this morning, one of the Buffs was in the nesting box so I opened that door to let some air in the coop figuring she would just hop out when she was done laying. Later on, I did a headcount from the kitchen window and there was only 6 wandering around and she was still in the nesting box. When I went to check on her, I got yelled at. She's sitting on 2 eggs. Mr. Blu is the Baby Daddy and she's a Buff Orp. IF the chicks hatch, what do you think they'll look like??
