It's been 26 years since I've had a bear in my house

[azygous]

Yes, chickens do make excellent "bait". That's all that's needed when using poultry electric netting. It works because it forms a barrier.

My setup is a single wire that any predator can ignore, effectively evade by dodging, hopping, scooting, or ignoring due to heavy furry hides. This is why bait on the hot wire is necessary. It's often the only way to get a predator to pay attention to its existence and get them to touch it with a wet nose or tongue, the only vulnerable parts on their bodies.

 

[MissE]

Yes, chickens do make excellent "bait". That's all that's needed when using poultry electric netting. It works because it forms a barrier.

My setup is a single wire that any predator can ignore, effectively evade by dodging, hopping, scooting, or ignoring due to heavy furry hides. This is why bait on the hot wire is necessary. It's often the only way to get a predator to pay attention to its existence and get them to touch it with a wet nose or tongue, the only vulnerable parts on their bodies.

Well, there are other vulnerable parts, but not sure how to convince them to expose those areas to a hot wire.

I know some think baiting a fence is cruel, but better a zapped predator than destroyed property or livestock, which could then lead to a dead predator.

I giggled when you mentioned cows touching the wire. I swear ours would touch it every 30 seconds just to see if it was still on. 5 minutes into a power outage and those buggers would stage a jailbreak.

 

[azygous]

Do you expect That bear will be back? Could you tell if male/female, size, weight, condition etc.? If it returns a third time, hopefully it will get a taste of delicious electrified bacon and will then permanenty move on.

There's no way to be certain this bear will return after being shot with the rubber shotgun load. But past behavior indicates that a bear or other predator experiencing pain in association with their invasion will likely not return.

An interesting alternative to trapping used by Colorado Wildlife Department is what they call a "pepper barrel". I think I may have mentioned that all but one bear that I've shot with rubber loads never returned. The exception was a juvenile bear, perhaps three or four years, was shot with a rubber load and even pepper sprayed, although most of it got on me due to the wind being from the exact wrong direction. (I've since made a note to self to check wind direction before using pepper spray.) And he just kept returning.

This little bear just wouldn't learn its lesson. So I call in the wildlife officer for help. Since this was a young bear and it wasn't guilty (yet) of any crime other than hanging around being a nuisance, it was decided to bring in the pepper barrel and set it up behind the run.

It consisted of a half a steal drum with a "holster" for a bottle of bear spray set with a hair trigger to set off the pepper spray when the bear stuck its head inside the barrel to nibble on a delightful hunk of honey roasted pork.

I just happened to be looking out the window and saw the bear return. I quietly crept outside to watch the fun. And it was a hoot, for me, not the bear, when he fell for the bait and took a full shot of bear spray right in the face. The bear turned and ran off up the slope in a most agonized zig-zag pattern, obviously blinded and in a complete panic to escape the burning beast that had just attacked him.

For a brief period of pain and panic, this young bear was spared slipping into a life of crime which would eventually get him executed. But the best part of the story was when I called my wildlife officer afterward and described what had happened. He was in a meeting with a couple dozen other department officers and he turned around and described to them in detail what I told him I had observed. Why was this such a big deal? Because not a single one of them had ever seen a bear actually get punked by a pepper barrel.

Okay, so how did I know that it was a big male bear and not a female bear or a young bear that invaded my living room? Boar bears, as mature boy bears are called, are huge. They max out at 400 pounds. I've only seen such a specimen of that size once before and it was from a car. The bear seemed like a slightly smaller version of a Volkswagon beetle. He was huge. This bear in my house was that size.

One time I had a sow bear charge me. Luckily I had a little vestibule made of steel hog panels just outside my run I had built for the rooster to shelter in when he was doing outside duty. When she charged I ducked inside and pulled the door shut just as she hit. We were mere inches away from each other and she was trying to get at me and I was screaming at her and trying to act more ferocious than she was. I guess it worked because she backed off, but didn't leave. I ran into the house and phoned for help.

Later, the wildlife officers showed up and shot her out of a tree with a tranquilizer dart and carted her off to execute her for the crime of trying to attack a human. They told me she was a young adult female. She was less than half the size of the boar bear standing in my living room.

So, I've had first hand field experience over the past twenty six years with all sizes and types of bears to know what I'm dealing with. I should have earned some sort of degree by now.

 

[Krugerrand]

Wow. Suburbia ain't so bad after all.

 

[MissE]

Wow. Suburbia ain't so bad after all.

Much more excitement in the sticks.

I recently had the back door installed in my greenhouse that I always wanted. Thank you BooBoo. You could have run along the side of the greenhouse, but no, you had to run through it and create your own exit. I really appreciate it.

Granted, BooBoo didn't expect me to walk outside when I did, and I didn't expect him to be RIGHT THERE when I opened the door, but that's no excuse for him being an idiot and running into an area with no visible escape route.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

Much more excitement in the sticks.

I recently had the back door installed in my greenhouse that I always wanted. Thank you BooBoo. You could have run along the side of the greenhouse, but no, you had to run through it and create your own exit. I really appreciate it.

Granted, BooBoo didn't expect me to walk outside when I did, and I didn't expect him to be RIGHT THERE when I opened the door, but that's no excuse for him being an idiot and running into an area with no visible escape route.

I assume Booboo was a bear? If so, i think i'd simply be glad booboo ran away ftom me and not towards me. Sorry about your greenhouse though!

 

[MissE]

I assume Booboo was a bear? If so, i think i'd simply be glad booboo ran away ftom me and not towards me. Sorry about your greenhouse though!

Black bears are destructive little jerks, but for the most part they will run from people unless they are cornered.

 

[azygous]

Yes, I've had "helpful" bears try to remodel lots of things around my property. They are especially talented at trying to enlarge coop vents so the chickens can get more air circulation.

 

[taynorjr]

sorry to hear about your bear encounter,but when i read about your 2000 deductible i was mad.Another example of an insurance company doing what they will.I am a public adjuster and can assist homeowners in the event of any home damage and make sure you are treated and paid fairly for damages as per your policy,If they changed your deductible contact them and inform them you want it reduced,premium may increase but should be minimal.If they wont i would start shopping and avoid the big companies,

 

[RoyalChick]

Phew! I read this with heart racing. I am so glad you were OK and hopefully warned off that bear.
I have never had a bear inside the house but every now and then I get black bears investigate the chicken coop and the apple trees. So far they have been scared off by me making a lot of noise (banging saucepan lids).
I have a hot wire around my coop and I have found that the foxes and raccoons get zapped without bait - I set up a camera and observed exactly how they approach the area to get the wire at the right height.
But the issue I have with bait is I don't have bears often enough to teach them a lesson and the bait gets rotten so I would have to keep replacing it.