So, I came inside to grab a glass of water and ask the DH a quick question, maybe 2 or 3 minutes, while my DD is outside playing happily in the sprinkler, when she busts into the house screaming "bear at the coop, bear at the coop!". So, do I Call the animal control? Grab a gun? Nooooo, I run out into the yard screaming at the bear, who was sitting right behind the run on his haunches looking at the chickens and sniffing. One of the chickens, who were out freeranging at the time, was only a few feet from him, but he didn't seem interested in them. I think he could smell the grain though. So, do I go back in? Call animal control? Grab a gun? Noooo, not me, I begin screaming again and chucking rocks (while watching the remainder of the woodland for another, perhaps larger bear, maybe like a sow). My DH comes running out and grabs a shovel and we are both there standing down the bear. What the hell is wrong with us? Anyway, the neighbors and their kids all come running. So there I am screaming at them to go the hell home, because they were creating a danger for us if we have to take our mind off this bear to keep them safe, and finally someone of my neighbors comes down with a pellet gun to sting the bear to get it out of there. I would really have rather been able to just sit on my deck and observe this creature, but that guy was not going to leave. It is unreal how unafraid they are of people.
We think this might be an orphan from this winters hunt since it is only about a 250 or 300 lb bear. It makes it really challenging because our yard (or the pocket of 4 houses that is our little settlement here) is surrounded by woods on all sides and we never know where they are going to pop out. It is really stressful because the kids are always outside playing and some of the places they play are cut off from a ready escape route. We actually have a "bear" drill, like you might have for "strangers"... that includes how to find a safe place based on where they are on the property.
Yeah, yeah, I know, they were here before we were, well, we have been on this property for 4 or 5 generations now and we never saw a bear before 5 years ago and then it was only a very rare occurance (that we would generall enjoy). Now I see bears on a daily basis and it just isn't safe for any of us (people, pets, livestock, or bears). I blame my neighbors for feeding the deer and leaving out the trash. I think it has baited them down off the mountain and they have made us part of the "route". I can tell you which of the 7 or so bears will be by on any given day. The bigger ones have a week route the smaller ones are about every 3 days. We do try to live in peace with our wild animal neighbors, I mean, it is why we live in the countryside, but this is a safety thing now. This week I have had 3 bear, one coyote, and 3 fox on the property. It has been like this for the past few years (well before the chickens), so while they might be adding an additional attraction, it is not the primary reason for these sightings. Before we had this property it was farmland for about 100 years and they had the whole thing cleared, which the dept of fish and game says has added to the problem since they are less likely to travel over a wide open field (so they stayed in the woods on the mountainside).
It is still better than a few years ago. We had 7 adults and 12 cubs running about the area immediately surrounding the property. There was one day when none of us could get out of our houses because an old male (estimated at about 800 lbs) decided to park himself in the middle of the yards (all of our houses surround a large several acre center yard) and sun himself for several hours before nosing around all the buildings for food for several more hours.
Well, back out to do the gardening. With the gun this time. I don't know, I garden to relax, somehow having to have a rifle next to me is not helping...
