Black Bear

Thank you Alice!

To continue on the questionable coyote ~ many years ago early one morning I had just pulled out of my driveway and headed down the road. Suddenly out from the woods came a huge coyote ~ but not like any coyote I have seen before. Very large, and the fur was very much wolf like. It was one of those magical moments that you would have given your eyeteeth to have a camera on you. He paused in the middle of the road and looked over his shoulder at me, while the morning mist swirled around his feet. Made the hair prickle on the back of my neck. Most people tell me he had to be a coydog, but I sincerely believe he had wolf in him. He was not dog like at all. There used to be wolves in Hartland, why couldn't they come back? Mother Nature doesn't stick to human boundaries after all. The same with Mountain Lions, despite countless sightings, even a few hit in the road (not in our town though) the official stance is that they aren't in CT. I hope one day to photograph one.

Excellent pictures and wonderful comments!

I have this conversation about wildlife habituating to people as one way of adapting to the increasingly human-dominated landscape. I've seen an amazing come back of wildlife into suburban areas by wildlife that just a couple of generations ago were considered wilderness obligates, i.e. animals that could only survive in wilderness, by wildlife biologists. We routinely have bears in the center of the Twin Cities. A few years ago a very large coyote? was spotted by a news crew that had one wolf biologist shaking his head and suggesting that it was too big for a coyote and its tracks in the snow were way too big. Bald eagles, coyotes, whitetail deer, peregrines, white pelicans, wild turkeys, Canada geese, black bears, wolves were all once rare in Minnesota and have come back big time and they are living among us, typically being good neighbors. Some of these species are even considered nuisance species now, but 50 years ago a spotting of one would have landed a story in the local newspaper. These great conservation success stories now force us to deal with wildlife on our porches and in our yards.That, in my mind, is a good thing (well, maybe not the porch thing...grin). It certainly enlivens our lives and gives us something of substance on which to chat with friends and strangers alike.

Thanks ~ that electric fence idea is a good idea, at least around the porch. My location comes up as Hartford, but it's actually West Hartland, which is a small town up in the hills right on the MA border. We are surrounded by acres and acres of state forest. The burgeoning bear population has become an issue, in fact over on the East side they are trying to trap a bear that has started killing chickens and breaking into houses. No easy answers, I've even heard talk of opening a hunting season on them. I'm not sure how I feel about that. Where else can the bears go but here ~ and we keep pushing further and further into their small remaining territory. What was alarming was how evident this particular bear has become acclimated to people ~ we had a heck of a time scaring him away.

Yeah, when they start coming up on porches they may be looking for trouble, at the very least he's investigating. I'd work pretty hard to deter him. A temporary electric fence might also work, but that may not be practical. We periodically get bad food years here in Minnesota and with our large bear population competing for food we occasionally have years where bears start coming into town, poking around buildings, smashing trash cans and bird feeders, entering garages and cabins, etc. Can't blame them, they are doing what they need to do, but it can get a bit unnerving.... Good luck!

Thanks! Minutes before I took this shot, the bear was up on my porch. A little too close for comfort, and my camera of course was in my car. I'm going to head out today & pick up some ammonia ~ a little negative reinforcement that he's not welcome up there. I've read that bears are being pressured to encroach upon people due to our extreme weather this summer, their natural food sources of berries etc. were impacted and they are hungry. Although, this bear looks pretty well fed to me!

I had not heard of using ammonia to deter bears. Good tip and very nice photos! I was hoping to get to northern Minnesota last week to photograph black bears, but got too tied up in family and work matters. Guess I'll have to enjoy black bears this fall through your photos...grin.

One of my neighbors has had frequent visits from this particular bear. He repeatedly broke into her barn where she keeps chicken feed. She sprayed the barn with ammonia, and that seems to have done the trick as the bear hasn't been back.