|
~ TWO VERY SNEAKY BEARS ~
Friday August 29th. 7:15 PM Because of the number of bear raids this past several years, and missing several bird feeders, it has become routine every morning to hang bird feeders and suet holders on shepherds hooks,
and the tall ten foot heavy steel boiler pipe pole with house feeder on top and
long feeders hanging from the sides, and taking them down every evening before dark.
Because my husband Joe works during the week, it is my job in the morning, to put up all the feeders.
This having been accomplished, I continued through the day, to work on my "to do" list.  Around mid-afternoon I gathered all the paper from waste baskets, took it down to the fire barrel, dumped it all in, then lit a match to it.
THIS is when I noticed a huge hole about two foot wide and one foot high near the bottom of the barrel. Then I saw all the aluminum foil and several other small items that did not
burn from the time before, strewn through the yard. One of my children or grandchildren must have thrown food scraps in the kitchen waste
basket when they were all here on my birthday several weeks ago, and when Joe burned that basket full and just did not notice the foil.
When Joe came home from work, I showed him the huge hole, and we both assume that this was a bear finding something to eat.
We went about our tasks, making supper, washing the dishes, cleaning up. Our table in the dining room is in front of a large picture window facing the mountain side of house. So it would be very hard not to notice things not right, especially since the squirrels are always hanging on at least one bird feeder.
It was 7:15 PM and we knew it would be dark before long, so we methodically went around taking down feeders. UH OH - a bent shepherd's hook, with a feeder hanging close to the ground.
Cracked corn and bird seed spilled all over the ground. This definitely had to occur sometime between five PM when we had our meal, and 7:15.
Again we decided it was a bear and we just didn't see it, or our boxer Lilah even hear it or pick up it's scent.
Or if she did, we just didn't notice.
When we were finished putting the feeders away, we went into the living room to relax and enjoy an evening of college football.
I glanced out the large picture window, and there was movement coming from the small wooded area on the lower side of the house.
Coming into full view was a young one to two year old cub. It was so cute.
It sniffed around the steel pole, then stood up on it's hind legs, looked around and then again checked the ground. While I grabbed my camera Joe as quietly as he could, opened the window and pushed up the screen.
But the bear was aware of us and headed towards the front of the house.
WAIT - WAIT - there is another bear, coming from the same direction as the first one.
It is the same size, which reminded us of the pair of cubs born in January of 2007.
This young bear however, was in a much bigger hurry, charging around the back of the house and up into the mountain. The first bear has also disappeared. These were indeed two very sneaky bears. We will have to keep a sharp eye out for them. And keep Lilah from giving chase as she did several weeks, when she chased a bigger bear up into the mountain. 
These two juvenile deliquent bears have not been tagged by the wildlife dept, and are destined to become future members of the Glen Iron Road Gang. LOL! We do hope you got a chuckle from this true story. But please continue to read
The Story Continues Saturday Morning ~
~
August 30th. 2008 ~
AAhhhhh Saturday morning, and Joe doesn't have to work, so it is a day we can sleep in. RIGHT? WRONG!
We were awakened at 6:10 AM. It was just breaking dawn, and our boxer was sounding off.
We jumped out of bed and went to the dining room and about fifteen yards from the house was one of the bears we had seen last night. He lumbered a little further into the mountain with
the black garbage bag liner in his mouth from the garbage can under the back porch. What a magnificent breakfast he devoured. Left over Stove Top cornbread filling and chicken skin from our supper last night.
The bear had very good table manners. He laid on the ground
using his paws and slowly picking through the goodies.
Joe watched him, and had to laugh, because the bear had his ears laid back, as if he was afraid he would get caught, while he gingerly sneaked another white grocery bag out of the black bag, tore it open and sampled the remainder of any other left overs. Young bears are very mischievious, just as our children can be at times.
After the bear headed up into the mountain, Joe leashed Lilah, and we walked up to clean up all the mess he made.
There were teeth marks and holes in the metal can that had bacon grease in it, which was double bagged. He also licked clean a yogurt cup, and butter dish.
We also had an outdated spray bottle of butter in the garbage bag. BUT he did not even bite into this bottle. This bear must have selective tastes LOL!
It is a given, we won't be putting the bird feeders on the shepherds hooks today. We did however, put up the feeders on the ten foot high pole.
Sunday EveningSeptember 7th., 2008 *Joe Was Brave*Because the bears haven't been active for several weeks we decided
to leave the feeders hang on the ten foot heavy boiler tube with house on top,
because of the bears are still too small to reach them. We did take all of the feeders off the shepherds hooks
Well that was a BIG mistake. One of our black bears was here again last night.
The bear was after the hanging feeders. My hubby Joe and me were both in bed, and Lilah our boxer on her bed.
She has a very serious bark when she sees, hears, or smells a bear nearby.
Joe went into the living room and flipped on the side spotlights, and saw it had run away. Most likely because it heard Lilah carrying on.
The feeders were still swaying, and the pole was once again pushed over. After a lengthy discussion whether or not to go out there, when we can't see if the bear is hanging out in the dark, to bring the feeders in, Joe said "yes".
If you have never been in total darkness, as it is here in the mountain,
Believe me when we say it is dark, we mean it is dark. One can not even see their hand in front of their face, let alone a black bear.
The motion lights we have, only light up the area around our property. We have lost quite a few feeders over the years,
so Joe decided we won't lose any more this time around.
So after getting his shoes on, he bravely went out there, all motion lights activated, to get the feeders.
However, I was by the window with my Rohm .38 revolver.
If either of us detected a bear coming into the lighted area I would shoot the gun off.
One time before I used the revolver, aimed it towards the sky and shot, to scare off a bear. It worked LOL!
One by one Joe handed me the feeders and suet holders through the window.
Now we will have to take all feeders down every night and hang them up every morning,
and hope the bears don't come visiting during the day.
The thing is, they do visit during the day, so we must always be on guard.
Fortunately Lilah will let us know.
~ Stories written by ©Barbara L Chambers Carter aka Bluejay12
Graphics by Bluejay and Diamondavid
~ Website maintained by Diamondavid ~
~ Song Title: ~ Acting Naturally ~
Click Bluejay Icon ~ My page listings.
Click here for More Real Bear Stories!!
|
|
|
|