Bears and Hibernation Time.
This is the time of year that bears find a cave and settle down for their long winters nap. The month of October and the first few weeks of November is when our bear population becomes especially active and less bearable. They need 20,000 calories per day to get ready for hibernation. Through the years we have gotten to know many bears who have visited our deck to share the bird feeder with the local chickadees and nuthatches that are here year round..
The bears are not very sharing. They simply rip the feeder down and finish off whatever seeds are in it. We take the feeder down at night, but before they hibernate the bears are searching for food day and night. When they are on the deck Dorothy goes out, takes a picture and then shoos them off the deck. They usually take off with only a huff or two of annoyance. This Fall, there have been more than minor bear problems in the canyon. We have had numerous reports of an enormous black bear visiting the kitchens of canyon dwellers after removing their kitchen door. This bear knows where the food is and empties the refrigerator and the cupboards.
Last week we were awakened about 1 AM by the sound of tearing wood. Dorothy was out of bed and in the front of the house like a flash. I was not exactly a flash but did take time to put on shoes.. Coming out the door I was not surprised that there was a bear ripping at the door of our storage shed but there were a few items in the scene that were a bit surprising. The bear was the biggest I’ve ever seen and surely was more than 500 lbs.
Dorothy was not about to let this bear dismember our shed unchallenged. She was on the path to the shed yelling at the bear and throwing rocks at him. He was looking at her with a disbelieving stare as if he was trying to fathom this 120 Lb creature that unbelievably was attacking him.
I advised Dorothy that the caliber of her ammunition was probably not of sufficient size to save the shed and we should get back in the house and plan our attack carefully. We retreated and the bear went back to a determined dismembering activity in reference to our shed. I retrieved my shed defense weapons and went into action.
The heaviest weapons available were an air horn and a high powered pepper bear spray canister which I had never used in the 8 years it was in the house. I blasted the horn and the bear took off. I thought that my victory was won and went back to the house to receive appropriate accolades.
By the time I was up the steps the ripping of the shed had started again. I attacked with the horn immediately and BBB (Big Black Bear) retreated again. For the next 3 hours the defense of the shed war took place. Sound the horn B.B.B. takes off – 5 minutes later more ripping- sound horn and repeat again and again. With dawn creeping up from the East B.B.B. decided to rip the door off somewhere else and though it was greatly damaged he did not get into the shed and I was able to get back to bed for a few hours sleep.
An uneventful day passed and a night of uninterrupted sleep followed with no ripping of shed doors or walls. The next morning I was awakened by a call from the kitchen to come out and see where we had a visitor.
On the deck in the new fallen snow were the treads of a giant bear leading up to our kitchen door. Our night time visitor, obviously, had stood and peered into our kitchen before heading down the meadow in front of the house. I think I know what he thought while standing at our kitchen door. “ If I start ripping this door down that guy is going to start blowing the horn again and I don’t think my ears can take another 4 hours of that aggravation” Away he went to find his 20,000 calories elsewhere.
I hope he sleeps well.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Now there’s a story.Dorothy is one brave soul to take him on! CAROL