Thar Be Bears In Them There Hills

[Widowmaker2k]

So I live in Placerville...It's 1:10 in the morning, about 5 minutes ago I stepped out my front door to find a Bear and her 3 cubs rummaging through my trash cans on my front porch (as I opened the door, the cub almost fell on me because he/she was leaning on the door). I immediately grabbed my rifle, knocked on the door a few times to scare them off my porch, and fired several rounds into the hillside to scare them away...I didn't actually see the mom, (my Roommate saw her when looking out his window after I woke him up) but I did see the 3 cubs. I have no place indoors where I can keep my trash, any recommendations on how to bear-proof it? This is concerning.

 

[Bricklayer]

It's 1:10 in the morning...I immediately grabbed my rifle..and fired several rounds into the hillside to scare them away...

Oh your neighbors must just love you.

 

[Warhawk]

Just Google "bear-proof garbage cans" and several options come up.

 

[VF21]

A hungry determined bear - especially a mother with cubs - can get into just about anything shy of an expensive industrial-strength container. And if bears find a source of food, they'll often return over and over again. You need to call Fish and Game and see what they recommend.

 

[91sickness]

you shoulda kept one of the cubs as a pet

 

[Widowmaker2k]

Well, it's been 24 hours and I havn't seen them since. Called the neighbors and a couple of them have seen them as well. Fish and Game said that it was concerning that they were around this late in the year, as they will be looking for a place to bed down soon and it would be best if it wasn't near a highly populated area (such as Placerville). They even said we should talk to the local Fish and Game rep. about getting a permit to kill them (if it becomes necessary). I really really really do not want to do anything of the sort. I respect wildlife and realize that this is their habitat too, unfortunately, I got the impression that from F&G that it might be already too late to teach them to stay away. I really hope they were just passing through.

Interesting stat, most predatory bear attacks on humans are from Black Bears...(Still, this is exceedingly rare. I should be far more concerned about the pair of cougars that my neighbors spotted in the area recently.)

 

[Glenn]

A hungry determined bear - especially a mother with cubs - can get into just about anything shy of an expensive industrial-strength container. And if bears find a source of food, they'll often return over and over again. You need to call Fish and Game and see what they recommend.

F&G wasn't very useful, it seems.

In the immediate future, I wouldn't put any food in the trash. That way if/when mom comes back, there will be nothing for her to find. Dispose of food in some other way. The bear proof containers seem better than nothing.

It seems that killing the bears is an outlandish suggestion, at least to me, but I think the local F&G folks should be informed anyway.

Buy bullets that don't return to earth and .......




















leave your garbage on your neighbors porch.

 

[VF21]

Well, it's been 24 hours and I havn't seen them since. Called the neighbors and a couple of them have seen them as well. Fish and Game said that it was concerning that they were around this late in the year, as they will be looking for a place to bed down soon and it would be best if it wasn't near a highly populated area (such as Placerville). They even said we should talk to the local Fish and Game rep. about getting a permit to kill them (if it becomes necessary). I really really really do not want to do anything of the sort. I respect wildlife and realize that this is their habitat too, unfortunately, I got the impression that from F&G that it might be already too late to teach them to stay away. I really hope they were just passing through.

Interesting stat, most predatory bear attacks on humans are from Black Bears...(Still, this is exceedingly rare. I should be far more concerned about the pair of cougars that my neighbors spotted in the area recently.)

I hope you don't see the bears again. I asked one of my ranger friends up here and he said there have been a LOT of bear encounters this year. He said he didn't know of any where the bears had actually attacked humans, but that his advice to me would be NOT to do anything dumb. Having actually come "face to face" with a bear on my back porch last year (with only a glass door between us), I reassured him I'm not that entrenched in the whole wilderness experience that I would consider some kind of heroics when it comes to saving my garbage from them.

I've learned to be very careful about what I put into the garbage and, just as importantly, WHEN I put it out. Bears have an extremely keen sense of smell so anything that might really entice them is frozen before it's put in the garbage AND not put out until the night before it will be picked up. It's a little more trouble, but seems to be the most preferred way of reducing the temptation at least in this neck of the woods.

We have cougars, bobcats, bears, coyotes, raccoons and foxes in this area, all of which will check out enticing aromas coming from garbage cans. In years where rainfall is adequate, we don't seem to have much trouble. It's the years when the rainfall is below average that things seem to get dicier.

Good luck...

 

[BudWright]

We live on the Georgetown Divide and have all the animals VG21 does except we have had a large mountain lion here for years (big prints) and no one ever sees it. It took down a deer on our newly planted lawn (had to redo) and only left prints since then. Our resident bear is our neighbor the year round. We keep our cans in the garage until we put them up on the highway the night before. They are special cans and have never had any trouble. (He is full of the berries, neighbors fruit trees, gardens, etc.) We see him occasionally going by the front of the house, but he never stays BECAUSE we don't have anything here for him to get into. The worst case scenario for us is to have to kill any of our animal friends. We trap the raccoons and haul them away as they are a real pest and destructive. Good Luck!

 

[JoMama]

Bears have crappy taste. One of their favorite garbage can treats is dirty baby diapers. If you've got a load of soiled Pampers, they'll swarm to the cans.