I asked my friend if I could share his recent email with this group. I got a good laugh out of it. He is a few years into making his own honey in the mountains of Colorado about an hour west of Denver.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/11171/hive1.jpg)
smashed bee hive parts scattered about
Folks,
We had our first snowfall yesterday afternoon and the temps dropped to 24 degrees last night. The snow didn't amount to much but September 13th seems pretty early to me. Our raspberry patch hasn't even bloomed so I don't guess we'll have any berries this year. The catalog said they would grow in this part of the country and we do have wild raspberries up here, but those flatlanders selling the berry bushes just don't have any idea about the weather in the mountains. Reckon I've been taken for a ride....
Just a couple weeks back, our beehive was attacked by a bear. He attacked our bees two nights in a row and did quite a bit of damage. We heard Arlo, our Bluetick, bawl in the middle of the night. We hollered for him to go back to sleep and he settled down. The next morning, we noticed hive parts and bees scattered all over the yard and boy, were the bees upset. I donned the bee suit and managed to salvage most of the hive - got the frames back in and got the hive bodies stacked back up, all without getting stung.
Knowing that old bear may come back, I figured I'd better get a shotgun out for a last chance deterrent. I thought I'd pepper his butt from the porch with a few rounds of bird shot and hopefully scare him off, if we couldn't chase him away with the flashlights, the dogs bawling and us hollering.
The following night, Melissa and I were ready. I had the shotgun, shells, flashlights and the dogs were on high alert. Sure enough, 4:15am and Roo (Arlo) starts bawling. Mel jumps up out of bed and starts yelling, BEAR, BEAR, BEAR!!!! I looked up from between the sheets in a daze and all I could muster was, MAYBE!?!?! Mel runs out of the bedroom, throws open the living room window 15 feet away from the bear and hears him snorting, grunting and just tearing apart the hive. She said later that she could even smell the stench of that wild bear.
I wasn't even close to being awake but jumped up, ran into the living room, grabbed the shotgun (yeah, my last chance effort at repelling him,) a handful of shells, opened the door to the downstairs porch and ran outside, all while trying to stuff 12 ga. shells into the 20 ga. shotgun. It didn't take me three steps out on the porch to realize I was standing there in only my drawers, armed with a gun that couldn't be loaded, a bear 15 feet away and a swarm of angry bees stinging everything in sight. I guess some folks would say that, at that very moment, I had reached an epiphany.
It took Melissa, the dogs and I about 30 minutes for the adrenaline for wear off and we laughed about it all weekend. We sure must have been a sight!! We don't know if the bees will survive the winter and we sure won't have any honey this year but I got a picture of the damage from the second attack. Wish Mel would have gotten a picture of the bear, or at least one of me standing on the porch in my undies, trying to load that gun.
Peace,
Kelly
Thats not only a DanG bear story, its a DanG good bear story. :)
Holy snapping duckdrawers!!!
There was a BEAR in your YARD and you went out the DOOR?!?! :o :o :o
Does Melissa have the number of a psychiatrist handy??? :o
I think I'll stick to AUssieland where we get Kangaroos in our yard in the country.
asy :D
asy
I'll take a bear in my yard before any snake on the ground near me . :o
Asy
This guy ain't afraid a nuttin when he is in his undies best......... ::) ('cept maybe those bees.....)
Melissa figured that him alone would frighten that bear off, no time flat!!!!!!!
Remember 'Superman'? Once he had the spandex on, look out!!!
:D :D :D
My son-in-law is in Montana fighting fires. They are staying in a camper without 'facilities' so he happened to be out behind in the middle of the night ::) He heard a noise by the trash can that was there and turned around to discover a bear on his hind legs about five feet from him. My daughter asked him what he did, his reply " I went back in the camper"
I'll bet he and the bear wet on each other before they departed :D :D :D
Hmm...
Gotta make a choice..
Beenthere in spandex... OR a bear...
I'll take the bear.
Isawlogs, we don't have any of the really bad snakes here. The Death Adder is further West. Oh, wait, we have Taipans, And king browns... YEah, OK, I"ll pay it, they aren't real friendly. Also, harder to see than a bear.
asy :D
Bears dont usually slither into your living room if you forget to pull the door shut. They dont generally climb in your sleeping bag to keep warm either.
Quote from: Jeff B on September 16, 2005, 06:25:09 AM
Bears dont usually slither into your living room if you forget to pull the door shut. They dont generally climb in your sleeping bag to keep warm either.
No, but when they do all bets are off :o :D
Quote from: Jeff B on September 16, 2005, 06:25:09 AM
Bears dont usually slither into your living room if you forget to pull the door shut. They dont generally climb in your sleeping bag to keep warm either.
Yeah, OK, I've had them slither into the house/van/tent on occasion... But mostly we get lizards in the house, I had one run across the lounge room the other week, scared the living daylights out of me till I realised it had legs... :o :o :o It was about a foot long, quite cute really.
asy :D
I went by a cedar shake cutter's camp. The only thing salvageable from the TENT trailer ::) was the frame and axle. I have no idea whether the owner was in it at the time.