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Bear Scratching

Started by AfraidChocker, March 11, 2016, 07:26:23 AM

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AfraidChocker

Do black bears scratch nonchalantly upon trees?

I came upon a Spruce yesterday, and while I know bears are still in their deep slumber sleeping off the hangover from last falls fermented berry juice still, it looked as if last fall a bear scratched a bit at a spruce tree. Not a lot, but it did get the sap going in the wounds. I thought it might have been where a skidder had rubbed up against the tree because that is what it looked like. Not rubbed down past the bark like a bumper tree, but maybe like a single trip past the tree where the tire chains rubbed along the trunk. But no skidder should have ever treaded there in the last 20 years.

I have seen a lot of bear tracks in the area, but was not sure if a bear sharpens its claws like my stupid cat does upon my recliner?
As a sheep farmer, I have no intentions of arriving at the pearly gates in a well preserved body, rather I am going to slide into heaven sideways with my Kubota tractor, kick the manure out of my muck boots, and loudly proclaim, "Whoo Hoo, another Sheppard has just arrived!"

sandsawmill14

yes they do i dont know if its claw sharpening or not but they do scratch trees but so do the big cats if you have any in the area :)
hudson 228, lucky knuckleboom,stihl 038 064 441 magnum

Weekend_Sawyer

Yep, I see bear scratching on our Birch trees and on every telephone pole along one gravel road.
I think the bear is saying this is my area and I am this big.

Jon
Imagine, Me a Tree Farmer.
Jon, Appalachian American Wannabe.

red

A bear was hit by a car at 7 pm this week. Light damage to car bear walked away . He may have been  sleep walking.  My friend has a telephone pole where a Big bear had scratched half of the pole away at 5 ft high ?
Honor the Fallen Thank the Living

Mooseherder

I came across these marks made on one of our Fir tree a few years ago. 
Just a few hundred feet from the cabin.  Not a great feeling.
We have seen a lot of Bear over the last few years.  I have seen 6 while riding on the atv trails, 2 on our property and 2 while in my truck on the woods roads.  That's a lot because we only spend a few short weeks there every year.
These have been the only marks I've found so it may not be normal behavior for Black Bears. ???



 

Jeff

It's just like a dog peeing on everything he can. Bears mark their territory.  If a bear walks up to a tree and sees scratch marks two feet above where he can reach, he'll say out loud:  "WOW!"  :D.
Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

LittleJohn

I saw a bear do that to bunch of cedar down in a swamp one year; nice for as I needed some cedar for rustic furniture, but not so good cause the swamp is less than a quarter miles from my uncles house

Ozarker

What Jeff said. Bear will also use the same tree/pole, year to year, as marking posts. Every bear that comes along has to do its thing there. And, they can tell how fresh is the last scent left, at which point the "Wow" factor comes into play when it's really fresh. Smaller bears get nervous and start looking for the exit. :)

Jeff

 :D   Yea, I should have said "WOW!" is followed by "UH OH!"  :)
Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

WV Sawmiller

Quote from: Ozarker on March 11, 2016, 10:27:15 AM
What Jeff said. Bear will also use the same tree/pole, year to year, as marking posts. Every bear that comes along has to do its thing there. And, they can tell how fresh is the last scent left, at which point the "Wow" factor comes into play when it's really fresh. Smaller bears get nervous and start looking for the exit. :)

   Always reminds me of a little dog marking a tire on the bottom while parked then the tire rolls over and moves the mark to the top. I wonder if that scares off the next dog when he sees how high the mark is?
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

submarinesailor

Had them do it to my apple trees.  Dang near killed one of them.

Bibbyman

Wood-Mizer LT40HDE25 Super 25hp 3ph with Command Control and Accuset.
Sawing since '94

WV Sawmiller

Bibbyman,

   Watching the video made my back itch. I get the urge to just back up to the door jamb and scratch too. Nice video.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

AfraidChocker

We have always had a lot of bear around our place because it is so remote, but it was seldom we would see them. A few years back I got a bulldozer stuck and I had my neighbor punch through the brush onto our land and help tug me out. It was kind of wet so he made some ruts and a week later I went back and I'll be bushwacked if there was not a huge bear track in the mud where the skidder had driven.

The tree I saw scuffed up was about 400 feet from where I saw the track that is why I asked the question.

I used to go to church with the State of Maine Wildlife Biologist and he says because our area (Waldo County) was so much agriculture in 1900, but now reverted back to forests, the bears are returning. I am a sheep farmer so I am not thrilled at having more bears around, but honestly the biggest threat to sheep is Domestic Dogs, followed by Coyotes and then possibly bear.

We do have fisher, fox, bobcat (the animal and not the skidsteer) and lynx too though. If I can, I'll bring a camera and take a picture of that tree.
As a sheep farmer, I have no intentions of arriving at the pearly gates in a well preserved body, rather I am going to slide into heaven sideways with my Kubota tractor, kick the manure out of my muck boots, and loudly proclaim, "Whoo Hoo, another Sheppard has just arrived!"

coxy

bears love bar oil and 80-90 gear oil if I leave bar oil hanging on the dozer and there is bears around they will bite the jug and let the oil out don't know how much they drink but I know they will lick gear oil out of a axel housing don't have pics but i have 4 witnesses  :)

Weekend_Sawyer

They have scratched every pole along this road. Right next to where I want to build a barn. That won't be a problem, do ya think?

 
Imagine, Me a Tree Farmer.
Jon, Appalachian American Wannabe.

pabst79

All the power poles on my road look like WeekendSawyer's pic, about 6-7 years ago the power company started wrapping all the poles in the county with barb wire from 4 to about 7 feet high, the one that can get above that 7ft mark, that's the one I will be looking for this fall. My wife got this one just down the road in 2011, he could get above that mark!

 
Not sure which came first, but I have chickens and eggs.

sandsawmill14

Quote from: pabst79 on March 15, 2016, 05:32:52 PM
All the power poles on my road look like WeekendSawyer's pic, about 6-7 years ago the power company started wrapping all the poles in the county with barb wire from 4 to about 7 feet high, the one that can get above that 7ft mark, that's the one I will be looking for this fall. My wife got this one just down the road in 2011, he could get above that mark!

 
now thats a goodun :o smiley_thumbsup
hudson 228, lucky knuckleboom,stihl 038 064 441 magnum

Kbeitz

Watched a bear do this to the tree right next to my house...



 

Also made claw marks on my steps.



 

And a little left overs in the yard...



 

He was after my bird seed.



 



 
Collector and builder of many things.
Love machine shop work
and Wood work shop work
And now a saw mill work

Peter Drouin

A&P saw Mill LLC.
45' of Wood Mizer, cutting since 1987.
License NH softwood grader.

Ron Scott

Good photo documentary of the event.
~Ron

coxy

Quote from: pabst79 on March 15, 2016, 05:32:52 PM
All the power poles on my road look like WeekendSawyer's pic, about 6-7 years ago the power company started wrapping all the poles in the county with barb wire from 4 to about 7 feet high, the one that can get above that 7ft mark, that's the one I will be looking for this fall. My wife got this one just down the road in 2011, he could get above that mark!

 
:o :o nice bear that one makes 4 of the one I shot this year 200lbs  how much did that one weigh

pabst79

The boar weighed 490# dressed so the DNR chart showed it should have been just under 600# live weight. It was the best eating bear I've ever had. As a side note, 3 days after my wife harvested this bear, my Father and I left for Manitoba for a bear hunt, we were successful, however both our bears weighed less than the 1 my wife got. She likes to remind me often, that I traveled 650 miles to shoot a "little" bear an she gets "big one's" right in our backyard  :D, I guess I can't argue.
Not sure which came first, but I have chickens and eggs.

Magicman

There is a distinct advantage of having your wife take the largest animal.  ;)   :)
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

pabst79

 MM, yes there is wisdom in your words.  :)
Not sure which came first, but I have chickens and eggs.

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