Black bear in Missouri – black bear on my farm??

[Bibbyman]

Our town has the state mental hospital.  Years back they had a lot of "walk aways" - inmates (as they were called then. They are called "clients" now) that just walked off.  Law enforcement put little effort into looking for them. Many would show up somewhere when they got hungry.  But some just dissappeared. There was a rugged area just south of town that had few roads and few farms.  About every year a deer hunter would find remains.

[Bibbyman]

Yesterday afternoon Mary headed out the front door to make a run to town to get "stuff" and I went out the back to gather my laundry off the line. When I got to the like I heard a bawl down in the woods to the east that sounded like Chewbacca from Starwars. It bawled three times loudly.  I took down my laundry and continued to listen but heard no more. I set outside for an hour listing but heard no more sounds.  I found a YouTube video of black bear sounds that matched what I heard without the lower sounds in between.  When Mary got back I asked her if she'd heard anything as she was going to the Durango.  She said, "Yes, it sounded like a bear.", without me suggesting.

I can't think of another animal that could make that sound.  We tried to rationalize it being a cow separated form the rest but all the cattle were grazing near the house.

We recently had rain. Maybe I can find some tracks.

[SwampDonkey]

I know you don't have moose down there, but up here a moose will bawl and sound like a bear. You can Google moose sounds.

[NWP]

Sasquatch.

[doctorb]

If anybody needs a game cam, it's you.

[Bibbyman]

I've got two but both are on security duty right now. I'm thinking about getting a third to put up in the valley where I suspect there is a chance to see it. I'm partial the Moultrie L50.  They have worked well so far.

[SwampDonkey]

A fellow just about got eaten this week.

News article - Black Bear attack.

[Chuck White]

Black Bears are starting to work the corn fields in this area!

[Corley5]

A young girl was attacked in the Cadillac area earlier in the week by a black bear.

[Ron Scott]

http://www.freep.com/article/20130816/NEWS06/308160072/Michigan-girl-12-attacked-by-black-bear-while-out-running

[beenthere]

Seems a lot of animals like to chase down a running object.
Too bad she was not able to stop running and face the bear.
That would be against ones instincts, but apparently recommended.
And/or not be running after dark (or isn't it dark there at 9 pm ? ).

Not sure why the "don't play dead" advice is given, as I wonder what the alternative is at the moment the bear has dragged a person down.

[Corley5]

Play dead when attacked by a grizzly.  They stash their prey to eat later.  Black bears like fresh meat.  Fight for your life when attacked by one because they're gonna eat you.  When I first heard the story and that she ran from it I thought it was the wrong thing for her to have done.  She'd have been better off standing her ground, making herself as large and loud as possible.

[Corley5]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/08/19/bear-thought-to-have-mauled-michigan-girl-shot-and-killed-though-family/

[terry f]

    Lucky someone was close enough to hear her screams. Every bear I've seen are more afraid of me than I am of them, but I'm never out running in the woods. The instinct to chase probably had a lot to do with it, and maybe bear spray is a good idea, weather its bears or dogs.

[mesquite buckeye]

Hey Bib, ever get to see your bear? I remember close to 20 yrs ago there was a mt lion working the deer at our farm, MDC insisted it was dogs, but tracks were kitty. Also neighbors had been seeing bears, same insistence from MDC. Then they started getting killed on the highway, gets hard to deny a body, but the story then changed to an escaped pet. Whatever. 8)

[NWP]

We have 160 acres beside us that is row cropped and some timber. The owner's son was leaving the other day and stopped to talk. He showed me a picture he had just gotten off a game camera on the property. Mountain lion. No doubt about it. Big body, long tail. He said he was going to contact the Conservation Dept.  I'll be curious to what they say about it.

[mesquite buckeye]

Pretty easy to tell a long tailed cat from a short tailed cat.  Dad said he had seen wolves around that time too. Don't know about that, lots of coyotes, some pretty big + coydog hybrids. Once you have heard the wolves howling, you won't mistake that for anything else. 8) ;D

I don't really have a problem with lions. They do a good job on our excessive deer. I do worry about grandkids in the woods, though. They might just be too tempting. We have had many attacks on humans out here in the west.

[Bibbyman]

This mountain lion was hit on a gravel road about 5 miles north of us in the same valley.  Local sheriff department and news reporters got there before conservation department.   They did fes up that it was a wild mountain lion - not one someone turned loose but said it came down from Montana.   It's stuffed and on display in their visitor's center.

Sometime this summer to old comudgins seen a mountain lion cross the street not far from the center of town. The police were called and they chased it through a couple of blocks of residential area before it got away.

[WH_Conley]

I spoke with our new game warden Saturday, a young guy. I asked him about our bear population here in the county. He informed me we did not have a bear population, just one traveling through occasionally. I asked him of the sows with cubs that some of the people have on their game cams were migrating. Same answer. I guess if an imaginary bear comes in my yard I can take my imaginary gun and scare it away. ;)

[tgalbraith]

A question about what it takes to trip a trail cam?  Or specifically the Moultrie L50.

Is the beam like a laser beam so something has to be directly in front of the camera and at the right height? Or is the trip detection area more distributed?

That is, if I set the camera up 4' off the ground and point it out level, would something 3' talk walking past 20' away just walk under without being detected?

No- think of the "detect" area as an icecream cone, with the camera being at the tip.  The detect area flares out, both
horizontally and vertically and on most cameras will capture anything out to about 35-40 feet. Some cameras have a
setting for near or far. Hope this helps

[Bibbyman]

I'm getting a lot more pictures now that I figured out I was setting the camera in a place where there was too little area to catch anything passing.  They would pass close in and trip the shot but be out of the frame when it went off. 

I picked up one card today after being out a week.  It had 130 some pictures,  over half having something on them.



 

This is the best of the four bucks that came by.

[thecfarm]

Now you're cooking. My stepson has many pictures of deer. None with a rack like that.

[Bibbyman]

I won't burden the forum with a picture but I got a good picture of a large fawn that still had spots.  I'd think it would be late in the year for spots. And the fawn was really big.

[mesquite buckeye]

Your pictures are not a burden. ;D

[thecfarm]

Burden away. PLEASE Someone don't like it,they don't have to look.  ;D I've been seeing a real small deer on my land. Hope it gets some food before snow comes. That might the little &@#$( that has been jumping the electric fence for the garden.