I don't know if Missouri ever lost every black bear in the state. But the past few years they have made a comeback. Mostly in the Ozark area, but they have spread all over the state.
A couple of years ago the gravel haulers spotted a black bear feeding from a deer feeder. They stopped and watched it and there was more than one witness. This spot is about 200 yards from our property line and in the same valley as I have recently found what I think is bear scat.
I have found droppings like this before in the past couple of years. I've looked for other sign but not found anything conclusive.
This year has been exceptionally dry. A drought in fact. All the streams are dry. The creek has a few shallow puddles. One place in many miles that has water is a spring well up in the roughest and most remote part of our farm. It's in this area that I've fund the suspicious scat.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10034/wsbearscat20120817a.JPG)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10034/wsbearscat20120817b.JPG)
I can't make the scat be any wild or domestic animal that I'm familiar with. It can't be carnivore as there is no hair, bone or other indication other than a plant eater. It doesn't look like horse or cow droppings.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10034/wstrailcamatspring20120817a.jpg)
Yesterday I set out a Moultrie L50 trail cam just a little down from where the spring comes up in the steam bed. There is a heavy used trail coming in on the right side of it. I've not checked it yet. I may tomorrow afternoon. If I get anything it'll most likely be a deer or coon.
Looks like it to me. Look for logs rolled over and stumps tore up, that seems to be their favorite things to do around here. How is it there aren't alot of bears around there, looks like perfect ground to me.
Quote from: Bibbyman on August 18, 2012, 03:38:52 PM
This year has been exceptionally dry. A drought in fact. All the streams are dry. The creek has a few shallow puddles.
It must be dry if the bears are drinking bottled water :P
I found the first scat in a small hay field in the lower end of this valley. About 20' from it was a big section of paper wasp nest. It was a goodly distance from any place it could have hung. I guess coons or something else could have broken into it.
There are wild blackberry bushes further in and around this valley but because of the drought, there were very few this year. I've yet to see an acorn and have asked others that are often in the woods and they've not seen any.
I couldn't wait. I swapped our the SD card. Had five pictures. Four were of me. When I set it up yesterday I deliberately walked around in front of the camera to, 1) see if it works, 2) what kind of picture it will take, and 3) what kind of field of view it would capture. The fifth picture was taken when I opened the camera to turn it off.
I moved the camera higher up on the tree. The tree leans towards the branch so the camera points a little down.
I expected to catch a deer or maybe a coon.
thanks for that photo, I have seen this skat allot, thought it might be, well was not sure what layed it, We do have black bears here, I am just short of a mile from the upper Jacks Fork river, Lots of critters, the mutts are going crazy as I type, kinda frustrating, but, it is what it is, getting a trail camera too, will send something to see soon, I hope it is the buck, One more glimpse this morning, a nice one, later,
I'm thinking this trail cam would only work if placed over a food plot. I think the wake-up time is so long, an animal can sounder by and maybe trip the camera but be on down the trail by the time the camera fires off.
Where I found the second scat, there is a patch of pawpaws. I didn't see any on them. I figure it's too late in the year. In years past, I've found green pawpaws but I've never been quick enough to find them ripe.
http://www.chasingame.com/index.php?id=221
Here is a review of the Moultrie L50 trail cam. I don't know if I read it first I would have changed my mind. This web site has a lot of reviews on other trail cams.
I'm getting discouraged. Waited two days and retrieved the card. One picture and that was when I opened the camera to turn it off. I moved it down the branch about 100 feet to what looks to be an active deer bedding area.
I would think a deerm, coon, crazy squirrel or turkey something would at least trip the camera even if it missed what tripped it. It took pictures of me just poking around so it works.
Ahhh Bibby,
That is the life with a trail cam. ;)
As long as it is taking pics of you, then you should be set.
Take into the equation that your presence around the camera will leave plenty of scent (no offense meant ;D ) and deer and bear will take that into account when they are poking around.
Then again, there are times they will show up within a few minutes of leaving the camera.
Hope you catch something on the camera soon tho.
Put some food down. You should get plenty of action then. ;D
yes throw a box of donuts out there and a couple bottles of water. :D
I worry about being in the area too much. But it's not going to disturb deer. They are practically tame. I'm setting in the yard and watching one about 100 yards down the hill.
I know of some real active deer trails. They have deep paths warn like cattle. But that's not where I suspect the bear.
The bear may have left looking elsewhere for food.
Say, I noticed some pretty large rocks in the branch had been turned up or over. Would that be something a bear would do looking for bugs, etc under the rocks? The rocks are good size but maybe a big coon could turn them up also.
Someone told me the persimmon trees are loaded in our area this year. But I checked our biggest patch and didn't find a one on them.
Those paper wasp nests are a favorite food of the black bears around here. They eat all the larva ( or whatever you call the unhatched bees) and then carry the combs around; for the fun of it I guess.
That scat looks like brer bears for sure.
I don't know what laws you have in regards to baiting. Contrary to popular belief; fish or meat will bring them back quicker than donuts. ;) :D
Quote from: Sprucegum on August 20, 2012, 06:23:41 PM
I don't know what laws you have in regards to baiting. Contrary to popular belief; fish or meat will bring them back quicker than donuts. ;) :D
More input ... About a month ago granddaughter and I cleaned out some old stuff from my folk's freezer. We had a Mule load. We took it to the lower end of this valley and took it out of its packages and dumped it. In the assortment was several gallons of berries.
You been feeding them all along. ;D
Bears have a big home range, or it could be a young male out looking for a place to set up "house-keeping". It may be awhile before it comes back, if it ever does.
Mark
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?
A great question.
Worth a bit of experimentation maybe.
Set up the camera, and hang objects, like a bean bag, sack of feed, etc. to swing across the camera low, middle, high and then fast/slow.
Then determine how much movement triggers the cam, how long the movement has to be in front at different focus points before an image is recorded.
They could be some very helpful bits of information.
That said, I should do that with my own cameras. ;)
Yes bears will roll old logs and stones for grubs. They will also climb saplings and bend them down and they do not need to be fleshing fruit bearing saplings. I've seen them bend down ash and birch and suspect they are pulling down some spruce inspecting the cones on my plantations. My woodlot has a bear who goes to a couple red oaks every year and climbs them. He also rolls logs all the time. I only saw him once and he was way too close for comfort coming out of thicket onto my trail. He spotted me and ran for his life.
If the trip sensor is just a laser beam with no detection left, right or up, down then the only hope is to bait so to get the animal to stand in the exact spot to get its picture taken.
I don't have anything to use for bait. I may ask the produce manager at the grocery story if I could go dumpster diving.
I've found out that it's called "detection angle" and there is a "detection area". But I can't find what those values are on the Moultrie L50.
Farmer neighbors were just here. Said they have the field just south of our property planted in sorghum sudan (or sudan sorghum? ). Said the deer are working overtime on it. I don't know if it's bear food or not.
If you see any small masses of dead leaves up in the oaks and beech, that is bear. They make a kind of nest by pawing the branch tips for the nuts. Bear sign in grain is in the form of small crop circles. They mull it down in small beds and have a tuck'n out. They seem to relish oats.
This same field was in barley this spring.
A funny thing happened on the way to the trail cam today. No.. No joke. I jumped three bucks in velvet. There well could have been more but three is all I saw.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10034/wsdearantler20120823.jpg)
Here is the only picture taken by the Moultrie that I didn't trip. I first thought there was nothing in it. But there is. In the lower right is what looks to be a buck antler in velvet. I can tell because I tripped off the camera a couple more times just moving around and testing it. This velvet antler is not in the other pictures. It wasn't the bucks that I jumped up as the picture was taken the evening before.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10034/wsoverturnedrock20120823.jpg)
On reaching the branch, I noted a rock about the size of a turkey platter that had obviously been overturned. You can see a place below it in the picture where it had been. Lots of tracks. Mostly deer. But none I can make to be bear tracks.
Mary keeps a bucket in the kitchen where she discards scraps to the compost bed. It was mostly full of cantaloupe rind and innards. I found some outdated stuff in the refrigerator to top off the bucket. Not much but maybe it'll slow something down to look and smell.
I called Moultrie a bit ago and talked to a nice lady who answered my questions and gave me some suggestions.
She didn't know the exact "wake up time" but figured it was around a second, maybe a little less. That should be fast enough.
She couldn't give me the the exact detection angle but it was pretty wide. I ask if as wide as the picture. Not that wide but pretty wide.
She ask how high I was setting the camera. About breast high. She recommended 2-3' high.
She gave me instructions of how to reboot the camera that would reset the defaults.
I went to the camera and most of the bait I'd spread out was gone. Apparently, few wild animals like tomatoes. A box turtle was there chowing down.
There were two pictures. One of me and one of nothing.
I moved the camera to a different tree and put it about 2' off the ground.
Was in Walmart this morning. Spotted a lady stocking carrots. Asked her if I could get some discarded vegetables and or fruit to feed wildlife. After some discussion, we figured we had to talk to the department manager. A couple more people got involved before manager got there. Upshot, no way to document that they gave away garbage so... sorry, no scraps for wildlife.
Went to a smaller local store and talked to the produce manager. Not a problem, except she didn't have anything right now. Come back later or in the morning and she'd have some cabbage trimming.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10034/wsbearclawmark20120826c.jpg)
I found the bark ripped off an elm along the stream where I have the trail cam. The tree is about 6" diameter and the marks are about 4' off the ground. There were a few other marks around the tree - including one near the base.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10034/wsbearclawmark20120826b.jpg)
I found a dead white oak about 14" on the stump that had been ripped up somewhat. This one you can make out 5 horizontal marks that may have been made by a claw.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10034/wsbearclawmark20120826a.jpg)
Here is the other side of the dead white oak tree. There was a small amount of scat about 4' from the base. There could have been more under the dead sap and bark on the ground.
I'm getting discouraged with the trail cam. Found two pictures on it. Real likely they were tripped when I shut the door on the camera. Two because I set it to take two pictures in succession. I also set the reset time to 15 seconds from 30. In any case, no pictures of anything other than the branch and the brush. I put out more bait of fruit and vegetables.
I did a circle of the area and found two more scats and the white oak tree that had been ripped up.
I hope you are armed Bibby.
John
I've been lead to understand that black bear are pretty evasive of humans and not likely to attack unless defending cubs or cornered.
I don't always pack heat on these walks but when I do, I stick a S&W 1917 45 ACP in my bib pocket. That should make a good noise. If more noise is suggested, I have a S&W 29 with 4" bbl. Not only make more noise but singe some hair off and cause temporary blindness.
Quote from: Bibbyman on August 18, 2012, 03:38:52 PM
I don't know if Missouri ever lost every black bear in the state. But the past few years they have made a comeback. Mostly in the Ozark area, but they have spread all over the state.
A couple of years ago the gravel haulers spotted a black bear feeding from a deer feeder. They stopped and watched it and there was more than one witness. This spot is about 200 yards from our property line and in the same valley as I have recently found what I think is bear scat.
I have found droppings like this before in the past couple of years. I've looked for other sign but not found anything conclusive.
This year has been exceptionally dry. A drought in fact. All the streams are dry. The creek has a few shallow puddles. One place in many miles that has water is a spring well up in the roughest and most remote part of our farm. It's in this area that I've fund the suspicious scat.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10034/wsbearscat20120817a.JPG)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10034/wsbearscat20120817b.JPG)
I can't make the scat be any wild or domestic animal that I'm familiar with. It can't be carnivore as there is no hair, bone or other indication other than a plant eater. It doesn't look like horse or cow droppings.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10034/wstrailcamatspring20120817a.jpg)
Yesterday I set out a Moultrie L50 trail cam just a little down from where the spring comes up in the steam bed. There is a heavy used trail coming in on the right side of it. I've not checked it yet. I may tomorrow afternoon. If I get anything it'll most likely be a deer or coon.
wow,the only scats we come across here in the UK are rabbits and occasionaly deer,so boring here.
The MDC has been doing a black bear population study across the southern Ozark counties. If interested, contact your Private Lands CA for details; they have attractants and cage-traps and always allow the landowner to witness and photograph a trapped bear if wanted.
We had a bear several years ago come through, saw the tracks and other sign. A bear was shot in the vicinity a couple weeks later, it was supposedly harrassing some fellow's dogs and also feeding in a garbage dump.
Back in the day we had "game wardens". I looked on the mdc website for contact information for our country's conservation agent. Turns out, we don't have a local one. Have to contact the region office.
Decided to see if I could get a picture of it or maybe a sighting.
Likely there has been bear around here for years. Never knew them to cause a problem.
I carry a can of bear spray when picking blackberries. Suposed to be more efective than a handgun. I find the best berries where the bear are coming into the patch.
Now that I have a ccw permit I may also carry a handgun in addition to the spray. Now I dont have to unload every time I get on the atv
The last place I seen bear spray advertised was in Cody, Wyoming.
Missouri Department of Conservation downplays any danger from black bears. I've roamed these hills since I graduated from a tricycle and never felt threatened. Biggest danger would be snake bit or falling off a bluff.
That being said, not many years back Dad was out mushroom hunting and a pack of wild dowgs ran up on him. They acted threatening but he cussed them down and threatened them with his walking stick.
A few years back son Chris was out on the backside of the farm when a Rottweiler without collar came up on him and had all intention of attacking him. He was packing a Marlin 1895 guide gun in 45/70. End of argument!
I carry a handgun when I think of it but never really felt I needed to. I don't have a conceal carry permit and never really felt I needed one.
I bought my bear spray at cabelas. My fil used pepper spray on a dog that was harassing him on his morning walk. Never bothered him again. My friend also got the ccw to not have to unload his handgun every time he gets in his truck trapping coon along the roads.
Nowadays I'm more cautious of those two-legged critters surprising me back in a field or woods. Really some strange folks out there, used to I would know most folks and their kids that roamed around but not now!
A few years ago I was bass-casting along an old slough, and standing down near the waters edge, the bank was up above me maybe 8'. Suddenly I felt someone was near watching me, as I turned around and looked up there stood a fellow with his hunting knife out. I knew he had an advantage and I planned to dive in and swim for it. But in the best commanding voice I could manage I said, "did you see my brother down there". He put his knife in his pocket and went on down the path. :o
I'm not being brave here, but I have walked and sighted many bears in our woods. Not a single one was ever aggressive. I never carry a gun or a knife in the woods. Nothing has tried to eat me up except the flies. ;D
My only concern is both of us may be quietly going about our business and unexpedly meet nose to nose. I also have been in the woods and seen bear with no problem.
Just saw this on the wire--->
http://helenair.com/news/state-and-regional/mont-rancher-shoots-bear-that-broke-into-house/article_45dcb838-f029-579e-b1b9-3f45a5311c7a.html
I bought a border collie from Lane years ago, their ranch is in a spectacular setting butts right up against
the front.
A backhoe going down the road early in the morning ---SSS
I probably should use more caution when getting near the spring where I have the trail cam. I drive up to about 100 yards with the Mule then slip along quietly so maybe by chance get a glimpse of the bear. But if successful, I may just startle it. I'm like that about tornados, I'd like to see one but I don't want to be in one.
Quote from: Bibbyman on August 26, 2012, 07:07:50 PM
I've been lead to understand that black bear are pretty evasive of humans and not likely to attack unless defending cubs or cornered.
Black bears are the ones I am VERY cautious with. A grizzly will almost always show his intentions, when the initial charge and stomp is over they will either hold their ground(at witch point you need to move away) or will turn and walk away. A black bear however, will turn away to leave and then just flat out try to run you over.
If you really want to teach a bear to stay away from humans bear spray will only teach them to be cautious, a 12ga with #2 shot will "Spank" them. At 50 yds the shot will not penetrate their hide but will teach them to stay away. I always have in order #2, 00 buck, 1oz slug. 1st shot is spank, if I need the second, that one is the "I'm serious" shot, and the last one is "bye bye"
A hand gun is ok for making noise, but I have seen guys use 38/45 to make the "finishing" shot to a bears head, I always have to laugh. Even at point blank range the slug can be reloaded into a casing with only the rifling showing from the previous shot. They just do not have enough power to penetrate more than 2-3" If the bear is healthy and fat at this time of year the bullet from these small hand guns will not penetrate the very dense fat layers around a bear.
The trees torn up are the proof that you have a bear. and a hungry bear. Ants are a favorite of black bears. If it has been a lean summer with not much for food, I would be carrying a bigger gun. If a bear has not built up it's fat enough for winter, everything becomes food, including an animal that can only run with two legs. ;D they will loose ALL fear when they are hungry.
I have run ins with bears of all shapes and sizes at least 5-10 times a year, I have only had to use the 2nd shot about a dozen times in my life, and the 3rd shot thankfully only 2 times. Both times the bear was seriously underweight and were trying to eat me.
If you want to bait the bear in, use bacon, the green,slimy old bacon. they will come from all over for it. Also black bears for some reason like gas cans. the red ones with just a drop of gas in it, no cap. They will chew on it and play with it for a long time. My father who has lived in the bush his whole life, told me that it's like catnip to them, they get a smell and they get all glazey eyed.
Also if the scat is black that means they are not eating enough fat foods like berries. another reason to be on guard when in this area. If you do some recon I believe you will find a den somewhere within a mile of these trees and berry patches. Bears can cover alot of ground in a short time, but if they find an area with enough food this late in the year, they tend to den up in the area to try and gain more fat for winter.
FB
Does it get cold enough in missouri for the bear to den up?
Doesn't have to be cold, they'll den anyway. On the west coast, it's milder than Mo. We had geese at the logging camp year around, but as soon as the salmon run was done and the berries all ate the bears went to den. They can come out at any time in the winter, they do that here in milder winters. But they go back to the den.
Around the denser geographic settlements and farms the bears behave a lot different than in sparsely populated areas. They even behave different when it comes to markings. Around here they don't leave mounds of dung on their borders. In the remote areas of BC they leave huge dung piles and do tend to be more curious or brave. I've seen several that making noise never bothered them a bit, but they would slink off after awhile.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10034/wscliffoverhang20090322aa.jpg)
Does this look like a place a black bear would like? It's a cliff overhang about 40' wide, 20' tall in front, and maybe 30' deep. There are two other smaller cliff overhangs nearby. These cliff overhangs are up the larger branch in this valley. It's less than a quarter mile from the spring.
Any that we have seem to like a big old rotten hardwood stump on a dry side hill and they make a nest with leaves they line the den with. They will excavate under the stump, easier digging than just down into the hard mud. I have found a lot of dens and all I have found are done this way in my area. I find them when thinning in hardwoods. I never find any on softwood land we thin. They will also go into mixed wood thickets and den. I have not known any to go to overhangs, too exposed. They will go in small caves, I've seen them go into small rocky crevasses on pinnacles that have woods around but not exposed peeks.
Bibby, There's a very interesting photo and short article on Missouri Black bear study, back cover of "Missouri Conservationist", September, 2012 issue.
Quote from: chain on August 30, 2012, 05:34:55 PM
Bibby, There's a very interesting photo and short article on Missouri Black bear study, back cover of "Missouri Conservationist", September, 2012 issue.
Got it.
Bibbyman, are you wanting to keep the bear, or are you wanting it gone. I'm with Chain on the two legged critters, I'll take a bear in my woods anyday, over them. I don't know how many bears or cougars you have in Missouri, but like anything, they have their place, just might not be on your farm.
Most, but not all dens I have found have been on north facing slopes. I found one site where someone had a hunting blind set up just up hill of the den.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10034/wsbearscat20120826a.JPG)
On my last visit to the trail cam, I took a walk around up on the ridge and up another branch of the valley. At the end of the ridge I found this almost steaming scat about 100 yards from the spring. As I was taking the picture, I heard a rock rattle in the branch below. Could have been about anything big enough to rock a rock... But? Was I that close?
Quote from: terry f on August 31, 2012, 03:04:30 AM
Bibbyman, are you wanting to keep the bear, or are you wanting it gone. I'm with Chain on the two legged critters, I'll take a bear in my woods anyday, over them. I don't know how many bears or cougars you have in Missouri, but like anything, they have their place, just might not be on your farm.
So far, I see no harm done. I've known we have mountain lions 40 years before the Department of Conservation acknowledged there were any in Missouri. One was hit on the road about 5 miles north of us in the same valley system. It's not mounted in their public display center in Jefferson City. They confirmed it was a wild, not domestic turned loose cat but said it wondered in from Montana.
I have an older cousin that has hunted the valley below us and hills around for many years. He says he's seen bear sign as long ago as 20 years. Dad said he's seen tracks like a bear makes as long ago as 10 years. I've ran across scat like this I've found for maybe five years. So they've been around.
The danger is that the bear population continues to grow and so the population out in the country. The spring where I have the camera is less than 200 yards from my folk's house and three other new homes.
Hurricane Isaac is going to put a stop to my trail cam at the spring effort. We are to get up to 6" of rain in the next three days. This will not help anything as it's too late for crops, nuts, berries, etc. But it will fill all the streams with water and that will take away the advantage of the spring. I plan to pull the camera today or tomorrow. Hope I got something. If I get some clear pictures I'll be happy. I'll move the camera to some deer tail of in some general area just to see what comes and goes.
Well, the trial cam had been out over 5 gallons of tasty bait since the first of the week. I checked it a while ago. My excitement was high. I had 58 pictures. But I had the camera set to take two pictures on each trip so I only had 29 incidents. I got home and looked at my pictures. DanG coons! They came like thieves in the night and eat up all the bait. Lots of pictures of nothing and off coons. But I also got a good picture of a hawk at the same time two turtles were in the spring.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10034/wshawkturtle20120901a.JPG)
Arrows point to turtles.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10034/wshawkturtle20120901b.JPG)
Better picture of hawk. Maybe someone can tell me exactly what brand he is? I'd say a red tailed hawk. But I'm not good with birds.
I brought the camera in and plan to set it up again a little further down the valley where it branches and maybe pick up some trafic.
If that is not a red tail, then he ought to be good picture,
Hang a dead skunk in a feed sack in a tree, that will draw critters over a
wide area but they can't get to it. Under that spade the ground well
6-8 foot in diameter. Work into that a liquid type bait, chop up a carp
with a gopher or two in a large glass jar add some water and leave in the
sun for a few days no more. Don't seal lid too tight or it will explode,
a glass plate will keep flies out and let out gasses,
You can stabilize that with a preservative or
freeze. The critters will spend lots of time working the bait site getting
the odor on their paws which will draw even more to the site..
That might give your camera some action.
Here in Montana it is said "a fed bear is a dead bear"...Once they get a food
reward from humans they will pursue it till they have to be put down...There's
a black bear working my area that got a food reward at a seasonal cabin that
left some garbage out...they should have known better...
Thanks for the bait tips. I'm fresh out of skunk, carp and gophers at this time but I get the idea.
I put out the bait a good distance from civilization. Hopefully, they won't associate it with humans. I still have about a bushel of freezer cleanout to dispose of.
I think the bear may have moved on or rambled to another part of its range. Now that we've got rain, the spring is less important. But I may be able to find tracks in the mud.
This leads me to ask a question. How do you dispose of food scraps in bear country? We pitch out clean scraps to the wildlife. But don't expect a bear to come to dinner.
Bibby,
Suggest that you go to bear.org. There's more bear info than you'll have time to look at. It's well organized. It disagrees with many of the bear myths that you commonly hear, including some on the FF. Dr. Lynn Rogers has researched black bears for over 40 years, and this site is the bear-er of that research, and a lot of good and interesting information.
Norm
Incinerator.
Bibby-do a search--"A fed bear is a dead bear"
This news story is from my area, not really a rare case either.---->
http://helenair.com/news/state-and-regional/article_ceac59f7-b483-5775-8c21-3bcc9bee8e5b.html
The bait station I described attracts but doesn't reward,
bear researchers use the same set up to collect hair samples from
barbed wire.---take your old food to the dump, please.
We have a trash collection service. But it's a dumpster and they only pick up every two weeks. I collect my folks trash also. It goes into this dumpster. They tend to buy and throw out a lot of food. We have a dowg that loves scraps. The vegetables she won't eat go to the compost pile.
Nobody around here consider bears. I see trash set out early and have been trashed out by dowgs, I assume.
There could be a problem this year due to the drought. Looks like there will be no acorns. There were no berries or other wild fruit. No crops that were not harvested in spring.
Bears have not bothered the trash here much because of farm food. Down around North Lake, the bears open up the roadside dumpsters. It's cottage country there and no farm food. They strew the garbage all over creation. The dumpsters even have a cage on the top, and the bears make short work of that cage. :D
This time of the year I haul my garbage can down and leave it at the neighbor's garage and then he takes it out to the gate early in the morning for the garbage truck. Right now we have at least one, maybe two bears in the neighborhood and just hate to see them get started on garbage cans. Bad enough that they are tearing down the apple and plum trees.
Got this picture recently with a Moultie Game Cam. The bear is right at a spot where I turkey hunted this past spring. No bait was placed to attract it.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10002/MDGC0011.JPG)
Are black bears more active at night?
What model Moultrie took this picture? Standard flash? Inferred? Did the flash spook it off?
In the group of pictures I got the other day, some were all white and some were mostly white. Got to thinking maybe the coon had climbed up to check out the camera and tripped the flash right in its face. Could that account for the white pictures?
Deer hunter's tree stands? There are a number of YouTube videos out there where black bear climbs up in the stand with the hunter. Got to thinking, if bears like to nap in trees, a big tree stand would be quite the thing. I can just see a deer hunter getting into his stand in the dark to find it occupied!
Yes, bear, as most wild animals, are most active in early morning and nightime hours with their movements, especially the older and wiser ones move at night. The camera is an older Moultrie D-40 with standard flash. The white out pictures may be caused by the camera being faced directly into the sun. The camera should be faced in a north or south direction.
You might also be checking on the camera too much and leaving too much scent in the area. Bear have a good nose. I only check cameras every 2 weeks and sometimes up to 3 or 4 weeks.
Here are some additional photos with the same camera at the same location. All night time movements.
Rabbit
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10002/MDGC0105.JPG)
Coyote
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10002/MDGC0051.JPG)
Coyote
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10002/MDGC0085.JPG)
Bobcat
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10002/MDGC0049.JPG)
The bobcat and coyote were probably hunting rabbits and the bear was going for the blackberries nearby. Note that the coyote was right on time making its rounds a week later.
Quote from: Ron Scott on September 03, 2012, 01:16:03 PM
The white out pictures may be caused by the camera being faced directly into the sun. The camera should be faced in a north or south direction.
The camera was pointing north and in a very deep and narrow valley, heavily wooded. I've deleted the pictures from the card, but I'm real sure they were taken at night.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10034/wsredfox20120903.jpg)
There were 12 trips of the camera when I went to check it. A couple were of me setting it and more resetting it today. Some were blank. Several of coons. But it captured several of a red fox. Also the head and neck of a doe.
I wasn't going to go so soon, having only been out three days, but our dowg Pud provided us with an opportunity. She slew a possum on the front porch last night. Normally she takes her trophies off and buries them. But she's neglecting her duty and left this one to ripen. BOY! Was it ripe! I took the possum down to the trail cam. I figured a dead possum would not be linked to people food. It should draw a different crowd of passersbys.
Great! The camera is working ok. Good picture.
My dad told me back in the late 60's maybe early 70's that him, my uncle and my grandpa was going to go fishing on the Mississippi river. They where walking from the truck to the spot they where going to fish when they came across some tracks. My dad said the tracks looked like the biggest dog tracks he had ever seen and my grandpa told them it was bear tracks. Dad said he called bs and grandpa said that's bear tracks, he seen them as a kid in Alabama. Whether or not it was really bear tracks i don't know. But I do know the are mountain lions around that river.
The trail cam has been out six days so I had big hopes. I was disappeared to open the camera and found the display bank. It did display and said 8 pictures had been taken. Not good. The battery indicater said 1/3 power.
Got the card in the PC and found two pictures of a buzzard and a eyes shining in the dark in another. These were taken early in the week. Surely there were other things to pass.
I took the camera to the house. When I opened the camera again, the battery level indicater should full change.
I'm thinking the batteries must have lost contact in the damp weather.
I reset the camera further down the valley along the trail leading into a small field. Should catch some traffic coming and going.
I just got two pictures - both of the this deer. The other just had the body.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10034/wsbuck20120909.jpg)
I just had it out one night. But I wanted to check to see if it was working. When I opened it up, it looked like the batteries were dead. The display didn't come up. When it did, it first showed only 1/3 charge then full charge. I don't know if the batteries are not making contact or what. The batteries are what, 3 weeks old? I think Moultrie says they should last 6 weeks.
Nice buck! What size batteries does the camera take?
6 C size.
I guess the newer Moultries have gone to size C batteries. My older Moultries use 6 size D batteries. They usually last for 12 weeks or so on still pictures; less time if on video. I just had the display go out on the I-40 infa red camera and had to get a new display to install at $15.89. This has been a problem with the early Moultrie cameras I've been told.
I was looking at the Moultrie web site the other day and they have introduced some new models and marked down some of their old models.
I have no update on the bear in the woods. I've not had time to place and maintain the trail cam in the area I suspected. A neighbor is bow hunting in the area and has two cameras out but not directly in the suspect spot. He's not reported any sign of a bear. Maybe later this fall and winter I'll be out and about and cut some sign again.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10034/wscoyoteapple20130102.jpg)
I'm really enjoying my trail cam. I've got a lot of deer pictures – some of bucks. But last week I had it out all week way up the valley were last fall I'd got some good pictures. Yesterday I retrieved the card to find 82 pictures had been taken. I was real excited. Of course, about half were no shows – bird or wind or something tripped it off and I couldn't see anything in them. But there were quite a few pictures of a coyote over three nights. I had pitched out about a dozen rotten apples as bait. From the pictures, I'd guess the coyote played with the apples. When I got there to change out the card, they were all gone. I don't know if he eat them or carried them off.
The flash didn't seem to bother him. I have the trail cam set to take a second picture in 15 seconds and he was usually still there.
There were no bear pictures. And no deer pictures. Not even a coon or possum. I'm really puzzled at that.
One of the best and easiest baits for bears is to puncture a small hole in a tin of oily sardines and hang it from a tall branch about 8 feet off the ground. It will drip some of the oil and also the wind will blow the fishy smell and the bears (and hungry loggers) will come investigate.
Pap
Well, I got the suspected bear scat to a biologist at the Missouri Department of Conservation. The reply : "Could be." . The scat was definitely from a omnivore. The pictures I sent could well be bear sign. But without hair or pictures or clear prints, it's still not positive proof.
I've got hundreds of pictures from my trail cam but no bear. And I've not found any more scat or other sign. So maybe it was just passing through.
QuoteSo maybe it was just passing through.
Yah, da scat was for sure.... ;D
Bears can roam for miles Bib. They have a preferred territory, but they have been tracked on 50 mile excursions in a few hours. I've never seen them mark their bounds around here. Out in BC they did, they make large dung piles returning to it several times.
A couple of friends of mine were working in a logging camp up coast and on the way to work one morning in the Spring,they saw a large steaming pile of bear s-scat in the middle of the road.Guy,said that Grant stopped the crummy and reached over to the glove box and pulled out a roll of toilet paper and pulled off a bunch and swabbed the pile then left the paper beside it then got back in the crummy and headed off to work.
Guy said the truckers were talking about it all day wondering who had left the pile on the road and what he'd been eating. :snowball:
:D :D :D :D :D
That be funny...
I can bet it wasn't Honey. :D
Probably BOILED PEANUTS......any hulls laying close by? :D :D :D
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10034/wsbone20130606b.jpg)
Question for you guys in black bear country. Any chance this is a femur from a black bear? The board as about 10x12.
Our dowg has not been asking for food for about two weeks although we do give her table scraps. This evening I found this bone in the yard. Looks too heavy, short and curved to be from a deer.
We visited with the farmers using our pasture and they reported smelling something dead east of the house. I looked some this evening but the undergrowth is thick. Pud won't tell where her treasure is.
I'd say Pud found a hog bone.
This week I sited 7 bears in the bush, on the roads. One was with two cubs.
Last week a sow had 2 yearling cubs with her, but saw 5 bears total. Lots of bears and they are all in hardwood ground.
Sure looks like a hog bone but we don't have any hogs anywhere near here that I know of. We've not had a whole ham to leave a whole bone.
Do you get wild boars down there like some states? One might have been shot or injured and staggered off to die. We had hogs in our crop fields one year that got away from a farm in Maine. Our fields but up against the border. Them hogs crossed international lines, and some never made it back. :D Did you know there was a 'Pig War' for seven years over a hog that was shot and cooked from an HBC trading post. He wondered too far into Washington state. :D
The rounded head at the upper left of the picture may well be a femur. Do you have more pics? Can't really get a good look at the other end or appreciate the true size of it from this one shot. Could also be a humerus.
Quote from: doctorb on June 07, 2013, 07:26:13 AM
The rounded head at the upper left of the picture may well be a femur. Do you have more pics? Can't really get a good look at the other end or appreciate the true size of it from this one shot. Could also be a humerus.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10034/wsbone20130606a.jpg)
Here is the other side. Still has some material on it. The board is about 10"x12". Most likely the hip bone of a deer.
After the dew burns off I'll go out looking again. One thing I've noticed is that dead things dissappear rather quickly and completely these days. No scattered bones, hide, hair or nasty spot left.
Awfully robust to be from a deer, I'd go with hog.
Quote from: Texas Ranger on June 07, 2013, 08:11:00 AM
Awfully robust to be from a deer, I'd go with hog.
No hogs anywhere near here, domestic or feral. At least none seen, or sign of activity or reported.
More and more I am thinking humerus. The weight bearing humerus in most mammals is robust, and often has the curve seen at the distal end in the initial photo (lower left). I would needf to see the front and back of the distal end, whithout all the stuff on it, to confirm.
Quote from: doctorb on June 07, 2013, 11:09:57 AM
More and more I am thinking humerus. The weight bearing humerus in most mammals is robust, and often has the curve seen at the distal end in the initial photo (lower left). I would needf to see the front and back of the distal end, whithout all the stuff on it, to confirm.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10034/wsbone20130607a.jpg)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10034/wsbone20130607b.jpg)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10034/wsbone20130607c.jpg)
Three more pictures. Don't know if I captured the right angles. I've got my blades sharpened and a small order done. So now I'm going to grab a bite to eat and then fo bear hunting.
While I won't put a guarantee on it, I definitely believe that bone is a humerus and not a femur. The non-rounded end, as seen in the last 2 of the three pics, demonstrates the classic appearance of the trochlear "spool" and the olecranon fossa seen in the distal humerus. This is distinct from the medial and lateral condyles typical in the distal femur. Does anyone think that now, when we have Bibbyman's hand to use as a size for reference, that this could be a deer bone? It looks less robust to me in these last 3 pics.
Bibby
Take a look at the pic of a humerus deer bone (one is a defective one per the article).
http://www.vetmed.vt.edu/education/Curriculum/VM8054/HISTO%20CASEBOOK/FRACTURE/FRACTUREDISCUSS.htm
See if it look similar to your find.
From the hand and bone pics, could easily pass as deer bone from the many that I have boned out. And that depends on the size of the deer from adult buck to fawn sizes.
But hope Bibby finds the bear. He not gonna rest until he does. :)
Comparative anatomy
http://www.foremosthunting.com/Deer/Library/SkeletonWhitetailDeer/tabid/532/Default.aspx
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/Dog_skeleton_seksjonal.png&imgrefurl=http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dog_skeleton_seksjonal.png&h=616&w=718&sz=30&tbnid=9VmEKLHaUlmT8M:&tbnh=90&tbnw=105&zoom=1&usg=__BSpHI1QAGZ8rp8UIIFq2cVfW7z0=&docid=ztHCmy_h4CzChM&sa=X&ei=aiSyUdT0N8bqqQH6xoHoCw&sqi=2&ved=0CDUQ9QEwAw&dur=444
http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/57600/57619/57619_hog.htm
https://www.google.com/search?q=bear+skeleton&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=siSyUb6ICcmfrAG6oIGQAw&sqi=2&ved=0CCoQsAQ&biw=1024&bih=610
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10034/wsbone20130606b.jpg)
The first picture I posted looks much like the bone in the article. There have neen at least three large bucks dead within Pud's range since last fall. First was a buck killed by blue tongue. Then in mid-November she came dragging in a front leg from a very large deer with hide still on it. What meet still on it was fresh. The first buck was long gone so it couldn't have been from it. I looked and watched for the rest of the deer but never found it. Then this spring while mushroom hunting I found yet another dead buck about 100 yards west off the house.
While the bone looks fresh and has some dried flesh still on it, it could be something she's hidden away for a rainy day. She hides lots of stuff. When we clean out from under something and we notice her watching, we can be assured she's buried something there. One time we were raking out from under the mill and pulled out a maggot riddled groundhog!
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10034/wsbuckskull20130416.jpg)
Here is what I recovered from a dead buck I found while mushroom hunting.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10034/wsdeadbuck20120926.jpg)
Here's the 15 pointer I found last September.
And basted on the dowg finding something to eat on her own and farmers smelling something dead, there must be another one out there.
Meanwhile, I'll keep looking for that bear.
Thx beenthere and TR-
Confirmed: deer humerus.
With the history of what Bib has been describing for the last while, about the deer dying from disease, one would have to be inclined to think deer first I suppose.
A bear, believe it or not, without the head, hide and paws has been confused for human remains. In fact it happened once here in NB. And the person was suppose to be a wildlife biologist that identified the remains. My grandfather was a guide and he knew the people that had harvested the bear. But apparently a neighbor on a walk down a woods road reported it. It was a good laugh for a bit.
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.
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.
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.
Sasquatch.
If anybody needs a game cam, it's you.
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.
A fellow just about got eaten this week.
News article - Black Bear attack. (http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/story/2013/08/16/nb-bear-attack-fredericton-mezzetta.html)
Black Bears are starting to work the corn fields in this area!
A young girl was attacked in the Cadillac area earlier in the week by a black bear.
http://www.freep.com/article/20130816/NEWS06/308160072/Michigan-girl-12-attacked-by-black-bear-while-out-running
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.
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.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/08/19/bear-thought-to-have-mauled-michigan-girl-shot-and-killed-though-family/
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.
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)
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.
Pretty easy to tell a long tailed cat from a short tailed cat. :o 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 :snowball:
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.
(https://forestryforum.com/images/04_01_03/wslion1.JPG)
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.
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. ;)
Quote from: Bibbyman on August 21, 2012, 01:01:05 PM
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
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.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10034/wsbuck20130902.jpg)
This is the best of the four bucks that came by.
Now you're cooking. My stepson has many pictures of deer. None with a rack like that.
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.
Your pictures are not a burden. ;D
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.
Not unusual around here to see spots on fawns through September. If cam picks up another one, I'll save it and post it.
I also want to see the black bear on this one. ;D
Beggers can't be choices. ;)
Nobody said I couldn't upload a picture. I just figured everybody has seen a fawn with spots.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10034/wsfawnwithspots201309.jpg)
I think last year's fawns breed in mid winter and give birth later in summer. But this one looks fairly big.
Nice picture of the spots. I can't really tell,but the one I'm seeing on my land looks smaller and no spots.
Within the last few days I saw a fawn with spots on it here at my sawmill yard. Was pretty small.
Jim Rogers
USFWS got this one with a game camera in the Santa Rita Mtns, just south of Tucson.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/31219/IMG_8543.jpg)
Here kitty kitty. ;D
Well, I've not got pictures of my bear on the trail cam yet. But they had a young male male bear in downtown yesterday.
http://www.fultonsun.com/news/2015/may/25/multiple-police-agencies-fulton-fire-search-bear-f/
I think he's more hungry than lustful. Looks thin.
My daugter lives in Marshfeild Mo and told me last weekend that a bear had been seen in town by her office. She thought it might be an escapee from somewhere.
gww
Quote from: SwampDonkey on May 25, 2015, 04:55:41 PM
I think he's more hungry than lustful. Looks thin.
I suspect they learn quickly to dig into trash cans.
IMO that's a yearling in the picture in the paper in Bibby's post (Reply #131). Cub bears are usually born in January and den with their mothers the second winter. Then mom is ready to find a male to breed with and they make it clear to the cubs that they need to leave home. The yearling males are the ones that usually wander around causing trouble, sort of like a teenager that gets kicked of the the house. The female cubs share a portion of the mother's territory, while the males are on their own to find a new territory. The mature females breed every other year, generally in March (late) and April. It depends some what on the geographic location.