First Bear

[Magicman]

First picture of a Bear ever taken on my property.  I am super excited !!!

[LeftFinger]

Good pic I've ate them but I think I like them better in the wild

[NaySawyer]

Congrats!! It is always a rush to see'm but now the work begins.  Bear proofing will take you a while to learn .. talk with your neighbours .. there is always a reason for them to be around.  Here's some things you have to start locking up .. bird food, bird feeders, garbage, chain saw oil, rust paint, fluid film, others will chirp in ..

[Dave Shepard]

That guy took a wrong turn outside Albany, NY, and is very confused. Especially by the grits.

[aigheadish]

I've wondered, for a while, why we don't have bears around me. There's lots of forest area to the east of me but lots of farm land to the west and southeast Ohio seems much more hospitable for them. Well, bear sightings to the nearby east and north of us have been made over the past few weeks. It was the talk of the town, but I haven't heard anything in the past few days. 

It'd be neat to have bears but also not neat to have bears. 

[Jeff]

Its just so cool to see bears on camera, even when you know they are around. We had a new bear this week. He has a blaze. He must of walked up under the camera, and then reared up to investigate it, but thats all we got.
Blazed

[Machinebuilder]

I know they are around me, but I haven't seen them on my land yet.

My guess is the surrounding people are careless enough they don't need my minimal scraps.

It's scary to see all the bad bear encounters in Gatlinburg.

[WV Sawmiller]

Lynn,

   When he gets tired of visiting tell him to come on back home and bring a bag of grits and a bushel of green peanuts back with him.

[Magicman]

I sent that picture to my neighbor friend and he sent me this picture this morning.  It's about 7 miles away and a different (much larger) bear. 

This is good stuff, especially when I can remember when we had NO deer or turkeys.  Seeing bear pictures is over the top.

[Texas Ranger]

In Texas deer were shot out up to the '60's and have made a come back.  The world  tells me that there are no bear or cougar in east Texas, the 5 cougars (one my wife saw, but another story) i have seen and the two bears I have seen in the last 60 years  must be a heat fueled illusion.

[Machinebuilder]

That's the species "not known to science"  

[SwampDonkey]

I've been working on a lot where there is a well beat down bear trail to a nearby camp. I've crossed that trail cutting trees on 3 strips. He's been seen by the other guy working with me, on morning drive ins to the block. The place is full of turkeys, someone I think struck one of them over the weekend, I saw it laying on the road shoulder 3 days ago. Never seen it since. Figured the bear or a coyote got it. Moose and deer out there to, lots of critters on that 100 acres including all the snow shoe hares that have chewed about every maple tree.

[barbender]

I had one come up the driveway a couple of weeks ago. The booger had been getting into our dumpster at night, and he'd come in the yard once during the day. I needed to smoke a few pork butts, which I usually put in when I go to bed and let them smoke all night. I knew better than that with Mr. Bear around, so I put them in in the morning before I left for work. Well, later the kids looked out the window and here comes Mr. Bear moseying up the driveway, sniffing away. Can't blame him, Hickory smoke and pork smells pretty good. Jen went out and gave him a talking to, and he detoured into the woods.  

The berries are starting to ripen, that lessens the bear encounters a lot.

[Magicman]

Today I reported the bear sighting with pictures to our state Wildlife & Parks Division for updating their bear research map.

[Jeff]

Does Mississippi tag or collar bears?

[Magicman]

Yes, they collar the ones that they can trap.

My property is just South of M32 red dot which is also near the center of the captures:

[Wlmedley]

My neighbor sent me a picture of a black bear he got on his game camera a couple weeks ago. I'm not surprised as all the small farms that were here when I was a kid are gone. The population in the state peaked in the 50,s and has been going down ever since. I don't think many people hunt anymore and the deer population has exploded around here. Anyone who hasn't hit one with their car is extremely lucky. Squirrels,turkeys,raccoons,ground hogs,deer and coyotes are a common sight in my yard. Not looking forward to seeing bears . My buddy said that they should just put a gate up on the state border and make the whole place a game preserve.

[thecfarm]

My Grandson shot a bear on my land and then tried again a few years, but had no luck.
They are there, but if the bears don't want you to see them, then you won't see them.
He has them on camera, but that is it.

[SwampDonkey]

Have someone grow a field of that feed corn, the bears with have paths tramped to death into the corn and areas mulled down. It's been 2 years since they had corn up by the woodlot in a 150 acre field. There was at least 4 different ones and I found a den that year in the fall. The dirt road was criss crossed with bear tracks that year. Never seen no tracks in the snow last winter, but that corn year there was some in December.