Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Around the Campfire => Topic started by: Dharma on April 16, 2014, 05:23:35 pm
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Saw in the news in Florida that a woman was mauled by a black bear in her driveway. Seems a few were there, dining on the garbage. Hmmm....seems like folks in that area need to get up a hunting party so the caution around humans will return. When black bears lose fear of humans and start coming around to feed on the trash, this is always when maulings occur. Seems to me that in a populated area, maybe this is a good time for a "special" bear archery tag. No need for camo, just squat down behind the azaleas and zap them when they go for the garbage can. Is it baiting? Well, technically, no. The trash has to go out, right? Hmmm....I'm thinking treestands in the front yard. Maybe a blind up on the garage roof. This has possibilities!
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I heard 4 were already killed....
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We used to be able to hunt them here till the Bunny Huggers complained. Now they have no where in the State to relocate nusense bears.
I think it's a conspiracy to charge us a boatload of money to hunt bears like they did with gators.
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What Mullett said. I had one on my property last month,see them in the woods all the time.We need a season.
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They finally reintroduced the spring bear hunt in Ontario this year. Population exploded when they stopped it several years ago. Huge problems in most areas up North. The law makers are in the south :-\ .
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I wonder what the bunny huggers would think if they got mauled in their driveway. "Awww... lookit that cute little baby bear..."
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I'm guessing that the policy makers started to see the issue first hand at their "cottages " in the Muskokas ;D
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A similar thing happened in California. Mountain lions were taken off the game lists and became non-hunt. Not long after, they started eating joggers. The state game people would get up a hunting party and kill what they "thought" was the responsible cougar, but this doesn't help anything at all really. It takes a constant hunting presence to make the animals have a fear of humans. In areas where no one hunts cougars, you can run across them. In areas where people do, especially with dogs, you'll never see one without the aid of hunting dogs.
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got this from one of the articles, "Frana was attacked in her driveway on Saturday evening after she went outside to check on her children." WHAT??? Her children were out there with the bear but it wanted her not the children who were already outside? None of these reports give a clear story of what actually happened before the mauling. hmmm, maybe she didn't want to admit fault to provoking? Anyway, this story is full of holes and FWC didn't need to go out and shoot 5 bears to appease the blood thirsty masses. >:D
Anyway, these bears aren't dangerous because they're not being hunted, they're dangerous because they're being fed. They're attracted to our high calorie, easy pickin's garbage. If food wasn't available near houses bears would stay in the woods where there is food.
That's my two cents....
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got this from one of the articles, "Frana was attacked in her driveway on Saturday evening after she went outside to check on her children." WHAT??? Her children were out there with the bear but it wanted her not the children who were already outside? None of these reports give a clear story of what actually happened before the mauling. hmmm, maybe she didn't want to admit fault to provoking? Anyway, this story is full of holes and FWC didn't need to go out and shoot 5 bears to appease the blood thirsty masses. >:D
Anyway, these bears aren't dangerous because they're not being hunted, they're dangerous because they're being fed. They're attracted to our high calorie, easy pickin's garbage. If food wasn't available near houses bears would stay in the woods where there is food.
That's my two cents....
Maybe she was kicking snow in that Bears face :)
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Be that as it may, people do have to put the garbage out for collection. It's a sanitation issue common with inhabited areas, after all. While black bears are, by nature, timid, there have been unprovoked attacks by them here in Arizona as well. AZG&F recently tranq darted one up in a tree behind a Basha's supermarket in downtown Flagstaff. To get there, it had to walk through inhabited areas and across a busy road. But this is what it did regularly to get into the Basha's dumpster. By the way, it had to go past a hospital to get to that Basha's.
There's no easy solution. You could say trash cans have to be locked. But who pays for that? And that means trash collection crews now have to unlock every trash can before dumping. Not to mention the trash can will need to be pretty bombproof to keep the bears from just tearing it open. You could say no one can dump food into the trash, but how's that going to be enforced and what are people going to do with a rotten 5 pound roast or turkey carcass?
Yes, I will say that better wisdom needs to prevail in building houses in wilderness areas. Driving flatbed, I once delivered a load of structural steel to a McMansion being built in the middle of the forest. Hikers were astounded I could get that rig up on that road to begin with. I wasn't at all sure I wouldn't be calling a heavy to tow me out and watching the heavy get stuck also. And, seriously, if the road can't support a rig, is this a place to build a house as a big as a Russian army barracks just for one man to live in? And, yes, this guy is going to start whining when the bears are in his yard and the elk are eating his trees and cougars eat his $10000 poodle. That's one thing and in a case like that, I totally side with the wildlife. But in inhabited areas where houses are and have been for some time, it isn't those peoples' faults if bears discover a target of opportunity in their trash cans. Totally different scenario there.
Now, humans have always hunted bears. They were a prime source of fats and cooking oils. Not to mention fur that was great for extreme cold weather clothing. These things carried a lot of survival value or humans wouldn't have risked death hunting them with spears and bows. So, one can say there is a cultural history of bear hunting, so it's just as valid as hunting deer. Bowhunting bears carries the same risk today as it did 10,000 years ago. Many states don't allow carrying firearms on an archery hunt for any reason, so most bowhunters after bears are assuming the risk assumed by hunters thousands of years ago.
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So far they have killed seven bears. The lady that was mauled, probably was feeding it. After all it was just a black bear, not one of those dangerous Grizzly bears. Who knew? Right. ::) There used to be a hunting season on them, and like Eddie said, the bunny huggers, got all upset, and greased the palms of politicians, and it stopped. Now they are a nuisance, and are pretty much everywhere, in the mid to northern part of the state. Used to be a lot of out of state hunters, come down to the Big Cypress, and Devils Garden area. From Texas, and from up north, to hunt black bears. The black bears are plentiful, now, and you can see them crossing the roads, and there many Bear Crossing signs, around.
Too many people think they are so cute, and not dangerous. Even a small one will tear you a new %$$#@!@ !
I got a kick out of the picture of the "Gated Community". OK, so you have a gate. No fence around the area. If bears can get in, so can people, aka burglars, rapists, murderers, crack/meth heads, etc. The people were upset that the State killed seven bears, but if they feed them, oh well. They will come to the garbage, and bird feeders. They need to realize that the bears are just doing what is natural for them, trying to survive. Maybe if they used rubber shot from shotguns, to sting them a bit, and used dogs to chase them, they would not be so eager to enter the neighbor hood, but I doubt that would work either. Sounds like bear steaks, bear fat, and a nice rug for the fireplace, to me;)
Wayne
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People feed wild animals thinking they're doing them a favour, but they're not. I get a laugh out of some people who have wild bird feeders. I have nothing against those and there's no problem with them. But they get wrapped around the axle because house sparrows show up and monopolize the feeders and basically make a move on the feeders like the Red Army into Berlin in 1945. Then the cutesy songbirds don't come around, the mountain bluebirds and so on because there's sparrows goosestepping all over the place like an avian Wehrmacht. Well, hey, sparrows are birds. They see free food, they're all over it. You can have a Mickey D's in the middle of the desert and not a tree around and sparrows will be all over it, eating the spilled fries and living in the landscaping.
Point is, animals be they bears or sparrows are going to take the path of least resistance. Gathering food represents an expenditure of energy. You have a point of diminishing returns if you burn more calories than you gain while gathering food. Food just waiting for the taking is ripe for picking. Humans are the same way. That's why we have fast food like Taco Bell and KFC. But park a tank and troops outside of the Burger King and start carting people off to a detention camp and watch how fast people start thinking, "Hmmmm....maybe I better cook at home..." Same with bears. Park some hunters around and watch how fast the bears figure out those berries and carrion in the woods ain't so bad after all.
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All the black bears I've ever come into contact with have all ran off like a shot. Even a sow with cubs, did not hesitate to run.
The only time a bear came at me was a few years back, came at me stopped 10 yards out slammed it's front paws on the ground. I called his bluff, and he too ran off when I stood my ground. I'm not saying that's the way to do it. The only thing predictable about a bear is that they're unpredictable.
Most bears are skiddish and run. But you get the occasional few that are just grumpy.
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I wish we had more of them. It's dang near an airplane ride if I want to hunt black bear. The population here in Alabama is supposedly rising, but not to a huntable number yet. We have isolated little areas where there are a few. I have only seen two in the wild here in my life, and I spend a lot of time in the woods. Everyone that I have seen has been getting the hell out of Dodge. They seem pretty shy to me. I don't know a lot about bear behavior, but I do know that animals have to be taken one at a time, just like people. Most anything will attack you when it feels it has to - main causes being love, money, religion, and groceries. I doubt the first three mean much of anything to a bear, but that last one is probably the culprit. Don't feed the bears.
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All the black bears I've ever come into contact with have all ran off like a shot. Even a sow with cubs, did not hesitate to run.
The only time a bear came at me was a few years back, came at me stopped 10 yards out slammed it's front paws on the ground. I called his bluff, and he too ran off when I stood my ground. I'm not saying that's the way to do it. The only thing predictable about a bear is that they're unpredictable.
Most bears are skiddish and run. But you get the occasional few that are just grumpy.
Bryce; it's not they way down here. I thought I was going to have to shoot a big sow about three years ago. She just kept walking towards me even though I hollered and waved my arms. At 10 to 12 yards the safety came off of the .17HMR that had the cross hairs between her eyebrows when she finally turned and walked off.
And the woman said in an interview she forgives the bear ::), what I couldn't figure out is she let the kids go play while two were in here back yard and three were eating out of her garbage cans.
With brains like that the bear should have helped out mankind by biteing down just a little bit harder. And the seven bears that FWC shot will probably be half the season quota when they finally open the Lottery draw season. :-\
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Darwnism takes over in humans and wildlife. Maybe if it is as the article read the bear was doing a civic duty. I live in the woods literally and raise livestock. I lose critters to critters all the time. I call that paying taxes for my location. What I am saying is you cannot live among wild things and not expect a certain degree of risk. As I have said many times life is not a Disney cartoon,and the food chain will sort it's self out ALWAYS. I agree our wildlife management is flawed and dictated by emotions of which a black bear in your yard could care less about. My belief is sometimes the laws of nature are much more suited to my needs than the laws of man on our lil part of the world. In a year of low populations I may not take as much game in others well,but the respect for the wildlife is always there. It seems the big problem is loss of respect for a 200-400lb omnivore. Pastry, berries ,roadkill or half eaten pizza is all the same. Dharma was spot on,and I about fell out of my chair in convulsions. My opinion.
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Well said, wildman. This is a gated community not really that from from Disney ::). Last year was probably the first time a bear has been sited in Miami in over a hundred years. Houses are being built in all kinds of animal habitats down here and the tourist from up north can't believe that A Government Agency can't keep armadillos from digging holes in their lawn. ???
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You guys have an agency for that? ;D ;D ;D Lol.
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Don't trust your government people.
They have no idea.
For a small fee each, I will make your life just Grand.
Zuma
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It would not surprise me at all, if one those Gated huggers, makes a suggestion to the other Gated huggers, to start taking the bears into the house, till the FWC leaves. Yeah, please..... do that. " Breaking news, seems a gated community, has been wiped out, by of all things bears. Authorities are as of yet still trying to figure out how these bears were able to get into the homes so easily."
Wayne
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The bears, albeit unintentionally, pointed out the major flaw in most so-called "gated" communities. These bears are running around and the security people, if any existed, never twigged to the threat to the residents' personal safety. This is because if the security people did exist, they're just being paid a little over minimum wage and usually unarmed with little training. They're basically paid observers, not really threat responders. They got the job after applying to want ads next to want ads for every other McJob. But park the aforementioned tank and some hired private troops (aka "private military contractors") at the front gate and then you'll have a gated community worth talking about. A couple surplus tanks, I think the Russians are offering a two-for-one special on T-54s, some former Blackwater operators in full battle rattle with AR-15s, especially the more notorious ones famous for their escapades in Iraq, and concertina wire around the perimeter atop a 12 foot high fence and now we're talking. A sign at the front gate telling everyone to have a nice day but there is nothing in here worth your life and, voila! As for the bears, well, get a depredation permit from game & fish and hire some swamp thangs and hill folk to settle their hash on an as-needed basis. Have them on staff as "Wildlife Co-Existence Counsellors". It'd be a great gig for some of them. Just run a want ad. "Are YOU ready for a career as a Wildlife Co-Existence Counsellor? Sunny Fields Gated Community seeks experienced hunters able to interact in a positive but determined manner with troubled wildlife. Position pays $15.00/hr plus room and board. Parking spot for bass boat is free, plus other benefits such as 401k, health care, and weapons co-purchase plan. Cash bonuses paid commensurate to species counselled on the need for respectful behaviour. Submit completed job application plus a target showing your skill with a rifle at 100 yards to Sunny Fields Gated Community Human Resources Dept."
Think about it! Am I on to a great idea here or what?
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Every thing you guys are speculating about is happening at Lake Tahoe.They formed a Bear league to protect the bears that feed on peoples garbage and pets.there have been attacks on humans,but somehow those dont get recorded.I know a couple of these people personally.The bears are so numb to people now,that they are breaking into houses,in broad daylight,with the owners home.
Folks are required to have all this bear safe crap around their properties,that are often unsafe for the people who own them.The bear league was caught putting food out for the bears,in known hiking trails but nothing happened to them about it,but folks are fined for leaving food in their cars.
the bear league is losing support from those that previously supported them,due to property damage and loss.Some have let F&W put traps on their property to trap and transport bears and they have received, death threats and vandalism from bear league supporters.Yet these type groups still receive tax free status from our govt,instead of domestic terrorist classification.
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Two can play at that game. Death threats are illegal. A "citizens defense group" with plenty of camo, AR-15s, and a scary-looking flag (the Roman Army, Vikings, and so on are good sources for grim symbols for the flag) will ratchet it up a notch the Bear League won't miss. When someone receives a death threat or vandalism, the group shows up in front of the house to "support" the victim. The message behind group musters at the local firearms range won't be missed by them, either. Just plant a large sign with the group's flag emblem on it in front of each house and they'll think twice about vandalism there. If firearms are not cool with local law enforcement, well, arm everyone with spears. The Cold Steel Boar Spear would be a nice pick. Bullies only get away with crap when no one opposes them.
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I think tied to a tree after a bath in honey would help them get up close a fuzzy with their furry friends. ;D