Black Bear this Morning

AKBill

AKBill

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AKBill
I was laughing this morning as I returned home after plugging in my preheater for the plane. 6:30am pulled into the driveway and saw a black bear in the neighbors yard. Thought to myself better stay in the truck to see what this bear is up to.

Well the bear effortlessly put two paws on the neighbors 6 foot fence and jumped up. Teetering on the top of the fence like "a cat would". Hung out for 10 to 15 seconds sitting on top of the fence then jumped down to get into the neighbors garbage can.

Made my move into the house, went upstairs and watched the bear make a mess of the neighbors side yard. That's one reason I keep the garbage cans in the garage..:)

By the way I had a nice 1 1/2 hour flight up Lynn Cannel...:)

edit: temp was 32F at 6am.
 
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I only saw one blackie in the Juneau area, and that was on Douglass Island. As soon as she saw my wife and me, it took off. Not even enough time to think about a picture.

Temp here at my house was 35f Friday morning....and 84 by mid-afternoon.

But then again I am more than a mile higher in altitude than you are...
 
Zeldman said:
Temp here at my house was 35f Friday morning....and 84 by mid-afternoon.
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Lucky to hit 60F today.. But, the Sport with only a 150hp runs good at sea level and cool temps..:)

Cut the lawn this morning and snacked out on some berries growing in the side yard as I mowed...great to have a snack as you work...:rolleyes:
 
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AKBill said:
Lucky to hit 60F today.. But, the Sport with only a 150hp runs good at sea level and cool temps..:)
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I guess you won't be visiting me here anytime soon. The density altitude in 8800 right now with a temperature at 82.

We had a lot of berries growing in the yard when I lived on Fritz Cove rd. My wife really misses that.
 
On my return to Juneau this morning I reported St James Bay 2,500, Juneau on 122.9.

Someone said "is that you Bill".

"Yah this is Bill B","

"Hey this is Joe in the Lear, 500 feet above 1 mile off your right wing". Joe flies for a local Medevac outfit, guess he was coming back from Anchorage.

Really cool watching the Lear fly past and make the approach into Juneau.

Great day so far, think I'll grill some steaks and make scalloped potatoes and a salad for dinner..:)
 
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And here I thought this thread was going to be about chain restaurants featuring breakfast items.
 
Had black bears often when I lived in N Ga, just outside Blue Ridge.
 
Sac Arrow said:
And here I thought this thread was going to be about chain restaurants featuring breakfast items.
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Breakfast for me is salmon or crab, or salmon and crab with beacon...:) Forgot home fries..:rolleyes:

edit: wife says I can eat anything anytime. Guess that's what Navy mid-rats do to you.
 
Pretty non-aggressive around here.
The other ursidae are another story, I understand.
 
About 7 years ago I found mountain lion tracks in the snow on my front porch. Lions are more numerous and dangerous than the black bears here.

About 2 years ago I saw a wolf run across the road in front of my truck, a little closer to town. There is not supposed to be wolves in this area according to the experts. It was a Gray wolf very similar to the ones I saw up in north Alaska.

Don't forget yer bear bells......

bear_bells.gif
 
AKBill said:
They introduced the wolf back about 20 years ago in a good portion of Alaska. I sure wish the bears would keep the wolf under control. Not happening. The wolf population is really taking it's toll on Moose, Deer, and Caribou..:(
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Where I am the deer are pests, there are now so many of them, and I get moose wandering through the yard following the heavily treed swale that runs down to the creek in the valley below. We are one valley over from prime grizzly habitat,and the coyotes and cougars do a good job managing the outdoor housecat population (some people never learn).
 
GRG55 said:
Where I am the deer are pests, there are now so many of them, and I get moose wandering through the yard following the heavily treed swale that runs down to the creek in the valley below. We are one valley over from prime grizzly habitat,and the coyotes and cougars do a good job managing the outdoor housecat population (some people never learn).
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A friend who lives in Montana said they introduced wolf back into the area. The thing was it was a Canadian wolf not the wolf that was normal to the area. He said the wolf they introduced was much bigger and has devastated the Elk population. Told me a story about 200 Elk that were found dead due to the wolves..:(
 
Would you have even posting this if the offender had been a white bear? :skeptical:
 
AKBill said:
I was laughing this morning as I returned home after plugging in my preheater for the plane. 6:30am pulled into the driveway and saw a black bear in the neighbors yard. Thought to myself better stay in the truck to see what this bear is up to.

Well the bear effortlessly put two paws on the neighbors 6 foot fence and jumped up. Teetering on the top of the fence like "a cat would". Hung out for 10 to 15 seconds sitting on top of the fence then jumped down to get into the neighbors garbage can.

Made my move into the house, went upstairs and watched the bear make a mess of the neighbors side yard. That's one reason I keep the garbage cans in the garage..:)

By the way I had a nice 1 1/2 hour flight up Lynn Cannel...:)

edit: temp was 32F at 6am.
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I'm glad I don't live next to you! When bears are prowling my neighbors yards I run them off. My neighbors do the same.
 
Didn't have a lot of time between the time I saw the bear and it was over the fence. Take it or leave it...:D
 
AKBill said:
A friend who lives in Montana said they introduced wolf back into the area. The thing was it was a Canadian wolf not the wolf that was normal to the area. He said the wolf they introduced was much bigger and has devastated the Elk population. Told me a story about 200 Elk that were found dead due to the wolves..:(
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The grey wolves were native to this whole region. The only wolf I know that is bigger is the MacKenzie Valley wolves, but I don't think that is what was re-introduced in this area. I've never heard of mass killings like that by wolves. That would be a lot of unnecessary work for animals that hunt to eat.

We have them all around here and you have to work damn hard and spend a lot of time in the back country on foot or horseback to ever see one. Now that I have a small taildragger I might get lucky and see a few from the air. The biggest issue with them is not wildlife but they get used to the easy prey of taking down cattle, especially during calving season. If they are outside the protected areas of the parks they are fair game for the ranchers, so I don't think this region is ever going to see any appreciable wolf population again.
 
GRG55 said:
The grey wolves were native to this whole region.
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I will see Travis on Monday and get back to you on what they saw. He said the mountain side was covered in blood and there were 200 dead Elk. That's what I know..
 
Now that it's autumn we can expect lots of bear sightings locally. A couple of weeks ago the family I rent from reported evidence of a bear in their (our) yard, droppings and some overturned trash barrels. A woman driving down the road as I returned from a hike today said they had a bear in their yard the last few nights, warned me to watch out for them. Well, I always do. The one bear I saw since moving here was a year ago today, north of here near Morrisville, but they are all over Vermont and I expect to encounter them anywhere.
 
azure said:
Now that it's autumn we can expect lots of bear sightings locally. A couple of weeks ago the family I rent from reported evidence of a bear in their (our) yard, droppings and some overturned trash barrels. A woman driving down the road as I returned from a hike today said they had a bear in their yard the last few nights, warned me to watch out for them. Well, I always do. The one bear I saw since moving here was a year ago today, north of here near Morrisville, but they are all over Vermont and I expect to encounter them anywhere.
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upload_2018-9-23_17-32-27.jpeg
 
AKBill said:
I was laughing this morning as I returned home after plugging in my preheater for the plane.
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You have to deal with pre-heaters. I have to deal with sweat and hot-starts at 7 in the morning after taxiing for fuel.

We had a bald eagle give us a scare coming home this morning. But the guy avoided us at the last second. There was a buzzard a few weeks ago that wasn't so agile. He paid for it with his life, but left us a souvenir on the wing. A small dent on the leading edge, and blood and feathers smashed into one of the seams. We were right over a subdivision. I hope the buzzard didn't drop on someone's head.

But when we got to altitude, it was glorious. First over the Atlantic, and about an hour later over the Gulf of Mexico.
 
Wolves don't hunt to eat. They kill for sport. Shoot them all as far as I'm concerned. I'll do my part.
 
JOhnH said:
A small dent on the leading edge, and blood and feathers smashed into one of the seams. We were right over a subdivision. I hope the buzzard didn't drop on someone's head.
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What type of plane? What altitude? I've come close to hitting an eagle sure glad we both turned away at the right time and in the right direction.
 
Stewartb said:
Wolves don't hunt to eat. They kill for sport. Shoot them all as far as I'm concerned. I'll do my part.
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That's what Travis told me about the wolves killing the Elk. The locals were very upset with what they saw. Don't know if it was publicized I'll try to find a link if there is one.
 
According to someone who lives where they live? ********. Bears, birds, Coyotes take quick care of abandoned kills.
 
bflynn said:
According to someone who has studied the behavior, the wolves will come back in the winter and eat the frozen corpses. It isn't sport, it's prepping.

https://www.outsideonline.com/2066881/truth-about-wolf-surplus-killing-survival-not-sport
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I saw an article that showed Grizzlies no longer hibernating because they were able to feed on wolf-kill carcasses. As far as the killing, if they’re like dogs then they do it out of sport or maybe instinct. Whenever loose dogs form packs around here, they are prone to killing livestock. It doesn’t seem to be for food because they don’t eat them.
 
F—k wolves. Kill them all. We have pictures to see what they looked like.
 
Predators are a part of a healthy ecosystem, and healthy ecosystems have ways of managing predators. Let 'em be.
A healthy stable wolf pack will behave differently than a pack of unrelated desperate strays. Animals exhibiting desperate behavior means ecosystem in trouble, and the solution is not managing with the sole goal of having less of them.
And wolves are not the same as dogs; don't extrapolate from one to the other.
 
Go visit Unimak. Define healthy. A few miles away on the mainland the state used predator control and the Caribou are recovering. History has shown that wolves will kill everything until they have no food and the population starves. Humans have the reasoning and ability to manage the long game.

F—k wolves. The only redeeming quality is they make nice pelts.
 
Predator control is a very controversial subject. Take the wild bore/pigs in the SW. A vast amount of damage to crops are attributed to the large number of wild pigs. No predators to control the wild pigs.

Wolves do more harm to deer, elk, moose and caribou populations than any other predator. I've talked with folks all over the country and where the wolf was re-introduced the opinion is the wolf has hurt the population of other game.

There will never be a happy medium. Controlling the predator population is something everyone should be concerned with. IMHO
 
AKBill said:
What type of plane? What altitude? I've come close to hitting an eagle sure glad we both turned away at the right time and in the right direction.
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It was in a Bonanza V35, so it was a solid airplane. We were around 2000 ft for 7000 ft, so we were climbing around 1,000/min with about 110 kts forward airspeed.
 
Sad news, last week there was a bear mauling were I work. An 18 year old man was mauled/attacked by a brown bear, sad to say he did not survive the attack. I did not know the young man. I feel bad for his family, he came to Alaska to work and lost his life. May the young man Rest in Pease.
 
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