The Bears Come A-Visiting….

We got a call at 1:30 PM on Tuesday afternoon from the farm 2 doors down. It seems they had left their garage door open and the local momma bear and last year’s cubs had come to check it out. They have stored bird seed in there in the past and she has found it before.

They chased her off by banging on pots and let us know she was headed our way. She had gone out behind their barn and headed north across the neighbor’s field to our south. She came across our middle pasture and followed the lane along its north side towards the house.

The piglets were probably inside asleep. The barrier was enough to deter the bears.

At the gate into the yard, about 75’ from the house

By the signature oak and the picnic table about 40’ from the house

My husband is on the back steps to the gardens taking these photos. He’d shut the door as our elderly cat with dementia had decided she MUST go out NOW. Next thing I hear is Slam! She’s gone out the back door to the wood shed. I zip over and she’s still on the steps. I manage to grab her and in she goes, mad as all get out! Screen door latched shut!

Cubs by the cold frame

Apparently the momma bear looked into the cold frame then kept going.

Momma bear under the clothesline 30’ from the house

Cubs right behind her

Checking out the stand for the foliar barrel

Good thing we didn’t set it up last week!

We’ve seen this momma bear for many years. Sometimes she has 2 sets of cubs, last year’s and this year’s.

Off to terrorize the horses at the stable next door….

The trees behind the bears is the swamp and on the other side of it, about 100’ away is the bears’ super-highway that they’ve used since we built here in 1983. I expect it has been in use for decades before that, perhaps even centuries.

When the stable next door was built 2 years ago, they had no idea what created the well worn path there, and never asked. So they built their house on it. Now they are worried about the bears and their little daughter…