The below pictures are not very good, but considering I don't have a good telephoto lens (and can hardly operate my simple-to-operate digital camera), they at least show our visitor down at the curve of our driveway.
We had a visit from a good-sized, glossy-coated, very healthy looking black bear. (Curious that hunting season for bear up here opened on September 1st, just a couple of days ago, but we haven't seen a bear on our property for years until this one showed up this morning.)
He was grazing along the edge of our small hay field. Do bears graze? That sure looked like what he was doing.A bear's sense of hearing is definitely good because we were a long way away from him but you could tell he could hear our voices when we were talking.
Then after we watched him for about 5 minutes, he must have heard something in the woods across the driveway behind him because he whipped his head in that direction and then ran pell-mell off into the woods to the left. Has he had an encounter with hunters in the last couple of days?
What a treat! :)
ReplyDeleteWe have been told a few times that there is a bear in our area. I love bears but grew up in England where the aren't any (animal) predators to worry about, so am really torn between wanting to see it, and being somewhat nervous about meeting it!
We grew up with bears in our yard. They were always more afraid of us than we were of them. They are amazing creatures.
ReplyDeleteTotally amazing!
ReplyDeleteThat is amazing! I think I would freak if we had those in our yard!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great wildlife visitor! He must have heard you are the strawberry queen and he was hoping maybe it was in season (kind of like is LOL)! We always got tons of deer close to the house opening weekend because the hunters spook them and drive them out. Kudos to your hubby for being in the right place at the right time! It's 5 o'clock.... do you know where your HONEY is? Just thought of that! Your bees are fenced in though, arent' they? I see you have another post up but I had to this one first - Loch was looking at my Reader and said "mom, she has a bear!"!
ReplyDeleteHeidi - I know what you mean! They say the bears are more afraid of us than we are of them but there have been incidents up here where someone got between a sow and her cubs and it hasn't been pretty.
ReplyDeleteSparkless - Amazing and big. Even the black bears we have around here have been documented at nearly 400 pounds!
JJ - When you see the luxurious, glossy black fur they have, you can almost understand why someone would want a bearskin rug. Almost.
Apple Pie Gal - I wonder if there are any still living in your area??
Erin - Yes, our bee hives are within an electric fenced area and within a chain link enclosure besides that.
A friend had his hive destroyed this summer by a bear. (He did not have them protected.) He salvaged some bees and set them up in a new hive on his garage roof. The bear climbed up on the roof and did the hive in for good.
Now you are just being ornery! But I did wonder and then laughed...
ReplyDeleteStop it!!
Good grief, that's a little too close for comfort!
ReplyDeleteThat beats out all of the 'critters' I have seen around my garden!
ReplyDeleteGood thing you weren't outside working in the garden when he showed up. I can't imagine being focused on gardening tasks and then to look up into the face of that guy!
Leigh and Prairie Cat - Mr. Bear was outside of an electrified fence area (the poultry pasture) which has our 7' high woven wire fence inside it surrounding the garden area. The electric fence will usually discourage a bear 'cause he investigates it by putting his wet nose on it and getting a nasty shock. Even if he got through that, he'd have to work pretty hard to get through the 7' high woven wire fence. So I wouldn't get a surprise visit from him . . . I'd hear him before he got too close!
ReplyDeleteThe bear I saw in my dad's yard was definitely grazing - on clover!
ReplyDeleteJen - Now that you jog my addled brain, I remember that. (Good golly, Miss Molly, lately I am forgetting all kinds of things and doing stoopid stuff all the time. If I didn't know I'm currently on overload, I'd be afraid I was on the slippery slope to senility.)
ReplyDelete