BEARS!

[Guest farrell]

I was out fishing for some smallies yesterday, and when me and my buddy were walking to the spot down a railway line we were suprised to see a bear staring at us about 100 feet away. we just stopped and it turned off into the bush. What suprised us is that we were fishing pretty close to kakebeka and there were lots of people close by swimming, fishing, hiking so we were just suprised to see a bear that close to people. Just wondering if anyone else has seen many bears this year.

Farrell

[fisherdude 69]

i saw one the other day on the road to chipewa. it jus stood about 10 feet off the road in the bush looking at me for quite a while.

[Guest TerryK]

This doesn't surprise me. Since the cancellation of the spring bear hunt, their numbers have increased by a large percentage and they are being crowded out of the wood into more human-inhabited areas. Cubs are being born into a world where humans are not really feared but just looked at cautiously. I've seen many incidences where bears come onto decks and into yards in urban areas (like mine in Current River!) and have virtually no fear of humans of dogs. Last summer a small female pulled a bag of garbage from my trash cans and proceeded to sift through it while my next door neighbors 120lb Husky barked at it from behind a fence no more than 5 feet away. It didn't even give the dog a passing glance. This bravado scares me for the future. One of these days black bears are going to start seeing humans as prey and I dread the day when one takes a child from a yard. I believe it will happen sooner than later. I hope I'm not right on this one.

[mitch 7]

I agree, a guy I know went out for a week I can't remeber where he was but he was camping at different lakes every other night during the week he said there count was over 20 bears that they had seen, a few scares with a mama bear and her cubs at one of the lakes, it wont be long before these bear start lickin there lips lookin at humans, but like Terry said i hope I'm wrong!

[Guest Wes]

My parents had one out at there house a while back. My Dad was standing at the corner of the house watching it eat apples off the tree. Then out of the corner of his eye he spots their cat, crouched in attack mode, creeping up behind the bear. He said it was the funniest thing, The cats ears were back and he was ready. The bear eventually turned around a saw the cat, then took off like a shot. There is no rodents, birds, etc. within 2 kms of their house so I guess he thought he would take down all the bears too.

So, ya need to get yourself a cat and you will be safe.

I remember before the spring hunt was canceled you would be lucky to see 2 or 3 bears in a summer. There was no problem with the bear population then. They weren't in any danger at all. But not that the spring hunt is canceled I see at least 1 bear every fishing trip. Even on evening outings out to Little Trout Bay.

[Guest farrell]

ya the number of bears i saw on opening weekend going up to armstrong was amazing, never seen so many in such short period of time. I think its time we tried to get a handle on them before something bad does happen

[crisop 65]

we have a camp on nelson road by pass lake. we came back last night after a fire and supper, we saw 9 bears from crystal beach to KOA on the side of the road and not one was scared when i stopped next to them and honked the horn

[Guest Big Moose]

Try working in the bush,Sometimes you can't even do maintenance on the machines for bears sneeking up on you it's happened to me quite a few times in the last while.To get rid on them on short notice I use bear bangers or fire works called cherry bombs..

[wampa 18]

I just give them a case of lead poisoning. They get one warning and then it's good night. I tried calling the bear hotline once and got some chick in Ottawa wanting to know what street I was on. They just don't get it so now it's shoot and shovel.

[Guest a nonny mouse]

we were out fishin' a week or so ago and noticed a rather large bear swimming towards our campsite....where we left our two dogs, all of our food and ofcourse, the beverages. So we decided to "re-route him" and successfully got him turned around and heading the other way. He was absolutely NOT concerned about us being right up beside him with the boat. He didn't make any attempt to swim faster or grumble at all....just kept a slow and steady pace towards shore.

[arvey 154]

i haven't ventured out camping that much this year due to work,last year i was in the kopka area and there was bear crap all over the main highway.when you went by the old ones would just sit there,but i noticed the young ones would run back into the bush.the part that really gets me is we ran accross a people feeding them from the car.no wonder they have no fear.

arvey

[Guest farrell]

I just give them a case of lead poisoning. They get one warning and then it's good night. I tried calling the bear hotline once and got some chick in Ottawa wanting to know what street I was on. They just don't get it so now it's shoot and shovel.

Ya it seems that this is what it has come down too, my uncle lives down hwy 61 and in the last 5 years they have had to shoot dozens of bears. what scares me is that everyone who lives out there has big dogs, and the bears dont even notice. My uncle has had them trying to get in his house in the middle of the night. So it seems that the old shoot and shovel is the only successfull way of controlly their numbers......hmmm to bad we didnt have an anuual hunt.