The rabbits have a good hutch. Today we had a visit from the first 'problem bear' of the year. We've been extremely fortunate this year to have had only skulking, skittish night-time bear visits, and very few of those. (Evidence via scat only.) This morning Sophie was half way to the rabbit hutch when she saw a large black hulk was, er, already visiting the rabbits.Sophie got back to the house without the bear being alerted. We went out together through our very squeaky bang-y front door and the bear didn't spook at all. He was having a good look through the rabbit-manure bin, having pulled it out from beneath the hutch. We yelled and he didn't leave. I grabbed the air rifle and started pumping it up. That weird snapping sound didn't spook him at all. He moved towards the chickens, who thankfully hadn't been let out yet. They were hunkering down inside their UPPCC being sensibly very quiet.
I'm thrilled that our animals were safe and unmolested. We seem to have really solved the large-predator problem with our secure animal housing.
The bear was not spooked by pellet zings nearby, but when I nailed him with in the flank he finally took notice. But he didn't dash off -- he just sat down and spent some time inspecting his flank. That's not a reaction I've ever had in the past. Kind of scary how unspookable he was. We yelled some more and he eventually ambled off.
Wow! He really was unfazed. Hope he doesn't plan on being a regular. Glad all was mostly uneventful!-K
ReplyDeleteBoy I hate it when they get that bold. We don't have an air gun, we rely on rock pitching during daylight hours when they get bold, however the odd time we've come across one who will just keep walking at you after getting struck by a rock. Some just can't be scared off. That being said we were having a relatively bear free year ourselves, except the past two nights we've had our own skittish visitor. I sleep light and hear him, when I get up to investigate he must hear me too and off he goes. He must be a fair size judging by the piles he has been leaving us lol. When I was a kid we called bear scat "pancakes" rofl. Hope he decides your menagerie is unattainable to him and so moves along . . . .
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