Off sesason critter pics
- Thread starter Tamarack
- Start date
MRBB
5 year old buck +
nice pic's thanks or sharing
here are a couple rom last few weeks or so here, was a real screwed up winter here, almost no snow, tons of rain and temps up and down like a yo yo,
going from teen to 60's over night and then back again, critters all messed up, things that should eb sleeping the winters away were out all winter this past yr
had chipmunks out all winter, a first in my memory!
the bear is a small male, he was orphaned in June last yr when someone illegally shot its mother, was about the size of a small cat and all on its own, pretty amazing he made it,
I tried to make it a den(hay bails you see) he would go in it, but would never stay, was a very very mild winter here, so pretty sure that helped him survive.
and eh so far is the first bear of this yr to be out and about here, expect to see others soon!
here are a couple rom last few weeks or so here, was a real screwed up winter here, almost no snow, tons of rain and temps up and down like a yo yo,
going from teen to 60's over night and then back again, critters all messed up, things that should eb sleeping the winters away were out all winter this past yr
had chipmunks out all winter, a first in my memory!
the bear is a small male, he was orphaned in June last yr when someone illegally shot its mother, was about the size of a small cat and all on its own, pretty amazing he made it,
I tried to make it a den(hay bails you see) he would go in it, but would never stay, was a very very mild winter here, so pretty sure that helped him survive.
and eh so far is the first bear of this yr to be out and about here, expect to see others soon!
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MRBB
5 year old buck +
here a few more for you's
I had a blanket inside the den I made, but for what ever reason he kept dragging it out!
behind hay bales I made a actual shelter out of ply wood, insulated with 6 inches of sheet foan, and then covered whole thing in 2 layers of hay bales and made an entrance
I had 3 orphaned cubs here til gun season(mother of two of them got hit by a car in Mid Nov, and the 3 all buddied up, so built the den for the 3 of them
they were ALL going in again, but never stayed long, was too warm I think, then the two brothers got shot in bear season, and just the one was left
figured I would try and help the poor guy make it thru winter!, had a hard life and I don't mind helping if I can!
he is the one in these pic's, have pic's of other too if anyone wishes to see them
I had a blanket inside the den I made, but for what ever reason he kept dragging it out!
behind hay bales I made a actual shelter out of ply wood, insulated with 6 inches of sheet foan, and then covered whole thing in 2 layers of hay bales and made an entrance
I had 3 orphaned cubs here til gun season(mother of two of them got hit by a car in Mid Nov, and the 3 all buddied up, so built the den for the 3 of them
they were ALL going in again, but never stayed long, was too warm I think, then the two brothers got shot in bear season, and just the one was left
figured I would try and help the poor guy make it thru winter!, had a hard life and I don't mind helping if I can!
he is the one in these pic's, have pic's of other too if anyone wishes to see them
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Apple Junkie
5 year old buck +
I think it's admirable that you would be concerned about these poor little orphans. These are great pics! It is interesting the cub wanted no part of your blanket and pull it out of the “den”. I just hope the artificial “den” is not too close to humans which might cause the little guy to get too comfortable with human contact… better he didn’t in my opinion. Love to see more of what you got.
MRBB
5 year old buck +
I have been working with bears a long time, in many ways
over my life time I helped a bunch of cubs along, most folks don;t know it, but a large percentage of cubs never make it past there first yr,
on average, most of the females I see here(3-4 a yr most yrs, or so),
will loose one or two cubs from there liter.
its NOT as often for me here, to have the cubs loose there mother, but it has happened several times
Bears here adapt to humans pretty good, as there living in an area where humans are and more and more often, humans are building more and more into there home lands
forcing them to learn to adapt to us humans
the problems, normally that come up, are not bears having issue's, but people that don't have the intelligence or be willing to learn to be bear safe and or bear smart.
Humans typically are the one's that cause the problems
its a common issue here in many parts of PA.
people see bears, and then TRY and get videos/pictures of them, when they do
and that can lead to worse things, like folks feeding them to get better closer pic's/video's
or just THINK its cool to feed a bear
these people MIGHT enjoy things, but maybe there neighbors don't
or worse, when these folks decide they NO longer want to feed the bears, and NOW the bears keep coming back, looking for food, and with there size, strength and sense of smell,
if they can GET to food, they many times will, from breaking bird feeders, to breaking in sheds and garages or at times even homes, to GET that food , you USED to feed them
or others property, as HUMANS again, tend to create the BAD bears , as they get labeled as, as they got conditioned by humans to easy meals
the bears just don't under stand WHY you stopped feeding them, and as such, they get themselves in trouble
same thing happens when folks that live in bear area's, don;'t follow basic rules
like how and when they put trash out, bears live by there noses and there noses are incredible
you fill a trash can up with foods and like smelling items, and a bear will just think they just found a food source!
I average about 19-22 bears here a yr, in my YARD on a daily basis, most moths out of the yr(more mild the winter longer they stay out here, even have had some that NEVER denned up at all)
my trash can, MAYBE gets hit once a yr IF that
I have never had a lick of damage to my home or property, nor my neighbors
we follow simple basic rules, and we learned to live with the bears, rather than try and fight things
after all, bears were here before us, why should we complain about them being here, when we moved into there homes!
Bears are just big animals trying to live, most folks fear things that are larger and or they know nothing about, but bears are not really a dangerous animal if you understand them, any more so than any other animal in the woods.
bear attacks are RARE, your a few thousand times more likely to be attacked by your PET than a bear! to be honest!
I couldn;t tell you how many times I have been within a few feet or closer to bears of all sizes and ages, over my life time, from crawling in dens WITH bears to helping injured one's
and not a bad tale to tell here on interactions, I know it only takes one, to change things, but, as I said, knowledge is power, same with experience level
I wouldn;t think I knew how to do brain surgery after watching a video or looking at pictures and wouldn;t suggest anyone go and get close to bears base don pic's or video's from me , or words I type!
as I said I have decades of experience with bears
over my life time I helped a bunch of cubs along, most folks don;t know it, but a large percentage of cubs never make it past there first yr,
on average, most of the females I see here(3-4 a yr most yrs, or so),
will loose one or two cubs from there liter.
its NOT as often for me here, to have the cubs loose there mother, but it has happened several times
Bears here adapt to humans pretty good, as there living in an area where humans are and more and more often, humans are building more and more into there home lands
forcing them to learn to adapt to us humans
the problems, normally that come up, are not bears having issue's, but people that don't have the intelligence or be willing to learn to be bear safe and or bear smart.
Humans typically are the one's that cause the problems
its a common issue here in many parts of PA.
people see bears, and then TRY and get videos/pictures of them, when they do
and that can lead to worse things, like folks feeding them to get better closer pic's/video's
or just THINK its cool to feed a bear
these people MIGHT enjoy things, but maybe there neighbors don't
or worse, when these folks decide they NO longer want to feed the bears, and NOW the bears keep coming back, looking for food, and with there size, strength and sense of smell,
if they can GET to food, they many times will, from breaking bird feeders, to breaking in sheds and garages or at times even homes, to GET that food , you USED to feed them
or others property, as HUMANS again, tend to create the BAD bears , as they get labeled as, as they got conditioned by humans to easy meals
the bears just don't under stand WHY you stopped feeding them, and as such, they get themselves in trouble
same thing happens when folks that live in bear area's, don;'t follow basic rules
like how and when they put trash out, bears live by there noses and there noses are incredible
you fill a trash can up with foods and like smelling items, and a bear will just think they just found a food source!
I average about 19-22 bears here a yr, in my YARD on a daily basis, most moths out of the yr(more mild the winter longer they stay out here, even have had some that NEVER denned up at all)
my trash can, MAYBE gets hit once a yr IF that
I have never had a lick of damage to my home or property, nor my neighbors
we follow simple basic rules, and we learned to live with the bears, rather than try and fight things
after all, bears were here before us, why should we complain about them being here, when we moved into there homes!
Bears are just big animals trying to live, most folks fear things that are larger and or they know nothing about, but bears are not really a dangerous animal if you understand them, any more so than any other animal in the woods.
bear attacks are RARE, your a few thousand times more likely to be attacked by your PET than a bear! to be honest!
I couldn;t tell you how many times I have been within a few feet or closer to bears of all sizes and ages, over my life time, from crawling in dens WITH bears to helping injured one's
and not a bad tale to tell here on interactions, I know it only takes one, to change things, but, as I said, knowledge is power, same with experience level
I wouldn;t think I knew how to do brain surgery after watching a video or looking at pictures and wouldn;t suggest anyone go and get close to bears base don pic's or video's from me , or words I type!
as I said I have decades of experience with bears
MRBB
5 year old buck +
if anyone wishes to hear a bear story ,
I will share one, as this is a rather recent one,of sorts
as for orphaned cubs, I recently lost one of my Fav, if thats possible, orphaned cubs, I helped raise, a female, I named her Peanut(don't normally name any she was unique )
she showed up at my place at about 4 months old,all alone, she followed another female with cubs, how she found my place!
However, the other female, didn;t like her
tried to kill her several times, and me being ME< I seemed to have to step in
I couldn;t tell you how many times that summer/fall, I got in between the two , to keep the older female from killing this cub!
this cub came to know me as a safety net I think, and she always remembered this, thru her whole life!
human contact and interaction, unfortunately is un avoidable when your dealing with the young like this.
her first yr, was a hard ride, being orphaned and all , but at the end of her first yr, she meet up with a 2 yr old orphaned cub from 2 yrs earlier!
he was a mis fit of sorts, but the two of them teamed up, him showing her the ropes of the area and the two of them were together 24/7, which for me was a great thing to see, as its hard for them to KNOW to den without a mother, so, having an experienced bear would help this!
Sadly, come fall bear season(mid Nov) her buddy got shot by a local hunter(my place is surrounded by a hunting clubs lands, few thousand acres )
so, she was back at my place and all alone again!
she made it thru that first winter just fine, but sadly, in early spring, she got hit by a vehicle, ended up with a broken compound fractured ankle!
a whole new problem to live with.
she again was friendly with me, and with hep of a Vet friend of mine and me taking some ricks,
I was giving her some med almost daily or when ever here(this went on for 2+yrs too)and even getting some on the wound itself, again, she trusted me pretty well here, and YES I could touch and handle her , she was far from a pet like deal, , but again, she developed some connection with me ,
so, I was able to help her mend things, BUT being a lone younger bear, she would get chased by older females and she re broke that darn ankle a few times over that yr!
wasn't sure how things would play out!
she made it thru another winter, came into spring the following yr, with 3 cubs too boot, mid summer, she found herself in a STATE bear trap, a dozen miles or so from me,
everyone in the area kind of knew this bear, and everyone knew she had 3 cubs
the trap, managed to catch her and ONE cub, locals all knew again she had 3 cubs,m told game dept folks this,
BUT they didnl;t care, they took her and 1 cub, 60 miles away to relocate her(area she was trapped had a few bears tearing up trash, so they were moving bears out of area, she wasn;t one but they didn;t know this, or doubt they would have cared if they did)
a few hours later her other two cubs were run over by a vehicle near the trap site!
about two weeks after she was moved, she showed back up at my place, her home range!
without the lone cub, she lost it on the way back, and she again still had a broken like ankle, so a long walk on that!
the ankle, I manage along with time and mother nature, healed up finally pretty solid by winter, and the following spring, she showed up again , doing pretty good, and even had another cub again, a single , very rare for a bear to have cubs back to back ,
she again was limping bad on the ankle, I think it healed wrong while wintering
and she was again being picked on by another older female with cubs, that would chase her often, she could fight well, with the bad ankle
she moved out of area for a few months, and came back towards fall, minus the cub> no clue what happened to it?
but ankle seemed better, or as good as it was getting IMO
she went into that winter about as good looking as she ever was, pushing a easy 350+ lbs, VERY large for a female black bear!
she showed up the following spring with 2 cubs
again, something extremely rare, as a fact something I never seen before, having cubs 3 yrs in a row now!
she was now as large as she ever was and no other females would pick on her, she was finally, a real adult and the other female bear(same one these two grew up together more or less, only, other female was 3-4 yrs older)
both these bears have been at my place/area with cubs , and both bears knew each other very well, LOL they now finally respected each other, no more conflicts ever, as a fact, the two had , two cubs each last yr, and they were so used to each other, both sets of cubs would play together, and hang out with each other , again a rare things IMO!
then come fall, in Nov, my orphaned cub from above, I named Peanut, ended up getting hit by another vehicle, a few miles from my place,
only this time, she died! leaving her two cubs behind.
I helped load her on the state truck.(she was ear tagged when she was trapped I forgot to mention)
I managed to find her cubs and got them back to my place, as again, they would be soon facing there first winter alone. not a easy thing on a cub but being brothers, two of them, that Up'd the odds , even better, when they got back to my place, they actually meet up with the Lone orphaned cub I had here, and the 3 of them were all buddy buddy, hanging together in a group of 3
and my other female with cubs, was sort of watching out for the TWO cubs, she didn;t like the single one , she would attack and chase him up tree's or out of my place
I think she took tot the two cubs , due to having been about them as they grew up, and maybe even respect for there mother, as they had a LOT of yrs together
I even seen her let them nurse off her! cubs NOT her own !
BUT come hunting season, , these TWO brother orphaned cubs, got shot!,they were maybe 60 lbs each, legal, but??
so, the lone orphan was back to being alone
But peanut was one of my orphaned cubs, she made it 6 yrs being raised and a LOT of human contact,
she never forgot me, , she was even known to sit on my deck with me just hanging out near me!
some times she would go MIA for a few weeks or even months, but she always came back to my yard(food plots and growing foods here,are what attract bears and other critters to MY place and I enjoy seeing them)
She had 6 cubs, over her life time, sadly not a one made it past its first yr!
I think she did pretty well considering all her bad luck with being orphaned, getting hit by the first vehicle and her injury, and dodging hunters for so long here!
so, not bad for for being raised by a Human of sorts
I don't have any pictures handy of her as a cub, but here are a coup,e of her as an adult, injury and well, her demise.
sorry if I HI jacked this tread too?
I will share one, as this is a rather recent one,of sorts
as for orphaned cubs, I recently lost one of my Fav, if thats possible, orphaned cubs, I helped raise, a female, I named her Peanut(don't normally name any she was unique )
she showed up at my place at about 4 months old,all alone, she followed another female with cubs, how she found my place!
However, the other female, didn;t like her
tried to kill her several times, and me being ME< I seemed to have to step in
I couldn;t tell you how many times that summer/fall, I got in between the two , to keep the older female from killing this cub!
this cub came to know me as a safety net I think, and she always remembered this, thru her whole life!
human contact and interaction, unfortunately is un avoidable when your dealing with the young like this.
her first yr, was a hard ride, being orphaned and all , but at the end of her first yr, she meet up with a 2 yr old orphaned cub from 2 yrs earlier!
he was a mis fit of sorts, but the two of them teamed up, him showing her the ropes of the area and the two of them were together 24/7, which for me was a great thing to see, as its hard for them to KNOW to den without a mother, so, having an experienced bear would help this!
Sadly, come fall bear season(mid Nov) her buddy got shot by a local hunter(my place is surrounded by a hunting clubs lands, few thousand acres )
so, she was back at my place and all alone again!
she made it thru that first winter just fine, but sadly, in early spring, she got hit by a vehicle, ended up with a broken compound fractured ankle!
a whole new problem to live with.
she again was friendly with me, and with hep of a Vet friend of mine and me taking some ricks,
I was giving her some med almost daily or when ever here(this went on for 2+yrs too)and even getting some on the wound itself, again, she trusted me pretty well here, and YES I could touch and handle her , she was far from a pet like deal, , but again, she developed some connection with me ,
so, I was able to help her mend things, BUT being a lone younger bear, she would get chased by older females and she re broke that darn ankle a few times over that yr!
wasn't sure how things would play out!
she made it thru another winter, came into spring the following yr, with 3 cubs too boot, mid summer, she found herself in a STATE bear trap, a dozen miles or so from me,
everyone in the area kind of knew this bear, and everyone knew she had 3 cubs
the trap, managed to catch her and ONE cub, locals all knew again she had 3 cubs,m told game dept folks this,
BUT they didnl;t care, they took her and 1 cub, 60 miles away to relocate her(area she was trapped had a few bears tearing up trash, so they were moving bears out of area, she wasn;t one but they didn;t know this, or doubt they would have cared if they did)
a few hours later her other two cubs were run over by a vehicle near the trap site!
about two weeks after she was moved, she showed back up at my place, her home range!
without the lone cub, she lost it on the way back, and she again still had a broken like ankle, so a long walk on that!
the ankle, I manage along with time and mother nature, healed up finally pretty solid by winter, and the following spring, she showed up again , doing pretty good, and even had another cub again, a single , very rare for a bear to have cubs back to back ,
she again was limping bad on the ankle, I think it healed wrong while wintering
and she was again being picked on by another older female with cubs, that would chase her often, she could fight well, with the bad ankle
she moved out of area for a few months, and came back towards fall, minus the cub> no clue what happened to it?
but ankle seemed better, or as good as it was getting IMO
she went into that winter about as good looking as she ever was, pushing a easy 350+ lbs, VERY large for a female black bear!
she showed up the following spring with 2 cubs
again, something extremely rare, as a fact something I never seen before, having cubs 3 yrs in a row now!
she was now as large as she ever was and no other females would pick on her, she was finally, a real adult and the other female bear(same one these two grew up together more or less, only, other female was 3-4 yrs older)
both these bears have been at my place/area with cubs , and both bears knew each other very well, LOL they now finally respected each other, no more conflicts ever, as a fact, the two had , two cubs each last yr, and they were so used to each other, both sets of cubs would play together, and hang out with each other , again a rare things IMO!
then come fall, in Nov, my orphaned cub from above, I named Peanut, ended up getting hit by another vehicle, a few miles from my place,
only this time, she died! leaving her two cubs behind.
I helped load her on the state truck.(she was ear tagged when she was trapped I forgot to mention)
I managed to find her cubs and got them back to my place, as again, they would be soon facing there first winter alone. not a easy thing on a cub but being brothers, two of them, that Up'd the odds , even better, when they got back to my place, they actually meet up with the Lone orphaned cub I had here, and the 3 of them were all buddy buddy, hanging together in a group of 3
and my other female with cubs, was sort of watching out for the TWO cubs, she didn;t like the single one , she would attack and chase him up tree's or out of my place
I think she took tot the two cubs , due to having been about them as they grew up, and maybe even respect for there mother, as they had a LOT of yrs together
I even seen her let them nurse off her! cubs NOT her own !
BUT come hunting season, , these TWO brother orphaned cubs, got shot!,they were maybe 60 lbs each, legal, but??
so, the lone orphan was back to being alone
But peanut was one of my orphaned cubs, she made it 6 yrs being raised and a LOT of human contact,
she never forgot me, , she was even known to sit on my deck with me just hanging out near me!
some times she would go MIA for a few weeks or even months, but she always came back to my yard(food plots and growing foods here,are what attract bears and other critters to MY place and I enjoy seeing them)
She had 6 cubs, over her life time, sadly not a one made it past its first yr!
I think she did pretty well considering all her bad luck with being orphaned, getting hit by the first vehicle and her injury, and dodging hunters for so long here!
so, not bad for for being raised by a Human of sorts
I don't have any pictures handy of her as a cub, but here are a coup,e of her as an adult, injury and well, her demise.
sorry if I HI jacked this tread too?
Attachments
MRBB
5 year old buck +
thanks,
throughout my life I actually heard that many times,
and many that know me, call me the " bear guy" that know me as well!
I have always had a fascination with wildlife and, bears in particular I guess
one of the things I am bless ed with I guess is being able to know many bears for long periods of time and getting to see them grow, I have a few bears here that I have seen grow from cubs to 15-18 yr olds and still kicking!
and that's pretty darn cool for me, just never get to see many deer or other critters make it that long here!
Last year I did take a huge hit on bears, I lost almost 15 here from poachers/vehicles and hunters( I nomrally loose about 2-3 a yr, so last yr was a HUGE leap in killed bears here)
hunters I am fine with,(for not, but do think my State of PA< has gone over board with the seasons, they really added a LOT of days to things last yr, and I already seen the results here, I get lowering numbers, but going from like a week of hunting dates, to almost 4 weeks, is a HUGE jump, and IMO< its about selling tags more than lowering numbers, PA< lost a lot of hunters the past decade, and this is way of getting $$$ back, selling bear tags, offering DEER hunter and such, more chances to kill a bear, sells more bear tags!
and $$ seems to always be more important over bear/wildlife quality here IMO )
but it does bother me to hear of poachers/out of season kills, cheaters piss me off and those that kill for NOTHING even more so!
as a fact, a bear was just shot not too far from me this past week , according to local news!
we have a lot of the good ones and all of the bad ones in my neck of the woods - rattlesnake, cottonmouth, copperhead, and coral. Coral snakes are very rare - the rest, fairly common - especially cottonmouths. Yellow bellied watersnake like in the picture are often mistaken for cottonmouths.
