Bear becoming a nuisance

[Darrell]

I've run the same bear off from my deer feeder a couple of times this morning. Honestly, I don't mind the thing coming around for a little corn, I enjoy seeing bears and think they're beautiful animals. But "something" knocked my last feeder down and tore it up, probably the same culprit. 

My wife spotted it early this morning, so I went outside and yelled at it to get it to leave. He came back an hour or so later, so this time I put a few .45 rounds into the ground, and he left much more quickly than the first time.  

My neighbor has a small corn plot, and he told me that he went outside one morning and found a bear sitting on its butt, taking an ear of corn, eating it, then scootching down to the next stalk for the next ear. I'd have liked to have seen that.

So, apart from not feeding the deer at all, is there a good strategy to deter bears from the feeder?  I've thought of a low electric fence, but my wife and I enjoy seeing the deer and we don't want to discourage them. Maybe I should anchor the feeder's legs into the ground with concrete to make it harder for Yogi to tip it over.

[Shorty]

Is it a gravity  feeder or electric thrower?  If its a thrower maybe try  a few boards with nails about 3in apart placed in front of the feeder to deter them from stepping too close.  Deer should be able to step through it if they want to get closer to the feeder.

[Darrell]

Thanks, Shorty, sounds like an idea worth trying. It's an electric thrower.

Edited yesterday at 03:50 PM by Darrell

[krunchnik]

My Dad had a bear that was destroying his garden-

Sitting in the middle and eating what ever he could find-

My Dad didn't put up with pests eating our food-

So he fixed it permanently-

This was better than 55 years ago and we relied on that garden for quite a bit of our winter food-

I believe the word was sausage-bear sausage-

[Darrell]

He's back for the third time today. Sorry about the pic, not that good, but I was using a fairly long lens.

Edited 22 hours ago by Darrell

[krunchnik]

5 minutes ago, Darrell said:

He's back for the third time today. Sorry about the pic, not that good, but I was using a fairly long lense.

He is not going away without using some very violent tactics-

He knows where the food is easy pickings and there is only trapping and removing to a different local-

OR???

[Alleycat72]

Rubber buckshot 

[chances R]

call twra

[Darrell]

13 minutes ago, Alleycat72 said:

Rubber buckshot 

Or maybe birdshot.

[peejman]

Leave the feeder empty for a couple weeks. It'll move on. 

If it's a nuisance and destroying property, call twra and they'll come trap it and relocate it.  

[Sleep profit]

If you put up a feeder you are inviting animals in. All animals wanted and unwanted As long as as there’s food no stopping it 

[gary_boom]

He is smarter that the average bear.

[Darrell]

Just now, gary_boom said:

He is smarter that the average bear.

He's not very big. I'm betting mama bear kicked him out this spring and he's trying to find a new home. 

30 minutes ago, peejman said:

If it's a nuisance and destroying property, call twra and they'll come trap it and relocate it.  

He's only a nuisance in that he pulled down one feeder already and tore it up. I share a property line with the Cattoossa Wildlife area, so I will just get another bear if this one is removed. My main thing is to prevent him tearing up the feeder.

[A.J. Holst]

4 hours ago, chances R said:

call twra

They will come out, trap and relocate.

My neighbor's son is an officer in the Knoxville area, they love doing stuff like this.

[chances R]

If you shoot a bear, especially around a feeder, you will get into more trouble than if you shot a person.

[Darrell]

22 minutes ago, chances R said:

If you shoot a bear, especially around a feeder

No, I won't be doing that. I have shot into the ground while yelling at him, but it only works for a while. He's been here four times today.

[peejman]

6 hours ago, Darrell said:

He's not very big. I'm betting mama bear kicked him out this spring and he's trying to find a new home. 

He's only a nuisance in that he pulled down one feeder already and tore it up. I share a property line with the Cattoossa Wildlife area, so I will just get another bear if this one is removed. My main thing is to prevent him tearing up the feeder.

Rig up bear spray on a remote trigger so you can blast it when it comes back around. 

[BigK]

I like the bear spray idea, but predicting where to aim the darn thing might be hard. 

I'd bet deer don't love the smell of it either, so it might run them off too. 

[peejman]

10 hours ago, BigK said:

I like the bear spray idea, but predicting where to aim the darn thing might be hard. 

I'd bet deer don't love the smell of it either, so it might run them off too. 

Given the location, I don't think the two will ever be mutually exclusive.

[Darrell]

12 hours ago, peejman said:

Rig up bear spray on a remote trigger so you can blast it when it comes back around. 

I spent a little time on the internet looking for something that will do this. But no luck. I fly RC airplanes, and I have a the capability to do the remote part with a servo, but making that work with bear spray might be difficult. I did see some solutions that operate using WIFI, but my feeder is out in the woods with no WIFI out there.  

Yogi hasn't shown up today, maybe he's moved on to the neighbor's corn field.

[RED333]

Hang the feeder from the trees. Run a steel cable about twenty foot up between two trees and hang the feeder from that cable too high for the bear to reach.

[Grayfox54]

I go along with just leaving the feeder empty for a while until he moves on. 

If that doesn't work, call TWRA.