Bear Population in FL

[Rimfire McNutjob]

Maybe I live in an unusual spot, but the black bear population is getting pretty heavy in my area. It would be unusual for me to NOT see one or more on garbage days. A few months back, a small bear was treed by a half dozen small kids in my neighborhood (two houses down) who wanted to check it out ... mostly kids 6 - 11 years old. The neighbors were fascinated and wanted their kids to get an up close look. I was standing in my driveway wondering if the mother would come crashing in from the woods any second to save her cub. Many of my neighbors have given up on putting up bird feeders in their yards. It was popular to hang them up on those thin decorative iron posts that you can get at some of the garden stores. The bears would just bend them to the ground and spill the seed out and eat it. If you leave your garage door up, you are probably going to have a bear rummaging through your stuff after a short while depending on the aroma from your trash cans or recycling bins.

This weekend ... Bear Attack. This was about a mile from my house.

Fish and Game came out and whacked a few of them for good measure but there are many around that are fearless of humans. I'm wondering if black bears are as numerous in other parts of the state. Still, no regular hunts for bears in FL. Maybe they just don't live in the deep woods anymore and prefer to live on the edge of human populations for the scavenging opportunities.

Rhimfire, are you guys seeing more bear activity toward Daytona?

[crs]

Rimfire,
IIRC, there have been bear/human issues at the development where the woman was attacked ever since the place was developed. The development was built on the boundary of a game preserve which has many bears and other critters. Sort of like building a housing development next to a Florida swamp and then being surprised when alligators come to visit.
Why the folks that live there did not erect fencing to separate their property from the preserve boggles the mind!

[Centennial]

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
Except for bears.........
Bears will kill you.

[Blaine]

Rimfire, what's your EDC? I hope it's stout.

[jruppert2]

I live in Western North Carolina in an area that is in between suburban and rural. Bears were a regular occurance around our house until we changed the way my wife and I handled our garbage. Now all food scraps go into the freezer and the rest is double bagged for storage in the furnace room. On the morning of garbage pickup, we put everything at the end of our driveway. We still see bears once in awhile but not nearly as often. My Boxer dog, Billy, usually smells them way before we see them and produces the meanest bark in his repertoire from the relative safety of our second floor deck. Bears are creatures of habit so I also use a pellet gun to remind them that a visit to our house will sting a little. As others have said before, bears are just oversized raccoons and if I could regularly shoot them with something more lethal, I would.

[Les Staley]

Deleted

[Rimfire McNutjob]

Rimfire, what's your EDC? I hope it's stout.

I hope EDC refers to a carry sidearm. I don't have a license and don't carry. I should get one, but I've just never taken the time to pursue one. I hear the wait is up to 6 months in FL now.

I've got a couple of rifles that could handle the problem but it would take me at least 3 minutes to bring one to bear ... so to speak. It takes time to get the safe open and the ammo in the gun.

At 350#, a bear is unlikely to make a run at me ... at least the blacks that we have around here. It's the small kids in the neighborhood that worry me though. Some seem a little too casual when the bears are out.

[7.62 Precision]

The bears in FL are very small, no doubt, but small is relative, and even a black bear the size of a large dog is a much larger threat than a dog. I would not want to go hand-to-hand with one.

It has been proven that the bears' relationship with humans is largely dependent on how heavy they are hunted. When bear are hunted, they see humans as a threat to avoid. When they are not hunted, they transition to see them first as no real threat, then as a source of food (trash day), as an object of curiosity, and finally as potential prey, especially children, as you mentioned.

Even if they are hunted regularly only in a very restricted way, they will pick up on the fact that humans are hunting them and they will be more likely to avoid people. Never trust them to do so, of course. You can never tell what an individual bear will do.

[Centennial]

[/quote] ........At 350#, a bear is unlikely to make a run at me ... at least the blacks that we have around here. It's the small kids in the neighborhood that worry me though. Some seem a little too casual when the bears are out.[/quote]

Black bear won't size you up. If it hungry and a person is handy, wrong place wrong time for person. If it's a sow and has cubs in the area it might come up and swat a person and break their neck. 300+ pound black bears do that to cows/calves.

[RIHMFIRE]

I have seen so many bears while hunting and on my trail cam...
Central florida....along the St Johns River...is loaded with bears...
We have had 400 plus pound bears in my old club on the Ocklawaha River
northeast of ocala...
Check out this guy
the winch in the tree is 5' off the ground....3 different males....




We need a hunting season...but we wont get one til someone gets......eaten

[RIHMFIRE]

oh yeah ...there are bears west tomoka farms road.....
and north of 92 and around the tiger bay and rima ridge
wildlife management areas....over by the range....
we have a few just west of us....
but they dont come near the houses...

[Centennial]

They seem to run the place. Nice photo's. The cajones on the one standing would make a neat 22 ammo bag or a saddle horn wrap.

[BrianSH]

A Trashy Thought:
When I lived in SoDak, we'd put a splash of household ammonia before closing up the trashbags. after biting and getting a snoot full or two, the critters left our trash alone. Should work with trash cans too. - Brian

[jruppert2]

"we'd put a splash of household ammonia before closing up the trashbags."


Before finally relenting to double bagging our trash and storing it in the furnace room until trash day, we also use to put ammonia in our trash can. It seemed to work until we had this particular momma bear, with cubs in tow, who was not phased by the ammonia. As we all know, bears have noses that are much more sensitive than ours so I don't know how she could stand it when she would knock over the trash can and stick her head inside. The next thing you'd see is her trotting off with a bag in her mouth.

The thing that made me most concerned about this bear was her lack of fear of humans. Most black bears I have encountered around our house would run at the sound of simply shouting at them. Sometimes I would fire off a 357 round (not at them). They always ran. But this momma bear was standing in my driveway one day wanting to get into my trash. I stuck my arm out of the door far enough to fire off a round into the hillside above my house. The bear casually started walking down my driveway with her cubs following her. It was after this incident that I started using a pellet gun on them. A pop to the hindquarters always makes them run!

[Rimfire McNutjob]

The news trucks are still posted outside of the neighborhood where the attack took place. My understanding is that the lady has already been on the morning network shows. The Fish and Wildlife department has now killed 6 bears in the area. I think we may be approaching over-exposure.

[BrianSH]

A wrist-rocket with steel balls or some 50 cal muzzle balls might have a better thwack than a pellet gun. Maybe less damage from skin penetration, but more pain. Course I'd be heeled long before I went out to do my David bit. -Brian

[Rimfire McNutjob]

Interesting graphic. I live right where that cluster of 5 red dots is. I guess it's not that many attacks compared to the number of bears I see.

[RIHMFIRE]

I am amazed that there are not more incidents.....
my hunt club was in the notch northeast of ocala....
bears would make the rounds raiding feeders and the neighbors
garbage cans...
Last hunting season I had 2 encounters ...one at less than 10 yards...
luckily i was in my treestand each time....just after sunrise

[pacecars]

I live in Tallahassee and have a lease in Jefferson County near Monticello. We have an over abundance of Bears on our property. I have a boat load of trail cam pics of different bears. We have several females with 2 cubs and 1 with 3. They are continually destroying feeders. As to saying Florida Bears are small, not so fast my friend. There was a 400+ lb bear hit by a car in Carrabelle a couple of years ago and FWC collared a boar that was over 500 lbs a few years ago in the Apalachicola National Forest. We used to be able to hunt them there many years ago. I have had numerous bears under my stand when bow hunting so started carrying my 10mm 1911 with me. They seriously need to open up a season on them. I work for the Police Department and you would really be surprised how many bears we get in the city limits in Tallahassee in the spring when the mamas kick the juvenile males out of their territory.

[7.62 Precision]

They seriously need to open up a season on them.

You don't even have to have a general season, just a few drawing permits can make a big difference. They know when they are being hunted - and they see humans as a threat. When they are not hunted, they are first indifferent toward humans and see them as an opportunity to scavenge food, and then transition to seeing humans a potential prey.

Best to keep them fearful.

[Rimfire McNutjob]

Not a particularly big one, but they all seem to come from the woods along the lake and then up into the neighborhood between my neighbor's and my house. Apparently this one escaped the culling that took 7 last week after the nearby attack.

[RIHMFIRE]

Whoa......load up the 348