Hi Cindico-

Around here (western Montana) Fish and Game will come and tranquilize and remove bears if they become nuisance enough.

You have my sympathies. Bears, racoons, squirrels, coddling moths, and little old ladies with larcenous intent ...

It's a never-ending list. Good luck. Here's an article, if you're interested, from our local rag.

M

http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2007/09/23/news/local/news04.txt

hunting license, bear permit, in season, 30-06 180 grain remedy.
BBQ bear is wonderful. Especially served next to fresh garden fruits and vegetables.

OK, but remember that bear is a prime source of trichinosis- handle accordingly.

thank you for the ideas, but i was raised a vegetarian eating the animal doesn't work for me. i would get sick and even that without the trichinosis possibility ;).
thanks for the article, M, that was interesting. we are not all too far from you (NE WA) so have also had a dry year therefore the bears are going where the food is. others in the area have had troubles too. we are thinking to electrify the fence in the future. hopefully that will do its part in getting the message across.

thanks again,
cc

cindico,

i too have had bear damage on a plum and apple so far this year.

partcularly watch your large trees as they will climb them, hold on, jump and shake the trees to make the apples drop. then they have a smorgasboard on the ground. it's humerous to watch but i lost a very old tree 2 years ago when i was amused to watch the bears antics and the 3rd time he climbed the tree i yelled too late and with a loud crack he jumped out and ran away. my tree is now laying on it's side.

like softmentor though i will be filling my tag here now that it's cooled down and finally raining. they make great sausage,chops, bear paw soup etc.

if i had another tag , i'd help you out.

electrifying your fence around the tree will help, but keep the ground moist and if you have it a bit of chicken wire laid on the wet ground gives it a real good snap.
( attach the chick wire to your fence )

i don't mind the animals eating my fruit ( am planting many trees just for them ) , but the tree itself is off limits.

wildlifeman

wildlifeman, your story had me laughing too. i wish that i could see a bear doing that, but i understand the damage to the tree. i am sorry to hear of your loss though.

i have only lived on this property a year so am still getting familiar with what all has been planted here. i do know that there are some producing trees up the hill from the orchard and a crabapple just outside of it that had a heavy crop this year. the bear made good work on that too despite some barbed wire someone put in there (i will be removing it). i am thinking that those trees are out there for the wildlife, but with all the underbrush (snowberries, wild roses, etc) i haven't been up to check after we bought the property (it is busy keeping and orchard plus other gardens).

thanks for the offer if you had another tag. i haven't had any more damage though so even if the bear is still around (and i have reason to believe that he is) he isn't the vandal or bother that he was, for now :). i love to have the animals around, but i also want to set some limits so will keep in mind your suggestions about the chicken wire/damp ground. that may be a challenge with 26+ trees, but that is the joy of gardening, experimentation.

cc

Cindy,
We don't have bears in my part of Iowa, yet. I have had a good amount of experience with electric fence. I set mine up for less than $75. You don't need a big driver for the area you're talking about; my power unit cost $30. I got a good 50' extension cord. The big cost was the fence posts; with the upcoming winter season they should be easy to get used. I use a single aluminum wire about 30" from the ground. I keep the vegetation cleared from around the wire, and I keep the ground moist. I read the directions that came with the driver. I did NOT drive a copper stake 5 feet into the earth! You don't need to! I have an inner bunny fence for my vegetables that's chicken wire that I have staked into the ground with two dozen bent aluminum arrows (even when I was a vegetarian I enjoyed archery; you could use any metal stake for this purpose)and I attach the ground from the driver to the chicken wire. Unlike most electric circuits, you can attach the live wire to the fence itself, and it's just one wire. In your current situation you could conceivably make the gate "hot" and discourage the bear. Who will be back next year if he/she is not in the freezer beforehand.
Get pieces of aluminum or steel screening, and make little sachets of peanut butter and hang them every 30 to 40" on the fence, BEFORE the thing you're trying to defend becomes attractive to the wildlife. The critters will sniff the peanut butter and have a very disagreeable experience and probably won't come back. As the mothers teach the offspring to avoid the area, you'll have carryover for the next year till the uneducated show up for a meal. Don't try the peanut butter trick or even the electric fence this year; the bear is too motivated to break in.
Or you could invite me and my bow over; when I show up the annoying creatures somehow disappear (alive) as soon as I do.

yoyodoc,
where did you get your driver? what is the brand name and is there a solar option offered?

thank you for your comments, i have clipped them for further reference.

cc