WOW thats a bit close but he is beautiful. At a distance that is. LOL

Get your self one those 'air horns'. They sell them in hard ware stores. The compressed air makes a screechingly loud sound and scares the bear away. I have bear visits about once a month, and have found this to work. Just make sure that the horn is pointed away from you :)

Toplady, it was close....those leaves you see at the bottom left of the photo is the shrubs at the porch.

Orcuttnyc....thank you so much for that suggestion , I am off to get an air horn!

Here is a link that might be useful: Our pond and gardens

Wow, Kareen! And to think I get nervous having a woodchuck traipsing around the yard!! Do you think that's the same one you had in your backyard? They must be getting pushed your way with all the building going on in your area.

Hi Shimla and all,
No , this was much smaller than the one I had and mine had an all black face. It is my understanding that he was killed on the Brunswick Golf Course after Encon swore to onlookers they wouldn't hurt him.
More info on the one Sunday, it was a cub, headed into a stretch of woods between the parking lot he was in and an I90 exit. The authorities went on a walking tour to see if they could scare him out but I don't believe they had luck.
This is 4 in a 5-7 mile area in less than 2 months. With all the building out in the Sand Lake -Averill Park area it makes sense they are moving around.It remains unsettling to garden in the back though and I sadly have stopped taking the grandkids to the swing and stream at the edge of the property.I will be getting that airhorn!!!!! Kareen

Here is a link that might be useful: Our pond and gardens

Hi KAreen! Just got to the thread... This is 4 in a 5-7 mile area in less than 2 months. With all the building out in the Sand Lake -Averill Park area Eh, we may get to see one on the St Henry Garden Tour.. Is this why you are inviting us?? LOL! I think I might be able to make it. Will let you know by Friday. Found the direction to St Henry on the Internet.

In the meantime, just be careful Kareen and don't venture in your garden without the airhorn.
Anne-Marie

Guess I better get an airhorn. I'm house sitting for my sister and they have bears come through there every so often. (near the Poconos)My sister and her family like being in the forested suburbs near the state park. If a bear comes through they have a regular network of neighbors who call each other to let them know there's a bear in the neighborhood. I know I will be looking over my shoulder every time I'm outside.

Now, now, they are not soo bad!..They just like your bird feed and your trash. Mostly, they are more scared of you than you are of them. Only worry if you come between a female and her cub. Keep in mind, we encroached on their territories. Have any of you heard that scientists are worried that some bears are getting too fat from dumpster diving at McDonalds!
The airhorn does work to scare them off. Unfortunately, most of my bears come at night, when i'm asleep and don't here them. Keep your trash in your garage. I use aluminum poles to put up my bird feeders. Squirrels can't climb it and when bent over by bears..well..I bend it back up. Plus the ducks enjoy the after spill. :)

Also, I think there has been only one bear/human attack in NYState in twenty something years.

Anne Marie...you never know....there are definately bear in the Sand Lake Averill Park area.....maybe one will show up.

Aurore, I really like the idea of a phone chain to warn about the bear. That is my gripe about here.....no mention of it and I think the public really should know to be cautious....garbage ...pet food ....barbeque grills....

Orcuttnyc....I guess they really did bend your pipe....thats some picture....now please post a photo of that area in bloom ....it looks so resful with the water.
I just keep thinking of that baby the bear got in the Catskills last year . Our neighborhood is really good about keeping trash in garages and the one that was here really was eating only t he twigs on a tree ....didn't venture near the dog. I do feel better since you told me about the airhorn.

Here is a link that might be useful: Our pond and gardens

I loves to show off :)
This is part of my daisy fields last weekend. I mow them after they've fallen. I love wild flowers. I also love the wild life, including the bear. Last weekend, I heard the trilling of a screech owl. Fantastic! Two weekends ago, I heard coyotes! All part of the planet we share. All part of the planet we are changing soo fast. We need to keep holding onto all things natural, as long as we can. We humans are causing such drastic and detrimental changes in the environment. Let the bears have a bird feeder once in a while. The intrusion of them, is caused by their shrinking roaming areas and our ever growing populous.
I will step down from the pulpit now :)

Beautiful setting and photo Orcuttnyc...thanks for posting it. I too appreciate wildlife and nature and think we should preserve it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Our pond and gardens

I must disagree. As a Floridian, I read about people who venture around alligators to feed and observe them, actually encouraging them to bask in their yards, etc. People also play in the oceans where sharks must feed. Now, people have loosened so many boas and pythons into the swamps that they have adapted, multiplyed and feed on "mammals". See the pic on the news of the bursted python that ate a six foot alligator? Since most people are less than six feet, that really causes chills! There is no excuse for sharks, they can't leave the water, but to empathize with bears, alligators and other land predators is just plain crazy. The parents of the baby in the Catskills can attest to that. People excuse attacks by reporting that humans are encroaching on "their territory" (who says it's theirs over ours?), but these beasts are man-killers. If I move to NY, I'll stay in the city because saying that a person was in "their territory" if they're attacked is hardly comforting to them and those they leave behind. Those bears are not afraid of humans and will eat them, just like gators will.

>Those bears are not afraid of humans and will eat them, just like gators will.

I've found myself face to face with a black bear in the wild on more than one occasion. Black bears are indeed generally afraid of people and your chances of being eaten by one is extremely minute. You will likely win the lottery or be struck by lightning first. It is about 10 times more likely you will be killed in by someonme's dog. In NY, the baby in the Catskills was the first fatality in more than a century.

I live in the northern part of NY with a bear population of around 4000. We treat them with the respect they require and make the common sense efforts to avoid conflicts. We know not to leave pet food uncovered outdoors, garbage unsecured and small infants unattended.

i live in upstate ny,some people orund here claim seeing black bears,never seen one myself, i m scared of this animals they can attack people if they are hungry,we will see more attacks on humans in the future as the bear population is groing,ciao

Many people, unfamiliar with black bears, perceive the risks to be far higher than they historically have been. The potential for bear attacks on humans in the state exists on some level but as a threat to the human population, bears are fairly low on the list. Assaults against bird-feeders is the most common bear-related complaint received by the DEC. People can protect themselves by taking simple food and garbage storage measures and by using a common sense approach to treat bears with the same caution one might show towards a potentially aggressive dog.

To quote a lengthy but interesting DEC paper on bears in NY: "The likelihood of a bear becoming involved in an incident that results in injury to people is extremely low. Between 1960 and 2000, millions of people spent time recreating in areas of New York State occupied by bears, yet only eight people were injured by bears in New York.
None of the injuries were serious. Since 2000, there have been two more serious injuries to people, including an unprovoked fatal encounter involving an infant. This incident was the first ever human fatality caused by a black bear in New York State, and only the second human fatality caused by a black bear in the northeastern United States since 1900."

To give the relative threat by bears some perspective, in another paper, the DEC reports "On average 650 people are hospitalized and one person killed by dogs each year in New York State."

Here is a link that might be useful: BLACK BEARS IN NEW YORK. (PDF format)

Kareen
I just saw your post and I have to tell you I thought I had seen a black bear as I was walking out the door yestereday. I looked up and all I could see was this nubby tailed black critter waddling through my front yard towards the street. For a minute I froze in my tracks. The critter heard me and turned around and it was a very big and hairy black dog. I can only imagine how it must be for you over there in bear country 'cuz I know that dog startled the daylights out of me.

Penny

While it was happening I was having an adrenalin(sp?)rush Penny, it was only later in the evening when I got thinking about it did the terror start to hit. On any other day I would have been in the back where it was but we had company that day so I wasn't out there and many times there with my small grandchildren as their swing is in that area. I really wish there was a better way to notify the community of these sightings. Kareen

Obviously the small number of bear victims lead people to believe that the risk is small. It is not. Every encounter of a predator and a food source is a 100% real threat to the food source. If only one (which I question) fatality has occured in all those years, it is because "the bear" or whichever predator DECIDED (for whatever reason, doesn't matter which) not to kill and eat the victim. That's what predators do. They sleep, eat and make other predators, that's their only job. So, ignore that fact, happen upon a predator, and pray he'll leave you alone. That is what experts adise (although many such experts have died at the very paws of the bear they argued was only being a bear). My point exactlly, I guess that argument could be itched on their tombstone. You want to take a chance with a man-eater, it's your right, but like in the Catskills, that poor baby (supervised or not, the bear wouldn't care) didn't get a chance to voice it's opinion, and speaking of opinions, that's mine.

>Obviously the small number of bear victims lead people to believe that the risk is small. It is not.

Sorry, mizack, risk can only be measured by a formula involving incidents and results. Your fears and apparent unfamiliarity with black bears in New York do not make a "small number" into a big number, or a very small risk into a large risk.

>..happen upon a predator, and pray he'll leave you alone..

You are right to be afraid of predators if you come to New York. The dogs here can and do kill and maim people.

>If only one (which I question) fatality has occured in all those years....

Sorry, mizack,, official records of the State of New York report one fatality ever reported. Questioning it does not make it incorrect. Question it if you want, but provide facts as to why it may be in error if you please.

>many such experts have died at the very paws of the bear they argued was only being a bear

Sorry, mizack, pure hyperbole. Or can you tell me how many bear experts have perished at the paws of black bears?

..[and on and on]

You certainly are entitled to your opinions, but they are, in my opinion, based not on fact, but ill-informed fear. And while you've managed to highly exagerate your perceived sense of risk involving black bears in New York, you certainly have not made a single suggestion, constructive or otherwise, as to how New Yorkers should deal with the bear population. What are your suggestions, other than to live in unfounded fear?

Mountain curmudgren, did you not say in another thread that you had SEEN only ONE bear? Yes you did, so who exaggerated now,(no opinion here, just a lie). Out of all the posts I responded to (and you were not among them) only your reply was combative. What's your problem, get a life! My advise: New York should take other state's lead, and remove all bears and other large predators to areas where man does not live, some, will have to be killed, but humans must be top priority. Unfortunately, it is people like you that gives New Yorkers and those from New Jersey the reputation of being angry, belligerent and know-it-alls! So sad. If you can't respect others that disagree with you, then don't read their posts! By the way, search "bear victims, bear fatalities, bear attacks", learn something (I'm betting you have NEVER seen a bear in the wild).

Not combative, arumentative perhaps, but only in response to wildly exagerated claims based on fear, not fact. I offered you the official statements of the State of New York that clearly shows your degree of fear is unwarrented as far as black bears in New York are concerned. Read the paper I linked to from the State. Learn something and you too can be a know-it-all rather than offering fear unencumbered by fact. Something tells me that facts based on real-life statistics and experience will do little to calm your fears, however.

I have seen only one bear in the Northern Adirondacks where I live even though this area has the State's largest concentration of black bears. I've come very close to others while hiking in woods in the Catskills when I lived in that area. Each time the bear showed no sign of aggression and retreated immediately. This is as much time I'll spend responding to your childish comments about lying. Certainly, it's more than you deserve.

I suspected as much, your suggestion that we in New York remove all our bears. Fortunately, those of us who live here can look at the situation rationally, based on knowledge and experience and know the true risks and the common-sense methods of dealing with them. Methods such as the simple and practical act of calling your neighbors on the occurance of a bear sighting. This common-sense approach lets a neighborhood remove things that may attract bears such as bird feeders, accessable garbage cans and unattended infants in strollers. Without these attractants, a bear will move on.

If our state adopts your suggestion, perhaps we can ship the black bears (and our far more numerous "man-eating" dogs) to your state? They might distract the alligators that are killing human Floridians at a far more alarming rate than NY bears and almost as fast as NY dogs.

To MC, (hee-hee, I caught you in a lie and you're trying to excuse it and back track [like a bear] it doesn't work. A lie is a lie). But I respect the fact that you didn't lie when I accused you of being a "know-it-all", you actually admitted it! What an idiot!
It's offical now, I definetly WILL move to NY, just to be around all those people like you, it will be a laugh a minute!

Yahoo search: bear attacks, 11,800,000 hits.
bear attacks in New York State: 4,020,000.
#3-Black Bear Attacks, www.mainequides.org

This site gives 18 pages of black bear attacks (fatalities), true, since the 70's there was one REPORTED fatality in New York State, (you got missing people?) the numerous others were in other states. If you think your home growns are sweet teddy bears of no real threat (and how could that be, your air around there is non-bear attack safe or something, get real), these hits state 40 reports of bears breaking into homes and 19 attempts (feel safer?). My right and opinion is to be very afraid; it may save my life someday. I'd rather be afraid and alive, than lie about the subject of defending a killer and die. It's your choice.

And I'm through with this immaturity, I do have a life. "they have ears that do not hear."

Funny stuff. I give you a State of NY website reporting facts and the best you can do is counter it by reporting the number of hits a Yahoo search returns on a group of words. It's clear how you get your misinformation. Somehow, I must have gotten the State of NY to lie on its website so believe whatever statistics you want.

Anyone who is interested and has very little to do might try to figure out what is posessing you to repeatedly call me a liar and idiot, though frankly, you probably are not worth any effort, not even to report your sorry, childish behavior to the people that run this site.

If you are sincerely "through with this immaturity," that will be a welcome change and we can debate in an adult manner, without name calling.

By the way here's another frightening statistic that may interest you and help feed your fears:

Yahoo search: 24,000,000 hits for: the earth is flat

Try not to fall off.

Mizack 2, So you want to move to the city to be safe in NY. Ha HA.I've watched bear cubs at 15 yards while the mother ran off in some pines.I walked to within 25 yards of a 400lbs one. A faint "hey" and the bear was gone in a flash.What people need to do is learn to not fear them but respect them. We white folks think this is our domain.It's not. We as humans have a brain (????)that allows us to think things trough and use reason.All other creatures act on instinct.We have the ability to learn to interact with bears. But in fear and "its our land" mentality we fall short.We need to learn to live with these creatures. It's not hard.But we're lazy. It's easier to just say kill them all.I'm a hunter. The black bear is my most sought after game. Yet I'd be thrilled to have one in my back yard.We are invading their environ.Last summer there was a bear around our Jr.H.school. The world went into a panic.One child was stupid enough to hit the bear on the nose with a stick.For the dumb asses sake the bear walk away. Cops from all over surrounded the school. The kids were locked in the school. And while all this commotion was going on the "killer bear"slept in a small wooded lot.
) )

Mountain curmudgeon, I'm here for you.Fear is what this country lives on.The bears I've encountered didn't raise the hair on my neck.I sit in large hemlock forest waiting in cammo for bears with noting but my cameras.The Adirondacks has had thousands of bears for years.The locals learned to live with them .People read to many stories or believe hearsay 10 times removed.I've heard and read on this sight about all the black panthers people see.I believe there are cougars in NY but none are black.No cougar has ever been black. Black panthers are jaguars. They live in south and central America. And they are rare, Most are bread in zoos. But yet everyone sees black cougars in NY. People fear because its easier to fear then learn the truth.Weather you've seen a thousand bears or none, what you write is the truth.Mizack 4 million bear attacks???????????? in Ny no less.The last and only one I remember was that baby. There are attacks though out the US. But Its' rare. Mostly people being stupid. Feeding them and getting that picture of their child putting his head in the bears mouth.Instead of fearing lets learn.Learn to how to live with them and enjoy them.