God I wish it would just SNOW!!!

[CowboyCO]

Cute bears! But I know they must be a little scary! OP, where was your signature photo taken? It reminds me of Hawaii!

It is the beach at the Jamaica Inn in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. Very cool, Old-World style resort. Only 38 rooms. Perfect private beach.

 

[sunnyday123]

I will never again complain about the groundhogs eating my garden.

So you just can't let your small kids or pets run around outside unwatched, can you?

 

[jsmith]

i dont know if its the wet or what-but the bear thing is really an issue this year-i live in an appartment complex on the west side of Colorado Springs-in the lower Broadmoor area-and we have had bears on our quad at least 5 times this summer-early one moring in late July i walked out on my balcony early in the morning and found my self face to face with a youngster climbing a tree-looked down and his twin was at the bottom of the tree and mom was coming OUT of the other building. I can not convince my appartment manager that she needs to talk to the trash contractor about bear proof dumpsters-to a least give them less reason to come around.

to the PP who asked about kids and pets-i dont let my cats out on the balcony let alone off of it-in the city we have all kinds of things-bears, lions, foxes, coyotes, coons, ect that would eat them in a heart beat. Same with small kids-gotta keep an eye on them.

 

[babytrees]

We are in Colorado also...wanting snow for a different reason. We get to go get ice cream for the first snow of the year that sticks.

 

[Minnesota!]

We are in MN but we have bears in the suburbs lately! Last week one was shot just a few blocks from my house. And I am within 7 miles of the downtown area. Kind of scary!

We had 5 deer in our (very urban) backyard last year. No clue where they came from. There are no "woods" around anywhere.

 

[KAMKIM]

In Western New York we mainly have deer, chipmunks and raccoons. Well over the summer there had been some reports of bears in our area - but always a good 20mins away - far enough away for me to not be too concerned. So one day I'm sitting at work and get an email from my SIL to check our local news website...there is a man talking about a black bear that had been in his driveway that morning around 7:20 and walked off to a neighbors house....they posted his name...MY NEXT DOOR NEIGHBOR OMG and I was at the end of my driveway waiting for DD's school bus to come at 7:20 that morning. Too close for comfort!

 

[jme829]

We are in MN but we have bears in the suburbs lately! Last week one was shot just a few blocks from my house. And I am within 7 miles of the downtown area. Kind of scary!

We had 5 deer in our (very urban) backyard last year. No clue where they came from. There are no "woods" around anywhere.

Wow that was near you? I saw it on the news... (We live in Hudson (WI) just over the St Croix River.) Sad that they had to shoot the poor thing..

We get TONS of deer over here....Our neighborhood while "in town" has lots of woods, so we always see a deer walking through the yards, although we have lived in our current house a year, and I have yet to see one in our yard (the neighbors say they've seen them, but they get up earlier than I do..lol)

Apparently they have seen a bear recently at Willow River state park and last year they saw one near our old house (off of 35 headed towards River Falls).

 

[CowboyCO]

i dont know if its the wet or what-but the bear thing is really an issue this year-i live in an appartment complex on the west side of Colorado Springs-in the lower Broadmoor area-and we have had bears on our quad at least 5 times this summer-early one moring in late July i walked out on my balcony early in the morning and found my self face to face with a youngster climbing a tree-looked down and his twin was at the bottom of the tree and mom was coming OUT of the other building. I can not convince my appartment manager that she needs to talk to the trash contractor about bear proof dumpsters-to a least give them less reason to come around.

to the PP who asked about kids and pets-i dont let my cats out on the balcony let alone off of it-in the city we have all kinds of things-bears, lions, foxes, coyotes, coons, ect that would eat them in a heart beat. Same with small kids-gotta keep an eye on them.

I'm up in Woodland Park and the bear activity from August until now has been very high. They haven't been much a nuisance, just taking naps down in the cool grass. But now they are looking for FOOD. My little dog goes nuts every time he goes outside now because he knows they're around...

 

[Luv Bunnies]

We take a trip to Lake Tahoe at least once a year since my parents have a cabin there. We had never seen any bears in all the years we've been going there until a few years ago. At about 10:00 p.m. one night, a bear knocked over the neighbor's garbage.

This past August, we were up there and there was an article in the local paper about how the bears are getting smarter and more daring. They're not just going through garbage, they're learning how to turn door knobs and enter houses! The very next morning, our garbage was all over the front yard! It was interesting to see what the bear liked best. He ripped a few orange juice cartons open and licked them clean. He found half a bag of stale potato chips and finished those off. He also went after the coffee grounds and licked the filters clean. We could just picture this bear dashing around the woods, wired on caffiene!

 

[sunnyday123]

Wow...I'm amazed that so many of you have to deal with bears..it's sad because obviously something is driving them out of the forest, but still scary.

So do the kids/pets never go outside unsupervised? This really baffles me. It would never occur to me that something could walk off with them. How about big dogs do they scare the bears away? My cats never go out, but my puppy runs in and out all day long. Except for the long ears, she could probably pass for a baby bear. We have deer and foxes, little stuff like that who carry away a cat or two and although there has been a reported cougar sighting for years, he keeps to himself. For about a year they did tell everyone to not let little kids walk in the state parks by themselves, and of course people saw him from one end of the state to the other-all at the same time!

 

[IDoDis]

i dont know if its the wet or what-but the bear thing is really an issue this year-i live in an appartment complex on the west side of Colorado Springs-in the lower Broadmoor area-and we have had bears on our quad at least 5 times this summer-early one moring in late July i walked out on my balcony early in the morning and found my self face to face with a youngster climbing a tree-looked down and his twin was at the bottom of the tree and mom was coming OUT of the other building. I can not convince my appartment manager that she needs to talk to the trash contractor about bear proof dumpsters-to a least give them less reason to come around.

to the PP who asked about kids and pets-i dont let my cats out on the balcony let alone off of it-in the city we have all kinds of things-bears, lions, foxes, coyotes, coons, ect that would eat them in a heart beat. Same with small kids-gotta keep an eye on them.

My DD and I were at the Figure Skating Hall of Fame in the Broadmoor area of Colo Springs last month and while there I overheard some people talking about bears in the area.

 

[KristaTX]

DW and DS8 just went out the front door to go to soccer and and ran smack into a sow and two cubs

I realized/learned something new after reading down into this thread. I have been trying to figure out why the bear cubs were with a pig, and I also wondered where the mama bear was. I wondered why there are pigs roaming around with bears in your neighborhood . It finally dawned on me that female bears must be called sows, too, so I looked it up, and sure enough. . . .

 

[CowboyCO]

I realized/learned something new after reading down into this thread. I have been trying to figure out why the bear cubs were with a pig, and I also wondered where the mama bear was. I wondered why there are pigs roaming around with bears in your neighborhood . It finally dawned on me that female bears must be called sows, too, so I looked it up, and sure enough. . . .

That is too funny. We also get that when we talk about "cows and "calves" meaning elk, not the bovine type.

Just an update. No bears since that night, but now a red fox has dug out a burrow under my back deck

Now I need it NOT to snow until I can get that critter outta there before winter! The funny thing is that I worked for weeks to get a family of raccoons to abandon that burrow. I was critter free for a good month before the fox dug it back out. Oh the joy of living in the mountains!

 

[Freyja]

Maybe you should just move to Iceland. This is what my kids were up to just before dinner. This winters first snowman

 

[CowboyCO]

Wow...I'm amazed that so many of you have to deal with bears..it's sad because obviously something is driving them out of the forest, but still scary.

So do the kids/pets never go outside unsupervised? This really baffles me. It would never occur to me that something could walk off with them. How about big dogs do they scare the bears away? My cats never go out, but my puppy runs in and out all day long. Except for the long ears, she could probably pass for a baby bear. We have deer and foxes, little stuff like that who carry away a cat or two and although there has been a reported cougar sighting for years, he keeps to himself. For about a year they did tell everyone to not let little kids walk in the state parks by themselves, and of course people saw him from one end of the state to the other-all at the same time!

Well, they're not so much leaving the forest as we kind of live in the forest. I live on the North slope of Pikes Peak. The kids are okay outside, they just come in when they spot a bear. Bears mostly eat a vegetarian diet unless they find some carrion to munch on. The Mountain lions kinda freak me out though. The bears don't like dogs because they bark. They don't like loud noises. Our little dog (9 lbs) would be but a small morsel though, if they wanted. When he goes out and barks at bears, HE'S ON HIS OWN! I can't fix a dog with a small brain...

 

[CowboyCO]

Maybe you should just move to Iceland. This is what my kids were up to just before dinner. This winters first snowman

That's so neat -- Not many snowmen get created up where we live because the snow is too dry until late Spring.