Caught these two fur balls

[MontanaMama]

strolling past my house last night. My trail cam doesn’t take the best photos…but you get the idea. Paw Patrol! 🐻

[Polly Hennessey]

1. Whoa, those are big fur babies.

[MontanaMama]

2. Yes they are.

We’re trying to get our fruit trees picked as fast as possible. These guys are hungry.

[niyad]

3. ohhh myyyyy

[2naSalit]

4. Yep...

They's kinda big.

Great capture! Is your fence electrified?

[MontanaMama]

7. No it isn't.

I live in the city limits but just barely. I do have electric fence on my chicken coop because that’s allowed. One of these two pushed through a double chain link fence to get to our apple tree…it left a typical calling card the size of a dinner plate on the back lawn. I don’t dare let the dogs out at night this time of year without doing a sweep to make sure we don’t have a visitor.

[2naSalit]

10. Maybe fladry?

At least for a couple weeks? (Strips of fabric that flap in the breeze... works on wolves for a little while.)

Or...

Maybe tie some construction tape to a few low branches of the trees so they can move freely with air flow. The motion alarms the animals and they will move away from it rather than advance, at least for a time. I used it in the valley a few years back on that grow I managed. After seeds were planted, we needed to keep the birds out of the fields so I took rebar posts and tied a few feet of the plastic construction tape to them and it worked while the seeds were germinating. Then it kept the deer out for a while. Then I took it down.

Depends on how long it takes to gather the fruit. Once that is done, I guess the gig is up for them?

[MontanaMama]

22. It's just a busy time of year for these guys.

Every year during August-November. This year in particular the berry crop was bad. A cold wet spring followed by too much heat. Most people in the neighborhood do their part to remove attractants but the fruit trees are what they are. We had a bear last week in our plumb tree in the front yard shaking it for all it was worth then sitting on the grass leisurely eating the plumbs. I think I want to take that tree out and plant something like a river birch. The apple tree in the back yard is massive and decades old. I don't want to take it out because it provides shade for chickens and dogs...and it is gorgeous. It's a MacIntosh so the fruit doesn't ripen till after the first frost. We'll pick all we can reach and then I hire a guy who brings ladders etc to pick the fruit higher up and he takes it to Western Cider for them to use in their Great Bear blend. Other than that, the bears come and go.

[2naSalit]

25. Oh!

MacIntosh!

The only apple worth eating, unless you have Cortlands for baking! The true New Englander in me causes this. How cool that you have an heirloom tree like that!

Yeah, you have to wait for the frost. If the bears aren't bothering anything else and it's real brief, you kind of have to just hang back and watch out.

Cool that your excess goes into a good cider! They make the BEST pie and applesauce too, no question about it. I like them thinly sliced for desert.

[MontanaMama]

30. It's a HUGE tree.

I hire an arborist to come every couple years to prune it…he tells me I either have to prune for fruit or prune for beauty. I pay hime to prune for both. I’ve lived in this house 27 years and the tree was old when I bought the place. Western Cider makes a killer Macintosh cider. I wonder if it’s available on your side of the divide? If not I would sure ship some to you…

[2naSalit]

32. Mmm...

I'll check around and let you know. I don't need much, just a taste for the hell of it.

[MontanaMama]

33. It is luscious.

They also make a whisky peach and apple that is insane. I never used to like cider…but their stuff is magic. You know where to find me…

[cilla4progress]

5. Been reading about all the bears in town there...

or has town moved into their homes (not you, I know..).

Lucky to catch them! Big uns!

[MontanaMama]

8. A little of both!

They’re really hungry…the berry crop wasn’t great so they’re in town getting what’s available. MT Fish, Wildlife & Parks estimates there are around 50 individual bears in our neighborhood at the moment. They spend days in trees near the creek and feast on apples, plums etc in yards at night.

[Baitball Blogger]

6. Starting late September to October the bears are on a food prowl to beef up before

hibernation.

[MontanaMama]

9. Yep. They're very active right now.

A neighbor around the corner from us came home from work to find one in her kitchen with his head in her fridge! They’re quite intelligent and pretty much go where they want.

[cilla4progress]

12. Woah!

Grizzly or black? Not sure about the 1st pic.

[MontanaMama]

14. Big black bear. BIG.

Fish & Game have euthanized two bears in our neighbor for repeatedly breaking into homes. I hate that part of it. One bear was caught in one home 4 times! Lock your doors for Pete’s sake!

[calimary]

16. Fortunately she lived to tell!

[Emile]

11. One looks like a Grizzly or

are they both black bears?

[MontanaMama]

15. Both black bears...but BIG bears.

I live one mile from the wilderness boundary and grizzlies are common up there. No reason to think that the grizzlies respect that boundary…I just haven’t caught one on camera. Yet.

[2naSalit]

26. We have bears that...

Are the black bear species but their fur isn't black. A good 40% of black bears, in Montana at least, are such and are called "cinnamon" bears because they are reddish. Still big, still just as dangerous.

Right now during hyperphagia everything that has calories is food for them and they can get pretty aggressive about it. They are the most dangerous at this time of year, and when they get up in spring. One issue is that many are not going into hibernation during winter because winters are not the same anymore.

[iscooterliberally]

13. I guess they're out stocking up on the 'bear necessities'.

[AllaN01Bear]

17. eep. but no yougy and or booboo. dont mess with these guys.

great catch though.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

18. Great photos!

I once had a black bear climb in my RV. It was quite an adventure. It knew how to work the door latch on my trailer.

Good luck with them. I'm glad they're black bears and not grizzlies.

[2naSalit]

27. Doesn't matter...

Both are equally as dangerous. It's a myth that black bears are any less lethal than grizzlies. A black bear is more likely to eat you for food than a griz.

A bear is a bear. If a gator was coming after you, would you care, at that moment when you realize you need to avoid death, that it's actually a crocodile?

[ET Awful]

19. To quote Chief Wiggum . . .

Book 'em Lou - One count of being a bear . . . .and one count of accessory to being a bear.

[Demovictory9]

20. 😳

[Laffy Kat]

21. Whoa, they have been packing in the calories for winter!

[MontanaMama]

23. For sure!

Funny thing about the photos on the trail cam...in each instance, there was a person either in front of the bear or behind it by only about 5-10 minutes! The camera picks up people, bears, deer, raccoons...anything that moves.

[catbyte]

24. Wow, and all I get around my neighborhood are a few raccoons and a stray possum or two.

[bluestarone]

28. TY! Montanamama (very cool!!)

[snot]

29. I guess that keeps the kids off the streets at night!

.

[MontanaMama]

31. I know I pay serious attention going out after dark.

They’re pretty skittish…when I do see them, they typically turn tail and run. They just want apples and plums in the yard.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

34. You need a cat

[MontanaMama]

35. Wish I could have one...

But I’ve got a parrot and have lived through that particular tragedy in the past.

However, speaking of cats and bears…a neighbor of ours has a small bear visit her patio almost every afternoon. Her cat sits out there and suns himself and pays no mind to the bear and the same goes for the bear. Another neighbor who recently came home from work to find a bear with his head in her fridge posted a photo of her cat watching the bear from the kitchen counter also seemingly unconcerned about the bear in the house.