Something's happened---

Ever since the one bear bit into the wasp spray can [see above], and I can't imagine what his reaction was...

None have been back that we've seen on the camera.

It's getting cooler and I would expect them to be back, I hope...

Still haven't seen any bears or signs of them.

Hibernation?  I'm sure they'll be back, OP.

cinnamon phase bear in some of the last pics or just the light a bit funny?

Here's a nice website for black bear habits.

Looks like in my area with all the food and the relatively mild temps so far, they will be going into hibernation about now.

This video is amazing to show how a bear digs a den...

Digging a den


We had folks visiting abt 1 1/2 months ago and my SO and her friend found a den, but she hasn't been able to find it again. She said it wasn't too big of an entrance but had a vent hole.


A point the website makes is some bears start digging den months before they'll be needed.



The same site has some live cams viewing bears sleeping, etc.

I'd like to know if bears care about snow on them when hibernating...


We often find dens that have a smallish entrance hole ~2 feet in diameter, and there's always a small vent hole about 6 to 8 feet from the entrance.

My thought is it's mtn lions, but I wonder if a bear could squeeze thru a hole like than and then have a bigger area inside.


We've been a little reluctant to poke around in them...


The 68 pound rock they mention in the video is NOTHING to the smallish bears here. My SO lines the 'driveways' with rocks, some a lot bigger and she's often complaining that the bears move them to eat ants and bugs underneath. Then she has to put them back...  



If we find something interesting and it's practical to do it, I'll set up a remote cam...

It sure looks blond in all the photos we have of it. Really great looking bear with a nice color... Looks young too...

But not a cinnamon bear, I think.  

The one cinnamon bear my SO saw, that's mentioned at the beginning of this topic, is the one she ran into coming out of the barn while the bear was snooping around going in.

She said it had a distinctive blond 'chest' area. We heard other folks abt a year later maybe 15 miles away talking about a 'cinnamon' bear hanging around some of their cattle pens.

I don't think we ever got a pix of it...


It's strange, all the bear calls, activity, pictures, seemed to end after that one bear bit into the wasp spray can.

I'm not sure but I don't think I've seen tracks various places, but sometimes it's hard to tell.

We've sort of missed them, but not the damage they do...


Coyotes are still around, were close the other evening.


Logged into the IP cams to check solar system charging and security, from down here Saturday, saw two bucks with good sized antlers on the flat and used the hi res PTZ camera to zoom in and take some pix.  They were munching stuff at ground level in the bushes.

Biggest antlers I've ever seen here. Need to load to PB and post...


We put up 2 Axis hi res PTZ cams and they are amazing w/ 32x optical zoom, stabilization, autonomous zoom and tracking, and low light capability. Can resolve a waving T shirt at 12 miles+. Need to figger out how to work them better

Here's a video from the same website with 2 large bears and a baby hibernating.

I didn't know 2 adult bears shared the same den...

Here



Another video from same site and on U-tube

If you were a bear, what would you be doing right now???





I was surprised at how well the new panels shedded snow this time.

The barn corrugations are deep and filled.

Awesome thread. Thanks for keeping us updated EXPY.
It's nice that you don't try to kill every bear that checks out your place.

If I was a bear in that area I'd be sleeping.
For some reason from your previous description I had imagined the panels being mounted with their long dimension parallel with the length of the building.
I was having a hard time understanding why there would be a shadow from the morning sun.  The picture explains it.

were's the "like" button?

Thats funny

Thanks gents!

Re the new lower group of panels that's subject to shadowing...

This time of the year when I check the Outback's in the morning [remotely], that group usually hasn't had an opportunity to contribute much charge at all, because by the time the shadowing is over, the rest of the panels have the batteries topped off...

I did see it contribute a lot a week or so ago, when it was cloudy and snowy in the AM, the other panels didn't get to do their thing and when it cleared off, Group 3 -as I call it, was busy contributing a lot of amps...

In another month or 2, the shadowing will end and it will be pumping out juice with the rest, and that opens the issue of too much juice into the batteries at one time.

I do have that group dialed back in its associated Outback, and last fall, total charge from all the groups -at one time, was OK.



Regarding shadowing...


The illumination of the sun during the seasons is sort of like a sine wave.

The change is rather fast near the shortest and longest days, and the apparent change of shadowing and length of the day, becomes less noticeable in the period in-between.

If this makes any sense...

Pack rats or whatever moved back into the 3 phase generator over the winter...

Today we cleaned it out again, checked the wires that were chewed on and tested it, was OK..

I had covered all the openings with 3/8" green coated hardware screen over a year ago, but forgot to use the wire screen and just covered 3 openings a little larger than an oversized postage stamp -that's all it took for them to get in...

The screen is secured to the various grills with stainless safety wire, avail at H-F.


So, today, used some aluminum 1 1/2" angle and fab'd a cover for the openings and secured the angle with a 1/4-20 bolt.

We had blocks of poison for rodent control in the genny, and they were chewed on.

Today my SO started to clean it and found 3 babies, she got one and the other two got away somewhere inside.

Last week I put tape over the hole the adults were using, and wonder how the babies survived about a week or so without water.


Also, had trouble with the RV propane furnace that failed and will write up some general electrical technical troubleshooting/repair issues all peppers should be aware of in another topic.


Here's a pix of the top of the genny showing way the screen is attached...






Pix of the control cabinet behind the control panel with lots of juicy wiring to chew on during the long winter months... This area was the nest and full of chewed foam from various sound-proofing panels, seeds, debris, poop and urine...







The blue rat/etc. bait block is called ---IIRC, Contrac, is avail on eBay for about $65 for a 15 or so pound pail...

Glad you keep the updates coming on this thread. Been following it since the beginning. Love seeing what's going on up there at your place.

Thank you TheSurvialist!


We found a set of 2 bears' prints in soft dirt and SO took pix, I don't have them yet to post

Good sized adult -Mama.  And a youngster.


Also, they fooled me -again, I think...


We got here this afternoon and I walked from the barn to the container a few times forgetting my gun.
Was trying to get an issue with a different cell phone straightened out to get an old one reassigned to another account as a cheap backup.


While I was on the phone with the cell company, I heard a loud pop-pop-pop- About 5 or 7 times in rapid succession.  Seemed within 100 yards.


Like someone firing a 9mm or something. I thought who's doing that, there's no one near here? After a couple minutes on the phone and then thinking about this, I realized it was likely the large bear 'popping her jaw', actually some sort of way they pop air from their mouth and it sounds like a gun shot...

It's a nervous defensive reaction according to stuff I've read on the 'net.

It was pretty close and has happened lots of times and I finally figgered it out last year.

Only one 'burst' of 'pops' and nothing. Probably watching us thru the trees somewhere.


The mice are out in force and it's a distraction to shoot them at night lit with a Fenix PD22 pocket flashlight and birdshot in a 22 mag N American revolver. Hold the light in my teeth with that Tygon tubing 'holder' I've written abt.

Birdshot in 22 mag is hard to find and I'm getting down to about one or two packs...


Dropped my Fenix PD22UE left pocket light  off a lift to the concrete floor in the barn Sunday and it doesn't work. That's a first for dropping them from a high place and breaking, these are great lights and getting hard to find.

There's a PD25 replacement and I wonder if it's got the same features?  Fortunately I had a spare PD22UE



Going outside now to see if the bears are making any sounds...

We've decided to get some bear spray...  2 containers...

Local store has UDAP brands

Any opinion on UDAP or recommendations for other brands?

Bear visit Sunday...

Bear didn't know it, I was sleeping about 5 feet to the left in the shipping container the solar box is on the south end of...  






Zooming in, bear looks to be snarling, may have sensed me inside...




Snooping behind the propane tank...




Still need to order spray...

And bells...


Time for my SO to put pink insulation of the solar box glass...  Before they break it again...  

Sitting at my desk just now, in the highly insulated room in the barn, looking at wireless IC parts specs, getting ready to place an order,  saw a movement out of the corner of my eye [ALWAYS trust your vision] a squirrel just strolled in. Not in any hurry to leave when I clapped at it...


Then a few minutes later, saw a humming bird flying from one end of the barn roof to the other...

SO just said a ground squirrel fell into a bucket of water since noon and drowned

All I need now is a bear visit

Animals are real tame here  

Drudge linked to:

Interesting article on female brown bear strategy to prevent/survive males killing their cubs.  

Cliff notes -live near people...


Mother brown bears protect cubs with human shields



For a mother brown bear in Scandinavia, few sights are as terrifying as a strange male. Adult male bears are known to kill cubs that are not theirs—and sometimes the mother that defends them. A new study suggests that smart mama bears have found a surprising way to protect their young. To shield her cubs from male attacks, mom just has to raise them near an adult bear’s number one enemy: humans.

“People fear bears,” says Marcus Elfström, a wildlife ecologist at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences in Ås, Norway, who was not involved in the research. But the new study shows that “vulnerable bears fear dominant [fellow bears] more than they fear people.”

Female grizzly bears and Scandinavian brown bears move away from male territory after giving birth, often choosing areas far from the best bear habitats. If a mother loses her cub, she soon goes into heat, so an infanticidal male [one who has killed a cub/s ] has a good chance of impregnating her. When researchers in Sweden found some mother bears and their cubs living near human settlements, they wondered if it might be a reproductive strategy—a way of protecting their young from killer males. After all, adult male bears don’t often venture near towns because humans are likely to kill them. If it was for safety, did the mothers’ strategy work?


More here...


http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/06/mother-brown-bears-protect-cubs-human-shields

Bears are cute pests, generally...

That said there are a lot of other pests folks will have to deal with in an isolated SHTF environment...



Couple thoughts...


Mice are a big problem here. At night all needed is to take a Fenix and walk slowly and watch them scurry in bushes and rocks...  Good for night time snap shooting practice.

The most successful traps [besides 50 cent old-timey wooden mouse traps]  [we have tried most everything I think] have been 3 or 5 gallon buckets with a couple inches of water.  No need for the sticks, etc, just put them next to a rock and the mice will jumpn.  My SO has a routine of collecting them daily and burning them.


Ants--- are an issue. The shipping container was invaded a couple years ago, we have taken steps to prevent that. [Spider issues as well]

Knock on wood, no issues for awhile after we started spraying.

The box stores have one gallon jugs of highly diluted insecticide and used sparingly it has been successful.  I've had spiders run right out on my lab bench in the highly insulated room in the barn.  No more.


Cyper WP, is an effective agent and can be purchased in concentrated form online.  Not cheap but considering the amount of insecticide that can be made -a bargain.

You can use the [~$8] one gallon box store ready mixed sprayers and add some additional material for better performance. Use sparingly.

Avoid the ones with the electric pump that use AA batteries, they have been an issue clogging and repriming -in short, a PITA



ANTS-  AMDRO for the larger ones is excellent.  Also the ready mix $8 sprayer solutions.  Add some Cyper or Permethrin.


Squirrels-  what a pain, they get into generators and vehicles and chew up the wiring... So do the pack rats and ground squirrels.

We have a telehandlers here and years ago I hid some guns in the bottom end of the boom and left the service cover loose. Never could figure out where the 2 AR's went

Last week or so, I saw something strange poking out and it was the end of the stock of an AR.  Looked inside and there was a case with a Colt .22 AR in it  also. I am missing a HT radio, and sadly it wasn't there. We keep the telehandler outside sometimes and the whole boom was filled with pinecones, other stuff the animals save for winter --what was surprising was the number of poison blocks for mice the bigger animals stole and stashed in there. It took all afternoon and part of the next day to clean it all out. The super heavy lift chain had jumped off the roller center area and was riding on the flange of the roller  [think 6000 pounds i.e. full size SUV, 40 feet in the air] due to the debris and fortunately I spotted it and got it back on.


Afterwards properly replaced the end cover plate. No access now...


There is this great big squirrel I've been trying to get multiple ways and for the past week it's been going into the light tower genny and setting off a rat trap, getting out of it and stealing the poison blocks secured inside with stainless safety wire.


My SO suggested outing a Victor electronic rat trap in there with the other stuff and I got it in 2 days!  

So, an electronic rat trap might be worth considering getting...



BUGS!!!!


At night the flying bugs get on the screendoor of the container and often get in.

A mouse sticky pad/LED light  trap that I've described before works great and also in the Stealth Trailer.


We've used Flowtron bug zappers for years but now this one is available...


There's a new one [to me] called Aspectek and it's low cost and works GREAT.




We put one outside the container to redirect the bugs at night.


Only draws 20 watts. As an experiment I wanted to see if both bulbs had to be installed or it would run on one to save energy for solar power.  Works fine on one.

The SNAP is loud and powerful and blows the legs and wings plum off the critters ---Impressive!

I wanted to see if they could be operated with one of the screens removed so I lifted the spring loaded screen with power still connected being very careful not to get zapped...

As I took a bulb loose ZAP! I got hit --It was a brief loud pulse like an internal capacitor was suddenly discharged.  My left ring finger tip was OK but had a burnt odor...


These zappers are great! And a better buy than the Flowtrons for a lot of applications. They can sit right on the floor. I leave the barn door open at night until the mice get active and have one sitting on the floor in the barn and another on the floor just inside the highly insulated room/lab as an experiment of effectiveness.

They have a built in on/off switch.

Have caught a lot of mice on sticky pads sneaking into the barn.




Bears and rabbits seem to be in plenty good supply. We count the number of rabbits we see sometimes. There's a large area graveled outside the barn to the west they like to come out in the evening  and lay down in and nibble vegetation. Last night I 'talked' to one and got within 3 feet of it crouching down  


The bears are making their locomotive horn sounds but haven't been on the camera. One did destroy a fly trap we put in the trees, during the night a few days ago...

Pretty close by.




Oh, fly traps, another important tool to have...

I'd like to put up a directional, aimable, wx resistant microphone connected to the audio of a good audio quality IP cam to listen to animal sounds, and intruder sounds- remotely...


Probably a 30" parabolic reflector on a TV antenna rotator with a small speaker in a wx resistant 'shell' with foam...

Thanks for all the updates!

Love this thread bu ti think you need to beta test some bear spray and get paid for it.
-sigadvantage-

Thanks guys!


We went down from the mtn a few days ago to change oil in vehicles, clean up my lab, SO had a million things to do and one thing being another, only got back last yesterday afternoon...

Last week the bears were making their calling/growling/locomotive noises a lot and sometimes nearby. This year seems to be a great year for animal breading from all the rabbits...

I think there are jackolopes this year because we see a lot of animals that look like huge rabbits and have a long skinny black tail and black ears. My SO was close to one last week when it walked across the driveway.

When we came up last evening we could see the area at the container was disturbed, the water sprayer tank on the 'table' [really a small aluminum porch like they use to build stairs and landings for office trailers for construction etc. that one of the storage places gave us years ago]   the tank was on the ground...

So we parked at the barn, unloaded, I walked out the back door and there were two of the wire chewing ground squirrels from hell that ran over and sat on a rock, mocking me...


I ran to the safe and got the FN Police Special semi and peeked out the door, it was still there. I got off a snap shop without aiming and blew the sucker off the rock and instantly fired at another one that I couldn't find.

So checked the barn traps and  the trash can wash tub we collect water in and my SO took stuff in the 6x6 down to the container...

A few moments later I got a radio call that a bear has visited and I have some work to do.  Crap...


Went down and sure enough, the new flat bug zapper I mentioned, had been pulled from the metal pole, hanging chain broken,  wires pulled loose, SO's smaller table tipped over, the new cover for the Champion genny had a couple holes bitten in it...


On the Toileting System side of the container, the foundation vent had been pulled from the skirt and the bear had pulled pieces of the toileting system under the container loose and out on the gravel.

The 14inch section of heavy wall tubing normally goes from the bottom of the storage tank up to the second macerator pump. It's connected by Ferncos and hose clamps. One of the clamps was bent up, obviously chewed on. Tube was laying on the ground, not chewed up...

Fortunately no permanent damage was done and the way the bear pulled things apart didn't cause any significant spillage of waste.

I removed the weather and vermin skirts -everything is designed after several revisions, for fast service...






Everything put back together... And the little waste washed up.
'

The light in the next picture is an LED MR16 or some sort of 12 volt track light that back lights the tank and vertical semi clear pipe so waste level can be observed on a monitor in the bathroom. The camera is on the very far right corner.






We had some pink insulation in a concrete circle and the bears love to chew on it and dragged it out. We changed the insulation on the solar box and they seem to leave it alone -so far.

The pink insulation I think can be used as a distraction to keep them away from other stuff... I might put some around, OTOH, it might serve as an attractant...



This is the genny cover the bear bit, and there's another hole in it at a different place. Just got it...  

This morning I was checking the computer and my SO started grabbing and scratching my shoulder, she was brushing her teeth... And was mumbling something...

I thought at first there was a ground rat I needed to blast but I leaned back and saw a black bear looking into the container from the driveway.

So we got a camera, [we like the older particular model of Canon with NO GPS on ebay cheap, they're great and we can have one everywhere...

Took some snaps of the bear through the screen because I didn't want to scare it...

It turned around and I got a couple pictures and then it walked into the brush. I could see the brush shaking and figgered it laid down. It was being pretty slow and lazy.


I talked my SO to go down and look later but the bear was gone.


Sadly she didn't have the game camera set up this time.



We figured last year that the bears can hear us leave [no one else around here] and they know to come over and tear things up  -sometimes...


Last year they were here in 45 minutes...  Slow-pokes...  


When I first saw it, it was looking at the container, it most likely heard us in there...






Gave a nice side view...






Went into that brush where I think it might have laid down...






This bear is pitch black... Looks like a troublemaker...  Lot's are brown and other shades...

SO just called and is out in the woods with a GPS I'm amazed she's learning, and surveying for a new driveway so it's easier in the snow... I laid it out for her with points from G-Earth...


Hope she has her whistle and bear bells...  

Yesterday we cut the basic new driveway that doesn't change altitude much so we don't get stuck when it snows ---so much.

After my SO surveyed the path, we've been thinking and planning this for months, I went and surveyed the route and there was a big wasp or hornets' nest in a small tree. I figure it is ~12 inches high with one hole on the bottom they were busy flying in and out of...


So I got the excavator and started grading the path and breaking off a few trees [start at the top up high and use the hydraulic  'thumb' and bucket to sort of shear/snap the limbs and then swing/move them to a convenient place to collect them whenever, work down and leave the stump 6 or 8 feet high and push or pull it over and get enough root so it  makes no difference for the road ---one caution is you don't want to do anything that could result in a branch jamming into the operator cab, best to keep front window closed, it's stronger than somebodies face] and  we tried to minimize the number of trees that needed to be removed.

Then grade the road by cutting into the uphill side and going back and forth over the length slowly getting it 'level' with the right slope for drainage.  I should get it finished today... It won't be exactly right but that can all be straightened out in the years to come once it gets graveled and rained on and we see what sort of areas need better drainage.


Anyhow I'm worried about how to resolve the hornet's nest and wondering if it will get cold enough last night to spray them, what I should wear, etc, advice from member's here, etc.

Told my SO about the nest because she's often working with rocks around there and her job yesterday was to pick up small rocks and debris as I graded [the mini-ex has a 6 way articulating blade, one of the best investments [also the thumb]  I made for up here and it can tilt to slope the grade]

I got called for supper and when I went by the nest it looked like it had turned black...

Then my SO told me she took a can of wasp spray and sprayed it ---  


No bear pictures on the game cams this morning but there was one of those 'giant rabbits'/jackolopes with black tipped ears and a long skinny black tail that she deleted.   And some other critters...

When I was writing the post about the bear yesterday I heard a noise and didn't pay much attention, something on the metal steps up to the door, and then looked and a squirrel started scratching at the bottom of the sliding screen door trying to get in.

Winter early this year?


Thought of an idea to scare the bears away. Last year one of them bit into a can of wasp spray we had sitting out and there were very few visits afterwards.


They make these flask bags for paintballers that use a CO2 cartridge and have a handle release that works like a real one.  There's a trick to put a real one in a sleeve like a piece of PVC pipe of the similar dia as the body and tie a string to it and when the string is pulled, the thing is free, the handle flips and bang.




So, if I put one of the CO2 ones up high like on  top of the container so the bear's hearing isn't damaged and run a string down both sides and tie it to some pink rigid insulation they love to chew for bait, this might scare them to help keep them away.

Need to do the same around the toileting system so they don't tear it up again.

Or bury one?  

Got road finished yesterday and looks great. Just need to get road base delivered and top that with 3/4 stone for appearance and to keep the dust down.

Probably will let the rain settle things before adding material.


Spent a lot more time than I thought clearing brush and taking out trees. Thank goodness for the hydraulic thumb on the excavator that snaps branches and smaller trees like toothpicks.

Also for my SO who spent 3 long days grooming the road, and transporting many cubic yards of debris to be burned later. Huge piles because I took time to root out brush along both sides.

I measured it after it was done to be just under 600 feet with elevation changes of maybe 10 feet total end to end, vs. the current road that goes up and down ~50 feet and is almost twice as long.

It will make getting in when the snow is deep a lot easier.


There were fresh bear tracks [soft dirt] [and others] in the new road this morning, a small one.  This morning we were puzzled that the new style bug zapper that we keep on the ground now...

On the ground because there are a lot of flying insects/flies that eat the zapper debris and swarm all below it. So we put it on the ground and that takes care of the nuisance bugs that might not be attracted to it, especially with no screens on it


The zapper was tilted over and something unplugged the power cord again at the side of the container that comes from the generator. She hasn't used the genny since Fri night so it could have been unplugged any time after.  

I figure the bear was around last night and I think the game cam is active to look at.

Maybe an IR or seismic sensor set out tonight might be interesting. Or the CO2 device...  

Since we started cutting the road, I haven't heard bear sounds in the late afternoon and evening.


We've been counting the rabbits that love to play car tag and sit along the roads at dusk when we come and go for supplies. A few weeks ago we counted an average of 15.

The past 2 times up and down there were an ave of 44!  The deviation or whatever in the ave is tight.

We'll usually see a jakolope or two with the black skinny tails... That's OK as long as they don't try to bite my tires...

The bear came by ~5:30 this AM

That's the usual solar water box in the back ground. Infrared illumination...

Gotta figure something out...  Maybe trip some sort of alarm to scare it when he pulls the extension cord plug???

Ha ha ha...

We aren't there as of a couple hours ago... Bear still is...  So is a Hakikamu or whatever paintball device in a PVC sleeve and a juicy piece of pink insulation on a string tied to it, a hearing safe distance away.

Insulation has a rock on it ---an irresistible combination...

On overwatch is an Axis PTZ IP cam I can check from anywhere...

I remembered to pull the safety pin before we left

A Reconex cam is pointed at the insulation...


Patience...

Just looked at the cam, not enough moonlight to see anything...

Waiting patiently...

Well-

Don't know whether to turn in my Tacticool Arfcom Operator's card, or have another star punched in my Dumass card

Prolly both...





Here's what happened as far as I can tell from the remote camera.

The bear took the bait and dragged the insulation to the left out from the rocks that are 5 feet or so to the right in the picture.

You can see the string taught going to the PBD in a 2 o'clock direction







Here's the PBD pulled from the sleeve and the handle appears not to have flipped. The pin is under the rock to the right of the sleeve.

There's no distortion in the PBD plastic suggesting it did not work. [I.e. it didn't work]

Also, the string is taught suggesting the bear pulled the PBD, got bored and left it.

What is puzzling is that the PBD is backwards from what you'd expect if it were pulled directly from the sleeve by the string. I stuck it into the sleeve body first...






Close up of the PBD.

Had to 'form' the handle to get it to fit into the sleeve and the handle was surprisingly stiff. I had to hold the PBD firmly while reforming the handle with lineman's pliers.

I can't tell from the picture angle if the striker flipped and the handle 'bounced' back

What may have happened is the handle somehow got bound up and couldn't flip, after I bent it, but don't think so... Not sure...





Hopefully the game cam recorded any action [that I now doubt happened] but won't know until we return...


There wasn't any wind...


Hope bear didn't decide to chew on the Reconyx cam where I put it on the ground...  

They did that before to one of the cams...

I figured he'd be too scared to bother with it...

I agree.

No, just no.  In this case shoot skin shovel skillet shutup.

Found out what happened.  

The PBD activated fine, but -the plastic housing must have been too loose and the CO2 escaped around the threads holding the main part with the housing.

That would have resulted in a pretty powerful 'jetting' action that would have whipped the PBD around on the string -maybe, with a little violence and noise.

The 'handle' just happened to be in the fully safe position at the end of the CO2 release as the pressure subsided.


The bear hearing the strange low-level noise within the first couple seconds likely took off...  Because the extension cord was still plugged in and nothing was disturbed.


Unfortunately the game cam was set too high in elevation and didn't record any of the action.


All this is corrected and everything is go for the next event.



The bears tend to be stubborn and determined and this one is likely to have a visit again soon.

There were weak teeth indentations on a corner of the insulation.


I hope we aren't scared to death around 5:30 AM...

Bear paid a visit this morning after daylight.

We woke up hearing sounds like stuff falling around the container, and scraping sounds.

I went to the door and there were big muddy bear prints on the concrete tiles in front and I could hear the bear messing with something to the left but couldn't see around the corner.

Made a mistake and didn't grab a camera that was on the counter, instead went out on the steps [being careful] and slapped the 'siding' a couple times to get it to stop tearing things up.

It immediately ran down the drive to get away and didn't look back. Good sized...

Went out and surveyed the damage, not too bad, the silver Astrofoil insulation was pulled off the solar water box glass and thankfully the glass wasn't broken.

The sprayer tank my SO keeps water in next to the propane grill was on the ground, the bear must have been climbing or reaching up into  the tree next to it because the fly trap we hang in the tree was on the ground.


The PBD setup wasn't disturbed... Checked the camera and it had nothing on it except some mice. It didn't even have pix of me walking around the setup, so more testing is in order.

There was a lot of 'noise disturbance' for a moment but don't know how it was caused.


A few minutes later the jackolope with the black skinny tail came wandering through in front of the door.

Never saw one up that close before...


Weird animal activity this summer...


Took pix of the bear prints with a scale if anyone interested...

Of course we want photos.

This is like an ARFcom version of Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom.

First thing I saw when sliding the door open ...

The prints were muddy initially and are dried in the pictures.

Have to figure something out, this one's persistent.  Have a small electric fence charger that runs on 12vdc/D cells, we got for BO long ago...  

There's a Victor automatic mouse zapper in front of the stove. Mice go up a 'stairway' into a chamber on top, and after zapped, a motor turns the chamber over dumping them on the ground and resets. The other night it dumped out 3 mice.

Just a drop in the bucket...

Lot happened last night

It was dark and my SO was in the container doing dishes and heard a small noise and looked out the screen door and one of the bears was standing there playing peeping tom.

She yelled and it took off.

This called for an increase in security so I deployed a sensor to keep tabs on the area of the container where the tables are and the sprayer tank water container and moved the game camera to watch that area.

Also ran mason's string from the PBD main pull string across the solar box and tied it to the ATV and another from that to the other container.

All this in hopes that the bears would run into the string and pull it pretty hard and trip the PBD.


Also was going to deploy another PBD in that same area [the original is behind the container and sort of on the other side]. Unfortunately before I could go back to the barn for one and some PVC I got sleepy and decided to be lazy.

Mistake.

Was getting ready for bed and the sensor started alerting and we heard some faint noise outside. The moon was out and I pulled up the PTZ cam on the container and looked around. Saw 2 bears over by the ATV, strings, tables, etc. and they were poking around and snooping and getting into the strings.

The bears are able to be very delicate, it appeared they ran into the string sensed it, and backed off.  Ultimately, they did go under or over one or two strings to get on the other side to go to the barn, but it was too dark to see how they did it.

I was expecting a boom any second but nothing. After they left I looked at the maze of strings and you'd never know the bears were in them. So I added a pull string thru a port in the container where the extension cord goes through so the PBD can be deployed manually from inside.

[There a solution to this using a 12vdc car door lock actuator More on this later]


The bears got interested in the bug zapper with no screen guards and we watched one of the poke his nose in it and get zapped.  He jumped and lopped back toward the ATV and then proceeded to snoop as usual. In the picture below you can see two of them messing with it.



Snooping around... The Champion genny is on the left... Container entrance is further about 8 feet. Game camera shots.









Here's their inspection of the zapper and getting zapped... Hard to see, there's 2 of them, one high and one low, looking at the zapper. Using PTZ cam well above the top of the container  that I was steering from inside. I got a lot of pix with it but because the moon was attenuated by some clouds, not too good. I'll add floods to the container today -I hope.

Continuing...

They milled around some more, maybe total time was 3 or 4 minutes, and then wandered up the path toward the barn.

Ha! I have a remote controlled LED flood on the end of the barn so I turned it on and pulled up the PTZ cam there.



Looks pretty cute!





There are 2 repurposed hot water tanks to the left of the bear and he went over to them, cuddled up around one like it was some sort of buddy and urinated.

Then went and cuddled up to the tracks on the excavator.  This behavior suggests a young bear -to me.

Then it bit an electric rat trap [that had a mouse in it, haven't gone there to it yet, but broke? the battery cover off] and there's a C battery loose and a dead mouse visible. He left the mouse...

Watched him go to the burn barrel, and wandered up the new road we just cut in and left.  Stayed on paths and roads mostly.



Will add more sensors and gimmicks for tonight...

Not sure an electric fence would phase them for long...

Worked on the issue and we're ready for BEAR -tonight...

3 PBD's deployed in a crisscrossed fashion and a 3 head super bright LED outdoor flood stuck high on the side of the container with magnets, rewired to bypass the IR sensor and connected to a hand-held remote control.  Later will be connected to a web power switch when I can program the static IP addy into it, maybe tomorrow. Can get great pix now. Game cam is set with I hope a better elevation.

Seismic sensor deployed and we can detect any intrusion [like last night] on   one side of the container. Need a long range IR sensor here...


Sliding door is closed. I'm in the barn.

The Vltor SMQ-OE flip mount will take a Fenix TK22 if the body is turned  down. May give dimensions in the tritium nite-sight thread.  Great light.

As far as catching mice, water in a small pan or bucket seems to be most productive, reusable, and cheap.


Love the bears, wish they'd go somewhere's else most of the time.  




There's some real issues for me re the PBD's, I'll go into more detail later... I think I've got them straightened out tonight but they can be dangerous and I dropped a modified one and it fired almost instantly... Safety still in place...  

Bear[s] returned this morning abt 8:30.  Heard the seismic sensor and figured the bear was between the 2 containers, so turned on the computer to take a look, not soon enough though.  Had to be slow and quiet inside.

There's 2 trip strings strung roughly between the two containers on that side, each to a PBD.

On the other side of the container we live in, there's one from the bushes to the container.

The game cam shows the bear approaching the string between the 2 containers and sniffing it and backing off. Repeated this. Then going to the table and investigating the sprayer water tank, that's empty I think.

So the one string blocked the bear from going between the two containers.

Then it went in front and around the container about the time I got the cam working and POW, it tripped the string on that side, and took off...

Worked perfectly.  That was one of the PBD's I drilled a hole in the CO2 cartridge housing because I thought not enough CO2 was getting out to reliably pop them.


Instead, with the supplied reinforcement rings that get screwed to the top and bottom of the PBD, they seem to be reliable, even with the CO2 just leaking around the loose threads of the internal holder for unpredictable delays.

Making the holder vent more quickly makes the PBD pop almost instantly and IMO is dangerous to handle.


Also, the safety handle is less than well engineered.

Great tales.

If a string makes them wary, would a concertina type wire roll (no blades or barbs) or a wire tanglefoot around your perimeter keep them out?  Some of it could be permanent, other sections you could string closed with minimal effort at evening.

Interesting question...


From observing these critters for years now, they seem to have a critical component of Survival...

A Seriousness of Purpose and a Quality of Correct Decision Making -----[More so than the majority of humans, maybe]


They aren't easily dissuaded from their objectives. That string only slowed him briefly because it was something it never saw before.

They aren't comfortable with things being out of place from what they're accustomed to in Nature, like the rock on the solar water box the young bear reached up to get and it fell on it's foot...

Also the rock on the pink insulation trap, that one immediately had to 'resolve' when it saw it.  


Don't have any idea what they'd do with fencing, or wire, I expect, they'd get familiar with it and then do what they had to, to make it not relevant to their goals.

The danger is they might get tangled up in it and what a can of worms that would be to get straightened out...


The bears seem to think they're the bull in the China shop, [although they can be deftly delicate] and they're pretty unflappable...


Interesting creatures...

Update- no bears! Not there but heading that way soon, looked at the strings for the 3 PBD's and all OK.




I've heard them not too far away growling/calling past few days, but word must have gotten around...

Just to mess with them, I might tie some string around other places...  

Great thread. I love seeing what's going on at your homestead. Its quite a battle you got going on there, lol.

Oh Boy!

Last Saturday/Sunday we put up LED floods on both sides of the container that can be remote controlled over the net or locally.


Some 'technical' developments...


Last afternoon/night put up an ADPRO IR sensor model PRO-250H   -on the barn at ~11 feet....

That can reach out 150 METERS!!! [~500 feet]

The 'curtain beam' is only about 12 feet wide at 150 meters and I've set it at a sensitivity for 105 meters.

It's pointed from the barn down toward the new road we put in a few weeks ago. Pictures will show the area.  Any bear walking the road will be detected for about 350 feet.


This thing is EXTREMELY sophisticated with signal processing...  That's a silicon wafer almost 4 inches in diameter in the front to pass long wave length IR [just like thermal sights but not a high pixel array] and there's a precision [likely evaporated gold coated] glass mirror inside providing 3 areas of detection -short, medium and long] in a very long narrow 'beam'



The sensitivity pattern is in the manual...

Manual-

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=adpro+250h+manual




This is the mount, different from the picture above-





Then I took a Dakota IR sensor with the MURS transmitter and wired the PRO-250H into it. So we can sit in the container at night and know when it's set off. There was one incident early this AM but once I got the PC up and the cam pointed nothing to be seen. Probably a lion running across the road...


Dakota Alert




Inside








My SO has been running heavy equipment this morning working on the road and landscaping and every time she crosses the Dakota alerts.


Lots of pictures and more information later...


Beam patterns...

Bird's eye...  That's ~12 feet wide at ~500 feet!






Horizontal---  About 6 feet high at 500 feet!

[image not showing up, see manual instead]




It's super easy to modify a Dakota Alert to use other sensors or switches.  

The range can be over 20 miles with small Yagi antennas line of sight...


Typically, they can be used around the house/property for reliable alarm links.

Have abt 5 pix for later, wanted to put at least one up, this was taken with an Axis PTZ cam on top of the barn.


The narrow beam of the Adpro goes right down to the new road we just put in, to the clearing my SO is making a rock garden or something in.

It's easy to adjust the beam, a laser on the Adpro would make it easier...

My SO is beautifying the clearing to the left at the curve of the road ---IR sensor is aimed at the center of the clearing, and detects anything from the clearing back along the road, up to just under the sensor, under and back of the bottom area of the picture, including barn doors.

Guessing that's about 400 or so feet...





Here's some traps for wire chewers at the brush pile to the right of the new road... Same camera, amazing zoom... First picture is already zoomed some, this is more...





More pix later...  Work to do...

Quick digression about kidney stones and what might be expected if no professional care is available.

Not so bad actually, without complications...


Had the first in the 80's, didn't know what was going on, thought it was an infection. Had just gone w/ ex to theme park and took some rides...

A day or so later a pain began, slowly, in my right side, thinking it was an infection, injected some Combiotic, an antibiotic for animals.

Early Monday morning the pain became almost unbearable -thought I was gonna die

Ex took me to the docs first thing, told him what I injected for a possible infection, he took a blood sample, came back laughing and told us I had a kidney stone and made arrangements to get to the hospital. Gave me an opiate that I promptly threw up...

Lady at the hospital admittance took her time and I was in pain and threw up again in her wastebasket.

Finally got to a room and the pain by then was subsiding and in a couple hours I was good to go home, but they wouldn't let me.  $$$ and liability...


It took several weeks for the stone to pass, one lunch at work, I had a lot of soda to drink [don't drink soda often any more] and went to the BR and out it came with a 'flutter'. Picked it out of the urinal and save it. It was good sized.


Since then I've had more than my share, and because of certain uh, 'issues' I can't go to the doc when I have them and have to tough them out.


Had one after a ride in Vegas in one of the ball flying things you can maneuver upside down and are a lot of fun. Fortunately, we flew home the next day and it was a day later the pains slowly came on and then after a while I was crawling on the floor with dry heaves so strong I thought my eyes were going to pop out.

The dry heaves and eyes popping out are generally to be expected from the pain.

The sleep after it subsides is wonderful!  



Last one I had was in 2005 or so when I drank a good part of a bottle of Irish Crème [not a drinker -at all, it was a rare event] and that triggered a stone early in the morning with excruciating pain and eyes popping out.


Since then we drink mostly RO water and have a system at all locations. If you saw the calcium deposits that precipitate out from the transported and stored utility water in big tanks in the barn after it freezes and thaws in the winter, you'd understand.




Well, that was the last one ---until last Sunday, apparently all the bouncing around on the skid steer and excavator putting in the new road triggered another, minor, one.

For a few days prior, I had the classic symptom of mild soreness  in my right kidney area, when walking strenuously, later it became continuous, a dull soreness. I was wondering what it was, thinking it might be another stone, but these things have to be waited out, to see.

Monday morning in bed, the pain slowly began, woke me up, I wondered what it was because it radiated into my groin and even legs.

This time the pain was easily bearable.

I found a position it wasn't so bad and was able to get some sleep. Pain continued modestly until later in the morning and subsided. Remnants of the pain lasted the rest of the day and then everything was back to normal.

I expect to rescue a stone in about 2 weeks, a small one. I'll save it too...


The pain for me is when the stone is passing from the kidney and the urine flow is blocked--- to a degree.  Once the body adapts...

The body is REMARKABLE for it's ability to do so...

Once the pain is over [a day roughly depending on size] --there will be -for me- ~2 weeks later, minor bladder irritation a couple of days before the stone is passed, and passing even large ones, is a non-event.  You can tell it's coming out from the fluid dynamics flutter in the penis.



I share this to help folks understand that a kidney stone may not require emergency treatment. Folks may have been getting these for millions of years. The body is expert at dealing with them.


I have some 'keepers' in small plastic boxes on my lab bench and may post pix of them. Biggest is ~7mm long and all crystalized with a million sharp points, looks like something bad guys would use to torture folks. All of mine look like that, most smaller...


ETA Something I stumbled on in the early 2000's, when the pain had continued for hours and I couldn't take it any more, was 1/2 a Vicodin and 1/2 one of those banned Vioxx.

The relief in 20 minutes was essentially complete, I felt good to go ---it was AMAZING.

Or maybe the pain was going to subside anyhow, although the coincidence is unlikely.


Usually, I don't take meds for the pain, I sort of enjoy toughing it out... Because the sleep afterwards is so good...