My neighbor wandered over while I was heading out to work tonight and informed me that his dog went nuts about 0230 this morning, ran to the back door barking her little head off. He pashed aside the curtain and turned on the backyard floodlights to see a bear wandering out of his backyard and into mine!

I scouted the backyard a little and found some decent size tracks in some sand in the yard. Probably a small bear wandering in from the woods behind our neighborhood. General guess would put this guy somewhere around 200-250 pounds, not huge by any means, but easily big enough to gobble my little wiener dog where he stood.

Going on the hypothetical scenario that I meet up with this little guy one night while walking Max, do you think my standard .45/230 load is going to be good enough? I would much rather scare him off than shoot him, and I imagine the dog or the lights coming on would probably scare him off before the Sig was needed, but I'm just posing the question here.

What say you guys?

In Florida?

Does Florida even have bears?

Is he sure it wasn't a swamp ape?

Quoted: In Florida?

Yes, we have bears smartass.  They just tend to be smaller down here, seemingly like most of our animals for some reason, especially deer.


Could be a skunk ape.

don't count on the lights. a rifle would be better than a pistol at close range.

Quoted: In Florida?

Hell, dude, a few years back, there was a black bear wandering around in the middle of Tempe, just a couple blocks away from ASU!

Reminds me of a Sopranos episode I saw a while back.

Just have one of the "boys" stand guard with an AK-47

Quoted: Quoted: In Florida? Hell, dude, a few years back, there was a black bear wandering around in the middle of Tempe, just a couple blocks away from ASU!

Yea, Az is known to have bears. They've migrated down out of the mountains looking for water. Supposedly they're sustaining themselves on pricklypear cactus.

As for Florida, I was under the impression that there's very few left: ~1,500 or so.

Time to buy a S&W 500!!!!!

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: In Florida? Hell, dude, a few years back, there was a black bear wandering around in the middle of Tempe, just a couple blocks away from ASU! Yea, Az is known to have bears. They've migrated down out of the mountains looking for water. Supposedly they're sustaining themselves on pricklypear cactus. As for Florida, I was under the impression that there's very few left: ~1,500 or so.

They have been protected for so long, I'm willing to bet there's many more than that.   The reason I asked about scaring it away is that I would probably be better off from a legal standpoint for shooting a person in my yard than a bear.

I spoke with a Fish and Wildlife guy here last year and I posed the questions of shooting "in self defense" while hunting. His response was that if a bear was shot "in self defense", the shooter had best have claw and teeth marks or he was going to jail.

Quoted: As for Florida, I was under the impression that there's very few left: ~1,500 or so.

The bear population has been exploding over the last decade.

They are seen quite often here in NW Florida, even down on the coast where I live.

It's good to hear that they're coming back, but it's bad that they aren't being hunted. A whole new generation is being born with little to no fear of man. They should at least lottery off a couple tags.

As for scaring it away, what about a shotgun with bird bombs? If he's in your backyard, that might keep him from coming back. Depending up on how timid he is.

When walking your dog, how about a bowie knife?

likely a black bear
small black bears, at least up here, are rarely agressive

 Rubber buckshot

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: In Florida? Hell, dude, a few years back, there was a black bear wandering around in the middle of Tempe, just a couple blocks away from ASU! Yea, Az is known to have bears. They've migrated down out of the mountains looking for water. Supposedly they're sustaining themselves on pricklypear cactus. As for Florida, I was under the impression that there's very few left: ~1,500 or so. They have been protected for so long, I'm willing to bet there's many more than that.   The reason I asked about scaring it away is that I would probably be better off from a legal standpoint for shooting a person in my yard than a bear. I spoke with a Fish and Wildlife guy here last year and I posed the questions of shooting "in self defense" while hunting. His response was that if a bear was shot "in self defense", the shooter had best have claw and teeth marks or he was going to jail.

Ditto for Michigan if you kill a bear in self defense...

Make sure your beloved FWC employee knew wtf he was talking about.  I have met my share of natural resource professionals who are relatively ignorant and stupid.  Some (certainly not all) could not see past the tip of their nose.


Excerpt, and possibly not indicative of your situation from:

http://wildflorida.org/critters/policy.htm

"If the situation involves a wild animal, such as a deer, bear, snake then The Commission permits approved nuisance wildlife trappers to respond to complaints and remove nuisance animals for a fee. In some counties and municipalities, animal control officers are licensed to remove nuisance critters.

Wildlife laws:

No license or permit is required for a property owner to take any mammal, except deer or bear, found damaging personal property, provided that they be taken only within the immediate locality where damage is occurring. This does not authorize the use of a gun and light at night, steel traps, or poison to take wildlife unless a Depredation Permit is obtained from the appropriate regional office of the Commission. "

The US generally does have more stringent guidelines for depredation control.  In contrast, one of my college buddies from Alberta assassinated a trio of bears legally after they raided his uncles beehives.  Then he took the gall bladders, juiced them with green jello, and sold them to a Chinese guy down at the filling station who in turn would sell the gall bladders to aphrodesiac vendors.

Quoted: Make sure your beloved FWC employee knew wtf he was talking about.  I have met my share of natural resource professionals who are relatively ignorant and stupid.  Some (certainly not all) could not see past the tip of their nose. Excerpt, and possibly not indicative of your situation from: http://wildflorida.org/critters/policy.htm "If the situation involves a wild animal, such as a deer, bear, snake then The Commission permits approved nuisance wildlife trappers to respond to complaints and remove nuisance animals for a fee. In some counties and municipalities, animal control officers are licensed to remove nuisance critters. Wildlife laws: No license or permit is required for a property owner to take any mammal, except deer or bear, found damaging personal property, provided that they be taken only within the immediate locality where damage is occurring. This does not authorize the use of a gun and light at night, steel traps, or poison to take wildlife unless a Depredation Permit is obtained from the appropriate regional office of the Commission. " The US generally does have more stringent guidelines for depredation control.  In contrast, one of my college buddies from Alberta assassinated a trio of bears legally after they raided his uncles beehives.  Then he took the gall bladders, juiced them with green jello, and sold them to a Chinese guy down at the filling station who in turn would sell the gall bladders to aphrodesiac vendors.

Dont know what its like up where you live but here in Michigan shooting a bear in self defense is like shooting a Human in self defense. The DNR has more fucking power than regular LEOs and if charged you will spend a fortune defending your self in court...

More than likely if you were to run into the bear it would get scared and runaway.  I've run into plenty of bear and as soon as they see or smell you they take off.  Now if the bear is starved or sick then you might want to watch out.

Nope, overall I agree that killing a bear is relatively a PIA.   In AK, you have to remove hide, head and claws and present them to ADFG, and the USFW have occasionally been called "fascists" amongst other things.

I am not myself much of a hunter, but I imagine that certain "things" happen out in the bush.  Why just last week there was a report of two fellows exchanging gunfire out in the woods.

Quoted: Make sure your beloved FWC employee knew wtf he was talking about.  I have met my share of natural resource professionals who are relatively ignorant and stupid.  Some (certainly not all) could not see past the tip of their nose. Excerpt, and possibly not indicative of your situation from: http://wildflorida.org/critters/policy.htm "If the situation involves a wild animal, such as a deer, bear, snake then The Commission permits approved nuisance wildlife trappers to respond to complaints and remove nuisance animals for a fee. In some counties and municipalities, animal control officers are licensed to remove nuisance critters. Wildlife laws: No license or permit is required for a property owner to take any mammal, except deer or bear, found damaging personal property, provided that they be taken only within the immediate locality where damage is occurring. This does not authorize the use of a gun and light at night, steel traps, or poison to take wildlife unless a Depredation Permit is obtained from the appropriate regional office of the Commission. " The US generally does have more stringent guidelines for depredation control.  In contrast, one of my college buddies from Alberta assassinated a trio of bears legally after they raided his uncles beehives.  Then he took the gall bladders, juiced them with green jello, and sold them to a Chinese guy down at the filling station who in turn would sell the gall bladders to aphrodesiac vendors.

And I have killed nearly everything for being some sort of nuisance, except deer and bear.

The FWC guy may or may not have been completely correct to the letter of the law, but he is the one with powers of arrest, and I can assure you that even if it was completely legal, me being caught shooting a bear would probably guarantee me a night in the can.

Yep-- that looks to be the case, but again I would caution against putting 100% credence in any one individual.

Ok, congratulations on the new neighbor!

If you want to reduce problems with the bear do the following;

1.  keep garbage in garage and get rid of it as often as possible, do not leave outside in cans as you are just inviting him in to dinner
2.  get rid of stuff like humming bird feeders (we call them bear sodas) and bird feeders
3.  don't leave your dog's food outside, feed him inside
4.  leave the dog outside on a run, that'll keep most any bear out of your yard (shit did you say you had a midget dog, forget leaving him outside, that'd be baiting)
5.  burn off the bbq grill good, they'll wreck them in about 2 minutes for burger grease
6.  if you have livestock don't leave bulk food in open buildings for them to get into, especially that stuff they add molassas to, they'll love you for it

good luck,  I've shot more than 30 of the buggers..........with rubber buck and slugs

AR with 5.56 should do it......I know a ex-marine/SEAL/SAS  who works at a local gun shop who says the 5.56 tumbles in mid air causing terrible wounds...........