Black Bear Visitor

Until a few years ago I had never seen a black bear. During the first several years we lived in our home located in a semi-rural town in New Hampshire, neighbors occasionally reported sightings. Eventually, the reports stopped. 

Had the bear moved on? The answer ambled up the driveway one warm summer evening in August of 2002. I was sitting up on the deck enjoying the early evening when I turned toward the driveway. I stared in disbelief. There was a bear in my driveway.  I stood up and he looked at me. He then turned to his right and sauntered off to the far side of the garage. Frightened that the bear might continue his jaunt around to the back of the garage where my husband was working, I called out to alert him. Dave promptly headed for the far side of the garage. (Not quite the reaction I had in mind!) Fortunately, the bear had enough human contact. Dave only got a glimpse of his tail end as he ran into the woods.

That was the last we knew of the bear until the summer of 2005. Sometimes you just know when a bear has visited. Dave had spread a large tarp out to dry in the sun behind the garage. During the following few weeks it rained every other day or so. When there had finally been enough drying weather, my husband attempted to fold the tarp over only to discover a huge beehive. He dropped it thinking he would deal with the hive when the weather cooled. A few mornings later, he looked out the back window to see shreds of white tarp strewn around the ground behind the garage. Upon closer inspection, he found the remains of the beehive in much the same condition. We knew a bear had done this. Later an expert confirmed that bears do indeed feast on bee’s nests, ripping them to shreds, oblivious to stings of angry bees. That summer passed without any other bear visits – that we knew of, that is.

March of ’06 had been unusually cold so we left the suet up for the birds. One fine morning we awoke to find the suet feeder had been ripped out of the tree and all of our birdseed feeders had been knocked over and emptied. In one case, the metal pole holding the feeder had been bent. There was no doubt in our minds that our neighborhood bear had paid us a visit. It was time to stop putting the suet out and to bring the feeders in at night. Again, that put an end to the visits, as far as we knew. Until...a few weeks ago.

We awoke to find all the bird feeders knocked over and emptied. Dave fixed them. The next morning, one of the feeders was knocked over. It had been empty. I guess that accounted for the big chunk of wood missing from its platform. Again, Dave repaired it. He continued to leave the feeders empty at night. A couple of nights later, after he had gone to bed, our driveway security bell sounded. I looked out to see if there was a car in the driveway. Just as I opened the door, the driveway security light came on. There in the middle of the driveway was a black bear. He stood on all fours with his snout up in the air. I was mesmerized. Next he walked up the walkway leading to the front feeders and the front door where I was standing. Fear and fascination make an odd couple in the world of emotions, but that is exactly what I experienced. All I could think was that I had to wake Dave up to see our visitor. With my heart racing, I closed the door as slowly and quietly as possible. I knew there was little chance he would still be there when Dave got to the door and, unfortunately, I was right.

The bird feeders remain empty at night. So far, they remain untouched. How long that will last is up to the bear. It’s his territory. He does not recognize our legal ownership of the property. He doesn’t have to – we surely are not going to dispute his claim.