Big Black Bear in my back yard this morning.

[Lakesrider]

First time I seen it all year. I went out this morning to put my lunch cooler in the truck. When I slammed the door closed I heard a crashing noise in the leaves and big black bear climbed a tree about 6 feet up and then jumped down when it saw it was just me. Scared the cr@p outta me though.
Come to think about it but when I was BBQ'ing some chicken on the grill last evening, I heard a heavy rustling in the trees back there as well. Great I hope it isn't making a home under my shed now. Just what I need a bear and 5 skunks living with me....
It looked pretty big and healthy. Must be putting on the winter coat by now. I'll try to get a picture if it is around tonight.
This is why I keep telling my Kathy to make noise with her keys when she comes home and leaves in the morning when it is dark out...

[o2beinnh]

Where do you live?

[Lakesrider]

I'm in Suissvale, in Moultonborough.

I drove around a bit after, (After grabbing my camera) to see if I could spot it again but no luck. I had to get to work too.

[gravy boat]

Must have been a treat after the adrenalin left your system! We had bears until we got our second dog. Since then we haven't seen any. We haven't seen wild turkeys, either. Must be because the dogs now relieve themselves in the open part of our property where the turkeys used to cruise for food. Guess the current fare is less than palatable for them. ;-)

[Lakesrider]

When I first moved here there was a woman with a German Shepard across the street. It would bark at anything that moved, so never saw too many animals. Now there is no dog there we see pretty much everything. Fisher, turkeys, deer, moose, falcons, bats, skunks, bear etc. People that come over to my house think I am Marlin Perkins, (am I dating myself with that one?) or Dr. Doolittle or sometheing...

[Grant]

There seem to be fairly frequent black bear sightings in and around Suissevale. Lucky you. That's cool.

[Shreddy]

I'm also in Suissevale and saw the bear pretty frequently earlier in the summer as he used to frequent my yard. I haven't seen him since. Don't leave trash in a locked shed as he'll rip the lock and the hindge off and part of the door if necessary (did it to mine!).

[Greene's Basin Girl]

Originally Posted by Grant

There seem to be fairly frequent black bear sightings in and around Suissevale. Lucky you. That's cool.

An adult bear and a younger one are always in my yard. Last week the younger bear jumped on my car. They also like to roll my pumpkins around and on occasion take a bite out of them.

[dpg]

Originally Posted by Green's Basin Girl

An adult bear and a younger one are always in my yard. Last week the younger bear jumped on my car. They also like to roll my pumpkins around and on occasion take a bite out of them.

GBG: Where are you located. We're also in Suissevale and some family members have seen one bear on occasion this past summer. Used to frequent a dumpster from some work on a home across the street.

[riverat]

From Canada

[jmen24]

That advice is better suited for the area in which that sign is located, British Columbia. That sign is in reference to Brown bears. Black bears in NH are nothing like the Brown bears of the west and northwest. Notice that they are explaining the difference between the two species feces, that is because the Black bear is not as threatening as the Brown bear.

[SIKSUKR]

That sign was meant to be humerous also jmen.

[Newbiesaukee]

I had to read it twice. It is very funny.

[jmen24]

You are right, after reading it again, thanks for pointing that out.

[Lakesrider]

Yeah but jmen24. Your answer is still correct..... And if I ever find little bells in any feces up here, you know I'll be moving. Exactly why I would be looking in feces is a whole 'nother issue.

[Slickcraft]

We have had many bear encounters over the years; mostly blacks that simply turned and ambled away.

Once in Banff National Park in the Canadian Rockies we were on a several day backpack trip and had just crossed a high pass well above timberline. Heading back down my wife was about 200’ ahead passing into the 1st trees. I heard a shriek and saw her exit the trees back toward me at a quick pace and with white face. She had gone around a bend in the trail and encountered a large grizzly face to face at a brook crossing. She spun around and retreated, normally the absolutely wrong move, but luckily the bear also spun around and retreated.
After a considerable wait and making a lot of noise, we advanced to take a look. The tracks were enormous. It was windy and the brook was noisy so the griz had not heard her coming.
We did have bear bells packed away but after hiking in Jasper and Banff for the previous month and not seeing any bear signs to speak of, we had taken them off as maybe being silly. We then dug them out and proceeded to be very noisy the rest of the hike.

Yesterday we had a small, 150 lb or so, black bear wondering around the yard for about 5 minutes. A lot of sniffing around but on finding no goodies, it wondered on.

RR, that was a great sign photo.

[ApS]

Twenty-five years ago, my new bride and I were hiking a well-trekked path along a Yosemite valley. Shortly after rounding a large boulder that narrowed the path from ten feet to two feet, we were approached by a black bear hiking in our direction on the same path.

We kept walking—and it kept walking past us. When it got to the boulder, a different couple hiking behind us had blocked the pathway past the boulder—and froze! The bear looked left and right (up or down, it was a steep hill either way), "huffed" loudly, turned and ran past us like a retriever after a frisbee!

(Funny, I have never seen a black bear in New Hampshire or my present location in Central Florida. Bears love orange groves, and my lake is in the middle of a huge grove—but more on that later at "Gonna miss you, Winni".)

1) In color, either bear can be black or brown—there's even the scarce "Blue Bear" of British Columbia that has appeared on video.

2) Polar Bear DNA is very similar to Brown Bear, and some have white spots to suggest an evolutionary pathway to the Polar Bear.

3) The easiest way to differentiate between Black and Brown Bears is to look at their feet.

Eleven-inch claws—THIS is a Brown Bear!

[Lakesrider]

Grizzly bear killed by a truck.

http://www.newwest.net/city/article/..._photos/C8/L8/

[Cristen]

I have seen so many black bears in Suissevale. My parents visited last night for dinner, and saw two bears in a tree. I am thinking I should carry my pepper spray when I take walks around here just in case...

[Pineedles]

Don't forget the bells. Them bears need a balanced diet.

[Greene's Basin Girl]

Originally Posted by Pineedles

Don't forget the bells. Them bears need a balanced diet.

I like it when the bears come by. I put pumpkins out for them to play with.

[Redwing]

GBG,

How thoughtful of you to provide the neighborhood bears with playful entertainment in the form of pumpkins! By the way, a very happy wedding anniversary to you and hubby. I look forward to hearing about your overnight stay with the ghostly spirits this weekend. Best, Redwing

[John A. Birdsall]

LOOK AT HIS FEET???? Yikes, you would be able to see my feet cause they would be going faster than the rest of me. Look at them claws, don't you think the bear would go in for a pedicur

[Slickcraft]

Originally Posted by John A. Birdsall

LOOK AT HIS FEET???? Yikes, you would be able to see my feet cause they would be going faster than the rest of me. Look at them claws, don't you think the bear would go in for a pedicur

In high country grizzly bear eat hoary marmot and pika; both of which live in burrows. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoary_Marmot
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pika

Those big claws are used to dig the critters out.

We saw both marmots and pikas above timberline just prior to my wife's grizzly encounter.