"...and...Bears...OH MY!"

Word got out in the wildlife community that Haney's Hollow is the place to go for the best eats ... so the bear above wonders, "Where's the food?" Since our first bear visit on Mother's Day, we've had continual visits not only from the Momma Bear and her Cub but this young gentleman also paid several visits. His manners got so atrocious we had to close down our dining facility.  Each evening since the bears first foray into our backyard, our hummingbird feeders have been torn from their stands and thrown on the ground and the seed in the birdfeeder entirely consumed by nonbird folk ... aka BEAR.  Early this morning around 5:00 AM, the young bear seen in the above photo had a last hurrah when he threw the large, heavy rock off our trash can containing birdseed and dumped the can over on the patio.  We scared him off and cleaned up his mess, but at around 7:00 this evening said bear came back.  Not only did he find that the seed can and all our other trash cans had disappeared, but, to his utter dismay, the bird feeder was nowhere to be found.  He simply sat where it had been looking utterly perplexed. Like the guest who just doesn't know when it's time to go home, he wouldn't leave despite a total lack of refreshments and mischief making possibilities.  Our more polite efforts to let this guy know he was no longer welcome had obviously gone right over his head, so we upped the ante to let him know he'd overstayed.  Kevin shot a couple of gunshots in the air and this tubby little bear barreled up our back hill, scampered over the fence and kept on going as fast as his chubby little legs would carry him.

 

We've really enjoyed getting a close look at our bear folk, and we've been fortunate they haven't been more destructive.  It's sad to have to entirely close up our outdoor café and I sure will miss seeing all the birds, but for now, it's what has to be done so the bears will realize we are no longer a bear friendly eatery.  Hard to do...because they are so cute and fun to see...but cute just can't cut it. The bears need to go elsewhere to frolic and forage...for our sake and theirs.