Lions, Tigers, and Bears!

Well Bears anyway. I live on the Long Beach Peninsula in Washington. a 28 mile long Beach that we can Drive on. We have various Big Game here including Deer, Elk, a couple Cougars and a rather large population of Black Bears. Turns out one of the Big (about 500 pound Black Bears make his den about 100 feet from my yard. This Morning (Saturday) my wife woke me up saying she heard sounds outside the bedroom window. Yep the pesky Bruin is up to his hi-Jinks. I strap on the Taurus 45 acp go out through the garage and there he is with his head in my up turned trash can. The sound of the slide racking got his attention and he took off. leaving a huge trash mess on my Driveway.

Our first sighting of MR Bear this year (about 3 weeks ago) was MR Bear standing up on our back deck right outside the Kitchen Window. Now it is my job at night to take our 10 pound Pomeranian out for her potty walk at night. It has evolved into taking her out with my 12Gage Slug Gun on my shoulder and my 4 cell Maglite illuminating the back yard. Fun Fun Fun.

Wow.

And I thought squirrels eating my sunflowers was a problem...……..

https://www.opticsplanet.com/streaml...ngton-870.html
You may like this. Remington and mossberg.

tommag has a point. I though about electrical taping a RELIABLE and BRIGHT flashlight to that barrel. No one would have to know as no one would NEED to know.

I have to admit I found a nice looking package of 4 cree flashlights on evil bay a few years back. Dual power source, either a 3 aaa cells in a round plastic contraption, or 18650 Li-ion batterys. Well I have several of those batterys around, and chargers. Found a fairly cheap adapter to mount it to the barrel of my Rem 870 trap gun that lives behind the bedroom door. One push of the button and you have light & sight all in one. Bought one for my shooting buddy too to put on his Mossberg.

All told I think I had less than 30$ invested counting all 4 flashlights and both mounting brackets. Once a year I charge the battery, just on general principles.

One of the things I liked about those lights was they had a zoom function that narrowed the beam. Easily adjustable. I have mine set at about 18" at across the living room distance. Because they are mounted below the barrel POI will be an inch or 2 high. Still plenty close enough for home defense.
And not much thinking required. Push the button turning on the light, grab forend, aquire target, put the light on his chest and ....................

I also keep another of those lights loose on my bedside table if I'd rather take something a big shorter than 30" barrel 12 ga.

There are so many good lights out there these days, from large, to medium to small. The mounting adapter I used was just 2 plates with a curve on each end, a bolt and a wingnut in the middle. Simple, solid, dependable. Adjustable for almost anything.

There is no reason NOT to have a good light on a house defense weapon these days. Do without your Starbucks coffee for a week would pay for it with funds left over.

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Originally Posted by 2A-Jay

Well Bears anyway. I live on the Long Beach Peninsula in Washington. a 28 mile long Beach that we can Drive on. We have various Big Game here including Deer, Elk, a couple Cougars and a rather large population of Black Bears. Turns out one of the Big (about 500 pound Black Bears make his den about 100 feet from my yard. This Morning (Saturday) my wife woke me up saying she heard sounds outside the bedroom window. Yep the pesky Bruin is up to his hi-Jinks. I strap on the Taurus 45 acp go out through the garage and there he is with his head in my up turned trash can. The sound of the slide racking got his attention and he took off. leaving a huge trash mess on my Driveway.

Our first sighting of MR Bear this year (about 3 weeks ago) was MR Bear standing up on our back deck right outside the Kitchen Window. Now it is my job at night to take our 10 pound Pomeranian out for her potty walk at night. It has evolved into taking her out with my 12Gage Slug Gun on my shoulder and my 4 cell Maglite illuminating the back yard. Fun Fun Fun.

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Bears supposedly have a good memory, being that he is coming up to your house, its loosing its fear of humans and is dangerous. That said being as its next to your house, the solution is easy, rig up an electric fence module around your trash cans, One maybe two shocks at the most is all that is needed to scare him off.

It sounds like you live in a wonderful place. That would be so cool! But, wildlife can be problematic at times. Bears especially can be a nuisance. They tear up our feeders and eat the treated wood on our deer stands.

Hey Boo Boo, how about a pick-a-nic basket?

Jokes a side becarefull.

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Train them to stay away.

Well as the bear has show no aggressive behaviour so far you may want to consider starting with nonlethal methods to discourage said bear from your property I tested some rock salt and cayenne pepper mix over a target load of powder in my shotgun during the test fireing the wind switched directions on me immediately after discharging and to say the least it was unpleasant another method I considered is loading up a super soaker squirt gun with some seriously hot hot sauce we are talking sauce that makes franks red hot look like water hit him with that and he will be in a world of unpleasantness for a while and it will linger in his fur for days reminding him you yard is not worth it

But make sure your follow up shots are of the more lethal verity for your personal safety

Just how lethal do you think rubber buck shot is?

As a wildlife control operator in NH [States name for the license] I can say it is non-lethal and approved as a method for control. Locking up the trash is even better.

https://wdfw.wa.gov/species-habitats...canus#conflict

https://wdfw.wa.gov/sites/default/fi...%28Rich%29.pdf

I kind of like being at the top of the food chain here. We do have some long tailed cats in the vicinity but I've never seen one. Black bears are getting closer all the time to where we are but again I have not seen one. I have been face to face with a bob cat and have seen several coyotes and foxes from time to time. Other than that it is pretty safe for me out in the woods. I like it that way. 2A-Jay it sounds like you have to be pretty careful when you venture out. I would put the trash can in a secure place and do what I could to keep the bears away. They tell us here that a fed bear is a dead bear. So as soon as I get any notion of bears around here I will have to change the way we deal with our garbage.

I have some Non-Lethal 12gage Projectiles (Riot Control) I also have a 37MM Black Powder Thunder Mug (Signal Canon) that I can load up and Fire using Model Rocket Igniters instead of Canon Fuse. I know that makes the Racoon disappear for a couple weeks.

My Trash Can is now hiding in the garage, so what did Yogi Bear do? He raided the Neighbors Trash Can and brought it into my driveway to eat his snack.

We use an electric fence around beehives that are near a wildlife corridor. The game camera has picked up evidence of bruin visits and I have seen scat, so fences do work.

I have the same problem with a large black bear that comes in about once a month to hit the large garbage bins supplied by the trash company. Putting up a electric fence around the bin is out. Reason is that the bin is picked up by the trash company truck using a mechanic arm to lift the bin and dump it in the truck and the electric fence would prevent this.
Game warden told me to get a bear tag and kill the bear. Since the bear hits in the middle of the night, that solution is out also. If he hits us again, I am thinking about using a trick that is used in Alaska. Cut up a plywood board into 2 foot by 4 foot sections. Put nails or screws every 3 inches and place the boards around the trash bin on the ground and give the bear a painful paw or two.

we have a black bear just moved in our area. so we have turkey and deer and a bear.

My mother lived in a complex that had a dumpster that a momma bear and her cubs would raid on a regular basis,I suggested that everyone start throwing in cayenne pepper in their trash in Hope's it would dissuade her on her raids. Don't know if it worked as she moved out off the place. Perhaps a thin piece of wood with some nails in it will chase the bear off.

The above suggestion to rig up an electrical "fence" reminds me of an incident about 4 years ago. Our early corn was coming in and some critters were beginning to test it for us. Since we have cattle on 3 sides of our house, all I had to do was put up a couple of strands of wire around the corn and run a 5' or so wire over to the electric fence. The next morning there was an awful skunk stink in the foggy morning air. Then it hit me as I imagined that skunk touching the electric fence with its nose and letting fly with its skunk spray on the other end. Brings a smile every time I think about it. Big Boomer