Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Keepin' Bears Out of the Garden?

In Wabigoon for the last night, a friend's friend is looking for a fencer to keep a bear from raiding his garden. Any Northwoods men use a fencer to keep Yogi out?

Isn't that kinda like trying to keep buffalo in a small pasture?

Richard,

I had one that worked well enough. Solar, ParMak I believe. 6000v (?) or so, the bear didn't like it much.

Fish and Game guy did caution me that once a bear has gotten to the goodies (beehive in my case) the fence might not turn it. Worked for me though.

Good luck with it.

Geno

00 buckshot works well.

About the only thing we have found for bears or lions are dogs. Bears can climb anything. Seems once they understand there are dogs protecting the property they leave it alone.I have German Shepherds but it seems that small dogs like Border Collies may work better since they will not fight the bears like Shepherds or rotties will. The shepherds work very well but you might have a vet bill now and then. If you have wolves in the area don't use rotties or shepherds, the wolves will lure them out and eat them.

Heeler dogs

Lots of beehives out here, the guys are using electric netting to keep the bears out. Not sure what charger they use, but seems to so the job. I drive by several hive sites on the way to work and I've only seen bears in them early in the season before they had the netting up. Premiere One sells a few different ones, I believe the white one is the one they use.

Electric fence with foil tabs smeared with peanut butter.

Lmao. That oughta do it.

Big water balloons smeared with honey and filled with vinegar.

When my grandad was alive and had beehives and a garden at his second home here in pa in the pocono mountains area where there were alot of black bears he had good luck with a solar charged 3 strand electric fence. Not sure of the power level, but i know it was a strong current.

You always add such valuable input. We are so lucky to have you here.

I hear wolves make pretty good dog food. The wet kind
Not kibble.

I would like to see a bear get hit by an electric fence. I bet he hauls ass out of there.

As mentioned above, electrified netting or welded wire panels has the best odds of repelling bears. One needs to get the bear on the face as they are like sheep with their hair, hide, and fat insulating them from the shock. We use an inexpensive standard charger that I think stated it can handle 5 miles of fence per the packaging.

If the bear gets its head through and gets shocked on the neck, shoulders, or chest it is likely to move forward through the fence rather than pull back. After going forward, the bear is where it wants to be and has learned the deterent is short lived and relatively mild compared to the benefit. Then you have a real problem keeping the bear away.

Electric fences give off a vibe that animals seem to pick up on pretty well. A bear may get a shock the first time it tasted the peanut butter on the fence and probably ignore it from then on but it would continue to eat it if the electric energy was not felt. It's no different than cattle and one can tell the condition of the fence by how close the cows graze or rest.

Could someone please post the video of a deer carcass and a grizzly. The carcass is electrified and pretty quick the bear just rips it down and eats.
How nice there’s a grizzly and wolf center. Where’s the elk deer and moose center?

I write this cause a bear and a pig are pretty much the same critter and this thread reminded me of how I fried a hog when I was a kid. My parents were going to the farmers market and pop told me to run a strand of fence into the meadow while he was gone to move our 3 hogs in there on new grass. I was about 10 years old so too lazy to move the 12v electric box and run more wire I ran a single strand of fence around about 1/3 of an acre and into the milk house where I stuck it into a wall receptacle...then threw the fuse box main back on and turned the hogs into their new sty. Didn't take more than 5 minutes and the lights went off in the barn and house! I caught he!! for that but we ate fresh pork for 2 weeks!