What would you do if you went out in your back yard one evening and found yourself face to face with a 350-pound bear and her two cubs? After changing your pants, that is.
On a serious note, if you have the presence of mind, experts say to stand and face the bear directly. Never run away from or approach the bear. Make yourself look as big as possible by spreading your arms or, better yet, a coat. Make as much noise as possible by yelling, banging pots and pans or using other noisemaking devices. If you’re Catholic, a few Hail Mary’s might help as well.
The reason we are seeing all these bears in residential areas now is they are on the prowl for food, and with thousands of readily available trash cans and bird feeders, there is plenty available. The bears have indeed come to town, and as close to my house as Carrsbrook, a mile away
We had bears in our yard about 15 years ago. It, or they, tore down several bird feeders and punished our garbage cans. Coons don’t do that.
To keep bears at a distance, remove the things that attract them. Take or keep garbage inside and hold off on bird seed for a bit. They are attracted to odors. Bears are thought to have the best sense of smell of any animal on earth. For example, the average dog’s sense of smell is 100 times better than a human’s sense of smell. A blood hound’s sense of smell is 300 times better than ours. But a bear can smell 7 times better than a blood hound, or 2,100 times better than a human.
If it has a smell, they can smell it.
Bears as a rule won’t bother you if you don’t bother them, but don’t tempt them, and keep smelly stuff inside.