An ex-bear

[helen99]

Being greeted by three beehives scattered all over the meadow by a bear when I came home tonight did not make me happy. There were frames everywhere, brood had been eaten (that's how we knew it wasn't vandals) and one of the supers had been dragged to the driveway. All the comb in the top bar had been dislodged.

1. Get e-fence for bee yard (baited for ample nose and mouth zapping), RV battery to power it, and solar recharger. Should have done that weeks ago.

2. Repair hunting rifle, get heavy duty ear protection, and do target practice.

This will be an ex-bear.

Comments

[wetdryvac]

*nods*

Sounds like a plan, and bear parts are useful.

[guardianjain]

*perks up*
What type of hunting rifle? Caliber, make, etc....

Might also want to consider putting up wards (Blackberries much tastier and Over That Way; Best Roughage in the Area Over Yonder; Big Scary Something This Way; etc.), as mentioned by a commenter to Rialian's post.

[guardianjain]

Oh, and an additional odd magic-related note:
Have you walked the boundaries of your land this season yet and declared it "your territory"? Got any boundary shields on the land and/or animal-related boundaries/wards?

[wetdryvac]

This brood smells off. Ooo, shiny!

[rialian]

===Not yet this season....I will have to do that.

===Unfortunately, the brood is the tastiest of tasties for bears. Lots of nice, sweet protein for them.

===So I will be getting a fence put up, and i am considering designs for high-placed hives with shocks on the trunk. (you know, pollarding trees and making for my own style of bee-tree and all that...)

===I was actually planning for the rifle to make a big noise ot scare the bear off. I definitely do not have anything that can take on a bear easily.....but the wetherby is loudest rifle I have. (chuckles)

[helen99]

It's a 7mm Weatherby Vanguard found in Rialian's Dad's basement and donated to us last year. It works, but it needs a new scope. We slacked on getting it fixed, and now this. They hit one of the hives again last night. The really pissy hive swarmed. Rialian caught the swarm and put it back in the hive (to his dermatological detriment). All of your suggestions sound excellent and will be done.

Edit - Ok, maybe this time I'll get these links right...

[guardianjain]

Hmmm. Well, a 7mm is basically just going to annoy/tick-off the bear rather than kill it. Which is fine, deterrence is good too, just figured you'd like to know ahead of time that you're going to need to get lucky or shoot it a LOT to down it with that rifle. Which, frankly, not worth it. Better to shoot it and deter it from the hives. I don't know how effective .22 would be at actually deterring bears, but the benefit to .22 would be that it doesn't have as much recoil and is easier to get familiar with (less flinch factor).

If you have the money to throw at ear protection, I recommend getting Peltors or similar. The automatic cut-out is very nice and being able to actually talk at the range (or hear your surroundings if you're hunting something) is very much worth it.
Peltor Hearing protection from Cabella's

Be absolutely certain of your back stop. (Of course.) But this also means that because you back up to public lands, you have to be aware the hikers might be within range if you miss the bear or if the bullet goes through the bear (or whatever else you might be aiming for). You'll likely want to build some berms to be certain of having a backstop, given what I saw of the lay of your land. And don't shoot out over that ridge you have! ;)

If Rialian has enough rapport with the hives, I'd suggest he do a protection ward on them. But that's only if the bees trust him, otherwise they might flee what looks like a trap to them.

If your land is sentient, then you might try talking to it about your "invaders" and see if it has any suggestions as well for deterring/preventing/reacting.

[helen99]

I suspected it was too small for the job. Not only that, I would have to do a lot of research and get plenty of hands on practice and instruction before safely handling a rifle. Rialian is a fairly good shot, but like you said, this rifle is too small. Also, there _is_ a concern that while there are trees everywhere so it looks isolated, it really isn't, and those things have a big range. But mostly, I don't particularly like to hurt things, but am still in a rather murderous mood over what happened. Our best course of action is plenty of defense and calling in the professionals (we're headed to Ace hardware now to get the e-fence and equipment). Your warding suggestions are very good - we will be doing all of those.

[guardianjain]

Well, with black bears you can actually deter them, so you might consider an airsoft rifle or a paintball gun. (There's the lovely satisfaction of coloring the wildlife with non-toxic paint, making it easier for a different hunter or DNR to identify/locate/remove whatever you've marked.)

On smaller varmints, an air rifle or paintball gun might actually kill them (groundhogs, weasels, rabbit, etc.), so be aware. But at the same time, the backstop for those is much less critical. (Paintball especially, airsoft not as much given the density where Mithlond is.)

[helen99]

We have a paintball gun. I think I know where it is. I remember seeing it in the hall closet. I wonder if it's still there...

[rialian]

===The rifle is actually the one that is the replacement for what my brother used...my father actually listened, and got that one out of the house.He traded it in for this one.