THE BEARS ARE OUT AND ABOUT LOOKING FOR FOOD.

By Bernie Marvin

THE BEARS ARE OUT AND ABOUT LOOKING FOR FOOD. WE TOOK OUR BIRD FEEDERS DOWN IN EARLY APRIL, YET THE BEARS ARE STILL STROLLING THROUGH!

We have had many bear visits during the day this year. There was a time when bears here were most active at night, looking around for anything to eat or get into, wreaking havoc, like smashing an empty container, biting chunks out of children's toys, scattering clothes on a clothesline, or standing at our outside doors to peer through the glass windows.

We have had bears reach in through an open window and remove loaves of bread in broad daylight, as the busy baker was slaving away in the hot kitchen and decided to raise a ground-level window to let in some cool outside air.

A bit later, I noticed two loaves were missing. With a torn screen and claw holes in the curtains, I knew we had a visitor. Bears will climb. A commotion one night on our second-story front deck at 2 AM revealed that a rather large bear had shinnied up one of the six-by-six columns, climbed over the railings, and was trying to reach a piece of bird suet the size of a half-dollar.

The photo accompanying this Bernie's Beat column was taken last week as two bears passed through the side yard, poking around, checking out the area for something to munch on. They live to eat.

We had nothing for them, so they continued on their route northwards, to other familiar places in the area, where they score now and then with feeders filled with sunflower seeds, something they really like to pirate.

In the past, we have lost bird feeders, but as the New Hampshire Fish and Game personnel tell us, April 1 is the latest for bird feeders, and to please take them down after that. We do that now and have not lost one feeder.

Sometimes I have to intervene in the bear business of assisting them to learn what is right or wrong, or what is mine and not theirs. A bear came by the back of the house one afternoon in March, one early morning, stood up, grabbed our birdfeeder in its mouth, and prepared to take it down and bring it elsewhere to enjoy the sunflower seeds.

That's when the inner Ben Kilham lit up in me. I zipped out onto the back deck and took hold of the bird feeders' lower deck and said to Mister Bear that the bird feeder was mine, not his. I tugged it as he looked at me with those huge brown eyes, and he released it and sauntered away at a quick hustle.

Ben Kilham, by the way, is the local bear expert who manages hundreds of young and adult bears each year who need some temporary assistance so they can later be released into the wildlands, where they belong. He is a super-wonderful human being and has rehabilitated bears for many years. He is an authority on bears.

Bears, like pack rats, usually bring their stolen items to a location where they drop them and then begin tearing them apart, hoping for some morsels of food or other reward inside. Barbecue tools, garden gloves, or an Amazon box. To the bear, anything transportable is worth chewing, biting, smashing, or otherwise ruining.

One night, I mistakenly left a large metal GI can outside after washing it, when I should have brought it inside. So, it was outside when a wandering bear noticed it. He bounced it around, stomped on it, pushed it, and at 2 AM, I woke to the commotion, remembering that the empty GI can was not only noisy but probably fun for the bear to play with.

It reminded me of my Parris Island mornings, when my Marine Corps drill instructors would open our early mornings with a snap of the overhead lights and the clamor of noise as they banged and beat on the inside of the empty squad bay GI cans with their swagger stick weapons.

We give our bears a wide berth and let them do what they want when they visit us. We have had situations where bears have taken clothes off the clothesline and scattered them around. A bear sat in front of my side door, the main entrance, as he challenged me to move him so I could get into the house.

I looked for something to throw when Polly drove in, and he vamoosed in a hurry with the vehicle approaching. He was not afraid of me, but he sure did not like that Jeep. We are very careful when we cook and are sure to lock doors and be aware that a bear will walk through an unsecured door to see what smells so delicious on the other side.

All this leads to getting some great outdoor wildlife photos of the menagerie that hangs around in the Piermont woods. We would not have it any different, but "Awareness First" is a good thing to keep in mind.

This handsome black bear wandered through a yard in Piermont late last week. He (or she) and their friends and relatives make regular trips through the area looking for food, usually finding it hanging from trees in bird feeders. Bears will come day and night for easy food. That’s when they get in trouble. The Bridge Weekly/Bernie Marvin