Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding Bears and my feeder

I recently installed a Native Outdoors feeder on a post alongside my pond. It stands about 6 feet high to the top of the feeder and the food shoots out at the 4 foot level. Last weekend I noticed a mud print on the top of one side and a 2 inch hole bitten off the bottom corner. The feeder was still hanging on it's post. I know it was a bear because it's incisor tooth left a large hole alongside the portion it ripped off. Too big for anything else. It also helps to know we have bears in the area. So the feeder can be repaired, and refilled but I haven't seen any posts reguarding bears eating fish food. Well 25 pounds later this bear seems to have a taste for the food. Any suggestions, will a small solar powered electric fence surrounding the post work or do I have to wait for DNR to come and trap this guy?

Geeez!...I thought raccoons were a problem. :rolleyes:

You have the right idea. We've had 4 bear encounters on Stren aquapro fish feeders. This has been in north east GA where clients feed trout chow. IT has a much stronger smell than regular lower protein food. My clients feeding regualr food have not had a probelm. IN every case the only thing that has worked has been electric fence. good luck.

I read or heard somewhere (maybe here) that most semi-permanent and permanent hunting camps in Alaska are now surrounded by E-Fence to deter Brown/Grizzly Bears.

The reason I selected the Native Outdoors feeder was 1. the price, and 2. the inexpensive rechargeable/solar option, because I have it set up where there is no power easily accessable. Does there exsist solar battery powered horse fencing? Surely one of you Texas ranchers must know the answer to this one. When the salesman at Agway asks me how big is my corral, I'll look him in the eye and say 4 square feet.

So far I'm pretty happy with my Native Outdoor feeders. At six weeks I haven't had to recharge batteries yet...and not a single bear.

Theo! Non carborundum ursus!

I even added a sheet metal flange on the pole to keep small varmints from crawling up the pole and eating the feed.... never imagined anything would have to bend down to get at the food.

My method of discouraging raccoons by setting a steel trap at the base of the post would just serve to make a bear mad...and probably result in destruction of the feeder..and maybe even a bear waiting for me next time I checked the feeder...puts a whole new light on things

PaPond: Yes, solar powered electric fences are available. I cannot speak for their capacity, however, E-fence is designed to use some (most) of it's capacity to "burn" weeds off wires. If used to guard a fish feeder, this would not apply and all the capacity would be available for varmints large and small. For this purpose I suspect they would do fine.

My neighbor uses a large solar powered fence shocker. He has several of them. They put out .15 joule (whatever that is). My battery powered one put out one joule. Mine works on cows and his doesn't. His is also much more expensive than mine, even considering the 12v battery.

I recall from college physics that a joule is a newton-meter. Now, what's a newton-meter wrt E-fence?

It's good to have numbers for comparison, but I'm used to fence chargers being rated in "miles" (of fence they can burn weeds off).

I had problems with bears last year and actually got some good advice right here. I put up a solar powered fence. It kept the bears out. I could see their tracks going up to and around the fence. I was afraid that eventually one would break through and someone here suggested putting some Irish Spring in a sock and hanging it under the feeder. The bears haven't come close since. They do wade in the pond on the opposite side of the feeder though.

Good luck!

Larry

Birddog,

Occasionally it happens...

While I was away for 2 days the bear came back and ran off with the feeder, maybe the size of a native outdoors feeder is a disadvantage. I have to go into the woods behind the dam and look for the feeder, they usually don't travel far when carrying bulky things. So I need a solar powered electric fence, a bar of Irish Spring, and possibly a new feeder. (the bear wasn't interested in the solar panel, so it's not a total loss)

I think the funniest thing you could do would be to buy one of those motion activated game cameras, hang the bar of Irish Spring on THAT and get a good photo of the bear running off with the feeder again.

Maybe buying an extra bag of chow and placing it nearby with a plate and spoon would be cheaper. But then again, maybe now he has found him a new toy. Or maybe she took it to the cubs.
Any electric fence shocker is an extremely low current and high voltage device(a quick stun). It also would only draw current when it is activated, (the bear or whatever is the load between the wire and ground. A DC one, or an AC one and a battery and small inverter are options.

So if I add a fishfeeder, I can expect to attract bears. If I add electric fencing and Irish Spring soap, can I expect the bears to BBQ their food first and then wash up after dinner. For those bears that opt for take out, should I invest in a portable feeder, just grab it and run??

Russ