wow

Wow, Dawn! This makes it look like you were really close. Hope you took those pix through a window!

I sure did, Sherwood! I was standing in the kitchen looking out the window and he just walked up the hill and into the yard. I was so surprised! Those black bars you see in the photos are our deck railing.

If I'm being honest, I'd pee myself a wee bit if I saw this!!

I would be so afraid with my dogs. Do you have dogs or cats?

mimi, we don't have any pets at the moment. We used to have two big labs and they treed many a bear in their time.

Bears generally fear dogs partly because dogs were used in the past to hunt them, although treeing, pursuing and hunting bears with dogs was outlawed in California in 2013. I'll be honest too - a bear could easily kill a dog, but black bears are rarely aggressive unless they are protecting cubs or guarding food. Usually they will run if given the opportunity.

Mountain lions and coyotes are more of a concern with pets. Just last week Fish and Game officers killed a mountain lion that was taking pets in this area. It was very thin and in poor condition which is probably the reason it resorted to taking pets - they are easy prey.

While I keep my distance and have a healthy respect for them, it is a thrill to see a wild bear living free in it's native habitat.

He/she looks skinny. I'm sure happy that I've never seen a bear that close.

And here I was this morning getting all happy about a squirrel looking into my back window! Wow!

If I saw that, I'd call a realtor and demand a "For Sale" sign be out before sunset of the same day. No thanks.

I think it looks thin too, hopefully it will fatten up and not be so intent on food that its in your yard.

Our black bear are pretty shy, I've seen glimpses of them in the woods and never standing still, always running. Away from us.

We had one in the yard Fall before this last one. I'd never seen a bear within city limits and this one came back a few nights, crossing between the apple tree at the house below us, and the apple tree in the yard across the street. Apparently there were a few around that Fall, Fish and Wildlife trapped a couple and relocated when they got a little too brave after finding dogfood, birdfeeders, loose garbage lids. The one here in this neighborhood didn't cause any trouble or bother our garbage container, and left when our Animal Control convinced the woman across the street to pick her apples. She never picks them, the deer do. The dogcatcher made about three trips to her house, and DH had offered to help her, before she took on the task herself.

Nice photos though, I wonder how he'll look in a few weeks.

They are just coming out of hibernation and are thin because they used up all of their stores of fat during the winter. If this is the one I think it is, this year is also it's first year on it's own. He/she will fatten up over the summer and fall as more food becomes available.

He checked out the apple tree - must have remembered it from last year and then he left.

Morz, we're very careful to not leave anything out that might be considered food - no trash, no pet food (when we had pets), not even bird seed. As soon as the apples are ripe they'll be harvested, but he might get a few of those before I do. Right now the tree is blooming so has no fruit of any kind on it's branches. Once they figure out that there is no food around, they tend to move on.

Living in the middle of the woods in a remote location, I expect and feel privileged to share the land with the bears and other wildlife. I was very happy to have the opportunity to take bear photos today, but if it starts to make a habit of coming around, I'll discourage it with the air horn - they don't like loud noises.

I hope all of you enjoyed looking at the photos!

I guess I'm truly a city girl as that would have me packing!

I'm jealous. Would love to see one in my yard.

Beautiful!

How exciting for you!

Awesome! I only saw a bear in the wild once, on vacation... and from a distance!

One of my favorite animals - thank you for sharing!

I'm so envious Dawn! Truly a majestic creature. I love sharing my world with nature.

Your picture is much better than mine from last year:

Thank you for sharing the pictures! ! ! I've never had the pleasure of seeing a bear in the wild, and my first reaction was "Whoa! Glad I don't live there!". But after thinking about it, I remembered back when we lived in the 'boondocks', and there were no other houses within a couple of miles, just woods immediately around us, and cultivated fields beyond that. Lots of South Texas wildlife to co-exist with, birds, squirrels, 'possums, skunks, snakes (including rattlers), and Javelinas, all of which had no qualms about coming right up into our yard whenever they felt like it. Also had 2 small boys at the time, who loved to play outdoors. The rattlers and the Javelinas worried me the most, as the rattlers aren't very noticeable unless you are looking for them, and Javelinas can be very aggressive. So chances are, your bear isn't one bit worse to share a habitat with then the Javelinas were, and he is one heck of a lot prettier!

Rusty

ETA: A night vision picture on another thread reminded me, we also had coyotes but never saw them up close, only heard them late at night.

Aw, thank you stolenidenity!

I'm really glad that so many of you have enjoyed the bear photos. Rusty, I had to look up javelinas and I'd be wary of those too. I've read and heard that wild pigs can be vicious.

Here is another photo I took a few weeks ago - these critters are a bit less intimidating than the bear:

Life in the woods can be like living in a zoo at times! :-)

If my husband saw the bear pictures he would say if we lived where those were one day I'd look out the window and see you playing or cuddling with it. He's probably right lol :D My friends and family call me the animal whisperer haha :)

This would be me :D

My night vision cam is a wolf.

I know, ElizabethA, I meant we had coyotes in addition to the animals I'd already mentioned. Your picture did remind me of them, as I had often wished I could see them, and used to wonder how close in they would come at night.

Rusty

My mistake there. Folks often confuse the two. I was surprised to see him so close to the house between Midnight and 4AM . He hung around for hours. Needless to say, there are no deer or any other animals there now.

great pictures, I love bears. But usually at a greater distance!

No bears here but just about everything else. One of Jody's friends raised a javalina. It ran with his dogs and played with his kids. I enjoyed seeing the pictures of "your" bear.

That's funny, Hareball. I'm not that brave!

Thanks, nickel!

Marilyn, I would have loved to see the javalina running with dogs and kids.

Wow! No bears here, but we're in the country and have caught several coyotes in our back yard on the game cam as well as a family of grey foxes and the thousands of deer we see all the time.