Bears and overnight cooks

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sctdg35

Fire Starter
Original poster
May 10, 2013
74
18
Northern New Jersey
Where I live and this is going to sound crazy (because it is North West NJ) we have a bear problem . Our Yogi friends are usually active during night time hours when it comes to the destructive part but sometimes they will come through in the middle of the day just to say hello or like in my case a couple years ago turned over my new Weber gas grill and destroyed a very expensive cover . My question is when doing a cook over night how do you keep our furry friends from the grill seeing as how you have this tempting piece of meat just hanging out there . Last night bear hit my garbage because I had thrown old grill brush away . We all know better than to feed them and even when you lock up garbage in a shed they will rib the doors off to get to it . Does anyone else have this kind of problem and how do you do an all night cook ?
 
I was under the impression that bears like Smokey didn't like smoke & fire. If its hot and burning I wouldn't think a bear would mess with it unless he's built up some smoker street creds.

My problems are worse, the neighbors are not affraid of the smoke and fire. They smell the smoke and show up with side dishes.
 
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Does your Fish and Game dep't trap the bears....  Have them set up a trap....   Maybe an electric fence...   don't know if an electric fence would do any good.... may tick them off...    Be sure to put up warning signs about the fence if you put one up....  Some cities they are illegal...  Google BEAR FENCES FOR YARDS AND RESIDENCES .....
 
Shoot and grill the bear as a warning to all the other bears.
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I would ask around what others do, because a lot of people in the Northern half of PA & Jersey have problems with my Black brothers.

Trapping them & moving them does no good, because they find their way back. They have some kind of built in homing directional finder. They have taken Black Bears by chopper, hundreds of miles to an area they have never been, but they find their way home. Last I heard they were still trying to figure out how they do that. They head directly home. Then they stray off course a few degrees, stop, adjust their azimuth, and keep going directly toward home!!!

I guess Bears are pretty smart???

Bear
 
Hang your smoker from a tree overnight! Use lots of pepper in your rubs! Avoid putting honey on your ribs! LOL jkI would think the smoke would keep them away. If you find a solution, let us know. We just had a black bear try to snack on a 13 year old girl who was out jogging this past Sunday up north. Apparently she even tried to "pet" it as it attacked her, but that only made it more mad. LOL (Playing dead is what saved her.)
 
I feel your pain but I don't have a solution for you unfortunately. We have 2 separate families cruising the neighborhood - Momma and 2 cubs and Momma and 3 cubs. These aren't small Mommas by any means, cause we've seen both, on their hind legs they are a good 6 ft. My trash cans are toast and this past Friday night, they climbed all over the trailer and atv we had loaded to take to Nebraska. Luckily they have not disturbed the grill or my smokers, but they are becoming quite the nuisance. Until they destroy a vehicle etc or there is a confrontation between them and humans, DOW won't trap them. I don't smoke overnight any longer. 
 
I would ask around what others do, because a lot of people in the Northern half of PA & Jersey have problems with my Black brothers.

Trapping them & moving them does no good, because they find their way back. They have some kind of built in homing directional finder. They have taken Black Bears by chopper, hundreds of miles to an area they have never been, but they find their way home. Last I heard they were still trying to figure out how they do that. They head directly home. Then they stray off course a few degrees, stop, adjust their azimuth, and keep going directly toward home!!!

I guess Bears are pretty smart???

Bear
I guess Bears are pretty smart??? - so does Mrs. Bearcarver agree with that statement!
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I found the ultimate solution to the bear problem - from a news story back in 2004.  Just leave a few six-packs of beer cans out and the bears should leave your BBQ alone!

Bear guzzles 36 beers, passes out at campground

Wednesday, August 18, 2004 Posted: 9:12 PM EDT (0112 GMT)

SEATTLE, Washington (Reuters) -- A black bear was found passed out at a campground in Washington state recently after guzzling down three dozen cans of a local beer, a campground worker said on Wednesday.

"We noticed a bear sleeping on the common lawn and wondered what was going on until we discovered that there were a lot of beer cans lying around," said Lisa Broxson, a worker at the Baker Lake Resort, 80 miles (129 km) northeast of Seattle.

The hard-drinking bear, estimated to be about two years old, broke into campers' coolers and, using his claws and teeth to open the cans, swilled down the suds.

It turns out the bear was a bit of a beer sophisticate. He tried a mass-market Busch beer, but switched to Rainier Beer, a local ale, and stuck with it for his drinking binge.

Wildlife agents chased the bear away, but it returned the next day, said Broxson.

They set a trap using as bait some doughnuts, honey and two cans of Rainier Beer. It worked, and the bear was captured for relocation.
 
I found the ultimate solution to the bear problem - from a news story back in 2004.  Just leave a few six-packs of beer cans out and the bears should leave your BBQ alone!

Bear guzzles 36 beers, passes out at campground

Wednesday, August 18, 2004 Posted: 9:12 PM EDT (0112 GMT)

SEATTLE, Washington (Reuters) -- A black bear was found passed out at a campground in Washington state recently after guzzling down three dozen cans of a local beer, a campground worker said on Wednesday.

"We noticed a bear sleeping on the common lawn and wondered what was going on until we discovered that there were a lot of beer cans lying around," said Lisa Broxson, a worker at the Baker Lake Resort, 80 miles (129 km) northeast of Seattle.

The hard-drinking bear, estimated to be about two years old, broke into campers' coolers and, using his claws and teeth to open the cans, swilled down the suds.

It turns out the bear was a bit of a beer sophisticate. He tried a mass-market Busch beer, but switched to Rainier Beer, a local ale, and stuck with it for his drinking binge.

Wildlife agents chased the bear away, but it returned the next day, said Broxson.

They set a trap using as bait some doughnuts, honey and two cans of Rainier Beer. It worked, and the bear was captured for relocation.
I remember that.

More recently, there was a black bear sighted inside the Seattle city limits that went in nearly a straight line from Discovery park to north Seattle, about a distance of 4-5 miles thru mostly suburban neighborhoods. Not coincidentally, I think, the path lead almost straight to the only Krispy Kreme donut outlet in the area. Hey, you can't fault his taste, or sense of smell.
 
rocking chair and can of bear spray? one comes close and just spray it.

sorry i do not have a real solution but not something i have worried about or dealt with. 

what kind of smoker do you have?
 
Well from the kind of responses I'm going to assume there is no real answer . Thought I would have found someone that had an answer but I guess there is none . I think I am going to try saturating rags with the Havaheart spray I use on garbage night and hopefully that works . Don't want my grill destroyed . If I was not here when my weber was attacked I would have been spending another $800 for a new grill . Nothing like chasing a 600 lb bear from your stuff . This is not the first time either . Nothing like walking out your front door in the dark and bumping into a bear . My daughter is constantly running into them when she is out jogging with my granddaughter in the jogging stroller, carring Mace or wasp spray is a must .Asking the state to trap them is a joke because when the state traps them elsewhere in the state this is where they put them . The community has set up a phone chain for when they come through during the day so the kids can be warned . Well if I want to do that overnight brisket it looks like I might be staying up . It's a joke when you see the animal people with their stop the bear hunt bumper stickers ,guess ignorance is bliss .
 
 
As to losing property, Check with your insurance agent. Your homeowners or renters insurance should cover damage at no premium increase to you under an "Act-of-God" clause. Its the same thing as when you hit a cow or deer on the highway. Bears are creatures of opportunity and its our fault they have nowhere to go.

Have you thought of maybe a one way ticket to BearCarvers house? Waive your agents percentage and let it model for "Da'Bear".

Ok, Ok, I'll quit!
 
I may be new to smoking but we have a lot of bears in our region. The only real way to keep bears away is for everyone in your vicinity to make sure there is little to get them to hang around. In my experience, that is unlikely as there are always a few people who don't secure garbage, don't keep fruit picked etc.

Some things that have been tried:
  • Electric fences, mostly successful but if a bear really wants through, it will get through.
  • Bears staying away from hot smokers and barbecues? Forget it. Bears around here have taken food off an open fire.
  • Dogs. If you have a barking dog, bears will stay away, sometimes. Other times they ignore it.
  • Walls, fences etc. They better be skookum. A buddy of mine had a bear go through a framed wall to get to some deer he had hanging.
I agree with Alesia, there is no real solution.

Disco
 
There are exceptions to every rule... Doing nothing isn't a solution.

Do a electric bear fence
Do put a alarm out of some kind
Do have bear pepper spray handy

Maybe put your smoker in a garage or shed and put an exhaust fan in the Window to blow out the smoke.
 
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