# Feed the Bears?



## pnome (Aug 2, 2010)

http://news.discovery.com/animals/feeding-wild-bears.html



> Should We Feed Wild Bears?
> Wildlife advocates are using a radical, illegal, but apparently effective strategy to stop confrontations between humans and black bears: They're feeding the bears.
> 
> By Larry O'Hanlon
> ...



What do you folks think?


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## chiefsquirrel83 (Aug 2, 2010)

if ya live anywhere up in NE Ga. I'd say no. Once fed they will not leave and that is when they become aggressive. Right now there are 3 that have taken up residence at my folks north of Turner's Corner. The neighbors made a slop trough for them and now they have torn up everything on the property.


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## pnome (Aug 2, 2010)

Yeah, doesn't seem like too good of an idea to me at first.  But....

If you could locate the feeders in a decent area, keep the food there plentiful, and do it year after year, you'd get them coming to that spot and avoiding human campgrounds, etc....


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## JWilson (Aug 2, 2010)

People put food out bears eat food what happen when the people stop putting out food? Oh yea they try to find it If it's in your house your neighboors house. They are retarded.


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## georgiaboy027 (Aug 2, 2010)

I have 3 at my cabin in Ellijay and I see them on a regular basis but I have NEVER feed them.


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## Marlin_444 (Aug 2, 2010)

Baiting Bears is Illegal... 

See you in the woods... 

Ron


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## bowstring (Aug 2, 2010)

Ron, we know Dana, that is better than baiting.
See you on the mountain.


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## The Original Rooster (Aug 2, 2010)

No, No, No. Once a bear associates food with people, nothing good will come of it.
This ain't Yogi and Boo Boo we're dealing with you know.


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## River Rat 69 (Aug 3, 2010)

If and I mean IF !!! they were to drop scatter food from an airplane randomly thru the woods in areas where the bears do'nt have food because of forest fires or drought then that may work. But if you feed a bear he will come to expect it and that is when they get dangerous. If you have forest fires and droughts then its for a reason. The bears are part of natures big plann , if the sows are not healthy and fat in the fall then they will not have as many cubs , its natures way of controling the population.  The saying in Alaska fish and game is " A fead Bear is a Dead Bear " once fead they become habituated to it and will not search in there normal areas for food. This will cause them to search for easy food , Trash Cans and Dumpsters.         

My vote is "NO"


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## FL Sportsman (Aug 4, 2010)

In Florida, the law states that it is illegal to feed bears "where it may cause a public nuisance." I watch the fl wildlife cam a lot and they have quite a few bears that visit the camera about every day. Though they originally started putting out food for deer and hogs, the bears naturally show up and eat as well. I don't really see an issue with something like that as long as the food is always there and it is not near a public area or somewhere that the bears can cause problems. It most likely keeps them from getting into trouble elsewhere. I also don't believe bears will just "take up residency" where there is food like that. They travel around at certain times of the year no matter if the food is there or not.


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## Dana Young (Aug 4, 2010)

These mtn bears will stay with the food till it is gone before moving to any new food source. when and only when that food source is gone will they leave. the only exception is if they happen to find  a food source they like better.


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## pnome (Aug 4, 2010)

Dana Young said:


> the only exception is if they happen to find  a food source they like better.



Yeah.  Like skinny yankees named Vinny.


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## threeleggedpigmy (Aug 4, 2010)

If they have  a good food source,  they will be healther and reproduce more.   Then, they will have  to keep feeding them more and more.  If you cut the program,  there will be an overpopulated bears in the area. 

They will have to relocated them, hunt them,  let them starve, or have a big bear problem getting in homes, trash, and coming closer to more populated areas.  

IMHO,
AJ


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## Steven Farr (Aug 4, 2010)

Dana Young said:


> These mtn bears will stay with the food till it is gone before moving to any new food source. when and only when that food source is gone will they leave. the only exception is if they happen to find  a food source they like better.



AMEN


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## Marlin_444 (Aug 4, 2010)

pnome said:


> Yeah.  Like skinny yankees named Vinny.




Just not Chicken...  I never met a Yankee Brother who could not eat Chicken...  That's gotta be a Neuvo York Thang...    

You know we love yah, brother Vin...

See you in the woods...

Ron


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## Dana Young (Aug 4, 2010)

vinny's the best bear bait I know


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## Unicoidawg (Aug 4, 2010)

No to feeding the bear's. A fed bear is a dead bear. All these folks that have moved in around here have already made it a problem. They feed the animals and cry foul when the bears start tearing everything up. Then the moan and groan to the DNR to do something......... you moved to bear territory, quiting ringing the dinner bell and you won't have a problem.


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## Marlin_444 (Aug 4, 2010)

Dana Young said:


> vinny's the best bear bait I know



Yep...  Poultry "Free Range"...


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## 7Mag Hunter (Aug 4, 2010)

pnome said:


> Yeah.  Like skinny yankees named Vinny.




Now, Joooe......


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## gobbleinwoods (Aug 4, 2010)

Marlin_444 said:


> Yep...  Poultry "Free Range"...



Don't 'egg' Vinny on.


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## smallgamehunter (Aug 5, 2010)

*Amen*



Unicoidawg said:


> No to feeding the bear's. A fed bear is a dead bear. All these folks that have moved in around here have already made it a problem. They feed the animals and cry foul when the bears start tearing everything up. Then the moan and groan to the DNR to do something......... you moved to bear territory, quiting ringing the dinner bell and you won't have a problem.



This is absolutely true Unicoidawg. I am personal friends with a local DNR Area Manager here in Gilmer Co. and every year he tells me about all the nuisance bear calls he gets. It is always someone witha feeder. One guy last year said it is not a bear feeder it is a deer feeder. Go Figure. The DNR can't do much work other than respond to bear nuisance complaints in the spring up here. If you feed the bears in North Georgia you will have a problem. I do not even feed them and have them on my porch looking for food. Had one tear my storage building door off last year to get to corn stored in there for my chickens.
    We need to harvest more bears in North Georgia and reduce the population some. I have done several bear surveys with my DNR friend and believe me when I say we have too many up here.
Eddie


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## bullsprig1100 (Aug 5, 2010)

I have a radical idea. Why not allow cutting and burning on the National Forest, to create natural wildlife openings where all animals could come to feed. Currently a vast majority of the NF is mature forest, where there is little or no understory. Burn and clear small sections to allow a more natural environment, where berries, grasses, and small tender growth can take hold. If we simply let the forest be a forest, and let sections burn occasionally, and allow designated areas to be cut, the wildlife would flourish.....take Yellowstone's fire as an example!!!  We want our National Forests to be natural, but in nature, wildfires would occasionally make natural clearings and openings that would become meadows in a short period of time.....Just my thoughts....


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## JBowers (Aug 5, 2010)

bullsprig1100 said:


> I have a radical idea. Why not allow cutting and burning on the National Forest, to create natural wildlife openings where all animals could come to feed. Currently a vast majority of the NF is mature forest, where there is little or no understory. Burn and clear small sections to allow a more natural environment, where berries, grasses, and small tender growth can take hold. If we simply let the forest be a forest, and let sections burn occasionally, and allow designated areas to be cut, the wildlife would flourish.....take Yellowstone's fire as an example!!! We want our National Forests to be natural, but in nature, wildfires would occasionally make natural clearings and openings that would become meadows in a short period of time.....Just my thoughts....


 
, and it is not a radical idea


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## smallgamehunter (Aug 5, 2010)

bullsprig1100 said:


> I have a radical idea. Why not allow cutting and burning on the National Forest, to create natural wildlife openings where all animals could come to feed. Currently a vast majority of the NF is mature forest, where there is little or no understory. Burn and clear small sections to allow a more natural environment, where berries, grasses, and small tender growth can take hold. If we simply let the forest be a forest, and let sections burn occasionally, and allow designated areas to be cut, the wildlife would flourish.....take Yellowstone's fire as an example!!!  We want our National Forests to be natural, but in nature, wildfires would occasionally make natural clearings and openings that would become meadows in a short period of time.....Just my thoughts....



bullsprig1100 I could not have said it better myself. Oh wait a minute we may offend the tree huggers. They are the problem with the forests and they believe they are protecting them.


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