# Whats A Guy to do??



## Vernon Holt (Jun 1, 2006)

Have been keeping a feeder up so as to be able to monitor early antler growth. Been checking the feeder twice weekly and always found it empty. Was pleased to have this much activity around the feeder even though I suspected that much of it was from raccoons.

My Son, Richard hung the camera last weekend and five days later this is the sum total what was recorded:


----------



## Nicodemus (Jun 1, 2006)

Great pic Mr. Vernon!! Is that Mama with three yearlins`?


----------



## Handgunner (Jun 1, 2006)

Sweet!

Nice picture Vernon!  I bet you were tickled!


----------



## SBG (Jun 1, 2006)

That is an amazing picture Mr. Vernon...gets my vote for picture of the year.

I'm skeered to come by and visit now.


----------



## Vernon Holt (Jun 1, 2006)

I have a genuine dilemna.  No way that I can feed Purina Deer Chow to this motley crew.  They will not leave the vicinity of this feeder until they find it empty for longer than a week.  I am sure they were withing earshot of the feeder just a while ago when we picked up the camera and left it full of pellets.

Moved the camera to the mineral site hoping to get some shots of early antler growth.


----------



## Killdee (Jun 1, 2006)

That is 1 cool shot Mr.Vernon


----------



## Ta-ton-ka chips (Jun 1, 2006)

That's some big coons!  

That pic should win some kind of prize


----------



## 308 (Jun 1, 2006)

*They obviously didn't get the memo...*

It's a DEER feeder for goodness sakes!

I'll post these that focus on the bear cub on the left side of the feeder...

He can balance on the narrow side of a 2 x 4 and on the rail of the scaffold...

Then the one where he just sits on the rail was too funny!

308


----------



## Hoss (Jun 1, 2006)

Believe you need to put a sign up telling the bears it's a deer feeder, they obviously were not informed.  Bet they can put away some deer chow.  Thanks for posting the photos they are neat.

Hoss


----------



## 308 (Jun 1, 2006)

Here's one that I'm pretty sure is an original...

Last fall I got some close ups of a bear's snoz... 

But not like this!


----------



## letsgohuntin (Jun 1, 2006)

Thanks, I really enjoyed those photos! 
The one sitting on the rail was really good!


----------



## CAL (Jun 1, 2006)

Great pictures Mr.Vernon.I wish I knew the answer but I don't.Maybe you could move the feeder!


----------



## leo (Jun 2, 2006)

*Those are great pics*

Well I guess the the camera has solved the mystery, they are cute Vernon but I don't think you will keep them full 

Thanks y'all for sharing the pics with us


----------



## Nugefan (Jun 2, 2006)

Mr Vernon do you hunt them ?????

I know an ole' long haired guy that would love the chance to throw an arrow their way for you ....


----------



## Trizey (Jun 2, 2006)

Nice pics!  Glad to see the bears are doing well there!


----------



## Vernon Holt (Jun 2, 2006)

Nuge: I don't hunt em, I just feed em.  I do have this Son and Grandson who have visions of giving them a try when the time comes.

I am worried about my fawn crop with these four hungry mouths hanging out on my place.  There are no acorns, no berries, no garbage cans, no tourists, no nothing except insects and vegetation.  It takes volume to stop these bellies from growling. I have no doubt but they emptied my feed trough in one night and still drifted away not satisfied.


----------



## Paymaster (Jun 2, 2006)

Great pics. The snoz picture is a hoot.


----------



## justme (Jun 2, 2006)

Great pics!


----------



## Branchminnow (Jun 2, 2006)

Great Pics


----------



## gadeerwoman (Jun 2, 2006)

Looks like the 'butt rail' on the feeder came in handy! Great pixs. I've never shot a bear. Maybe I need to look into the public land areas around Mr. Vernon come fall. They're gonna get real mad if you cut down on their buffet line.


----------



## the HEED! (Jun 2, 2006)

then thar are some barrs


----------



## rip18 (Jun 3, 2006)

I guess you'll save some money on your feed bill now that you know what percentage the raccoons (much less the deer) aren't even getting.  Neat pictures & neat animals to have in the neighborhood....


----------



## 308 (Jun 7, 2006)

*One at a time... for now...*

This one was piddling around and still found the camera... They are some kind of nosey!

So I took the camera guard to work with me today and welded some spikes on it in hopes of giving my camera a little more armor...

308


----------



## DSGB (Jun 7, 2006)

That's too cool!  Good idea trying to reinforce the camera. I wouldn't touch the case if I had any scent of food on my hands. They might try to eat your camera!
Thanks for sharing the pics!


----------



## pendy (Jun 8, 2006)

*Mr. Vernon and 308*

Those bears are just to cute. Thanks for sharing the pics with us.


----------



## Dub (Jun 8, 2006)

Um....excuse me.....but.....that ain't in Burke Co !!!!


Just kidding.  I wish we could trade our coyotes for bears!!!!  I would love to have bear hunting on our lease and the WMA's I sometimes hunt.


----------



## Dana Young (Jun 8, 2006)

Dub you don't want no bears they ruin your  deer hunting.
Nuge it's hard to tell by the picture but I don't think any of those bears would be legal to harvest, reason one it appears to be a sow with 3 yearling cubs and you can't shoot a sow with cubs. secondly the cubs woul be pushing it to weigh 75 lbs the best I can tell so none of these bears would be legal.
mister vernon I am sure you know the only way to make the bears leave is to stop feeding them also this could be a dangerous situation if you went to the feeder and somehow got between mama and her cubs.
For anyone wanting to kill bears go to the chattahoochee wma. last season on a 4 day hunt with 2 either sex days there were 3 buck deer and 16 bears harvested. this wma used to be really good deer hunting now the bears have taken over and deer are very hard to find.


----------



## 308 (Jun 8, 2006)

*They are interesting...*

After the pictures of the mama bear and yearlings... they apparently haven't been back... We haven't had to add but very little at a time to the feeder... Had the motley crew been back it would have been empty each time...  We don't put that much in it at once...

For that last picture I moved the camera away from the feeder on an old roadbed... and this bear walked up behind the camera and checked it out first before walking out in front for a good picture...

Most of the bear pictures have approached the camera from behind first...  That goes back to last year... I don't know if it's coincidence or not... 

The camera guard is a hoot!  It isn't meant to harm the bears... just keep him from biting and clawing the camera... That and turning the dang thing off!  I was about tired of that!

308


----------



## 308 (Jun 8, 2006)

*Bear/Porcupine Cam*

I thought I'd post the latest accessory to my LakotaCam...

308


----------



## Nicodemus (Jun 8, 2006)

308, you oughter patent that thing!! Nice pics!


----------



## dixie (Jun 8, 2006)

Vernon, I supect you already know this, but bears and coons are first cousins.


----------



## Bubba_1122 (Jun 8, 2006)

Vernon Holt said:
			
		

> Have been keeping a feeder up so as to be able to monitor early antler growth.



Appears early antler growth ain't going too well on them bears!


----------



## BIGABOW (Jun 8, 2006)

great pics fellas thanks for sharin'


----------



## GTBHUNTIN (Jun 15, 2006)

Sorry about your bear problem.  I am from vermont hence the name, and the bear population is growing very fast with that we are seeing a lot more crop damage etc.  But the problem the average hunter is having is that the bears are keeping the deer away.  Which is probably your problem.  I had the same problem with one of my sites using apples.  I only had one deer showing up and I had a bear family of three feasting on my pile, I was so frustrated, it took lots of time to pick and hike those apples to the apple tree I was hunting.  I figured the deer had eaten all the apples since I had not seen any bear tracks in the area.  I tried to scare them off by being there around the time they would come in, but all that did was turn them into night time feeders.  So I lost my deer hunting spot that year and harvested the mother bear. She was a fairly large sow and the slowly cooked roasts were pretty good.  If  you are looking to get rid of the bears my advice is to stop putting the feed out, take the feeder away for a couple weeks and they should take there feeding to another area, also if they are staying in the area you can do two things.  My father and I use to run bears with dogs.  Running them off with dogs usually kept bears away from sheep herds, honey etc.  Or you could try putting another bait site out away from where you are trying to deer hunt.  Use sweets and food that really get air born, bears have an amazing sense of smell and strong scent will be unresistable to the family.


----------



## Browning382 (Jun 18, 2006)

just get a lot a "little debbies" and spread them all over your neighbors property...


----------

