Bear

[MUSKRAT]

Just a question:
How do you guys feel about people that are raising chickens in their backyard,
And get harassed by black bears ..

I know of at least 3 different people , not far from me , that shoot the bears with shotgun loaded with birdshot

I believe this is supposed to be legal , if they are harassing your poultry or beehives etc ..

I would imagine at close range this lead shot will penetrate the hide and become imbedded in the flesh ..leading to infection..   if shot in the face , bear could be blind ..

I'm not sure that I agree with this method of scaring the bear away ..

We seem to have an increasing number of bears around , so this is happening more often ..

I'm not sure of the answer, what do you guys / gals think ?

[Overland]

I’m strongly against that practice and it is illegal, as it should be.

[greensider]

I know a couple of taxidermist who have told me about how many bears come into the shop full of birdshot all I can say is maybe I will turn you in or maybe I will beat you if it find out about someone doing it but be assured one or the other will happen because it’s just wrong

[ole bleu]

I’ve been helping a friend of mine at his butcher shop for thirty years cutting up about two hundred animals a year on average and every bear that comes in has bird shot in its ass

[MUSKRAT]

It's a shame that an animal has to suffer from this mentality, that's it's ok to " sting"  the bear with a load of birdshot to chase them away ...

The people think that it's lawful to do this , because their chickens are in danger ..
This is actually happening more than you think ...

I've butchered deer also , that had birdshot imbedded in them , that's another story..

I wonder if those flash bang shells ( non projectile) shot gun shells would be effective,
Or if they are even available..

Seems to me a good electric fence , would be a good deterrent..or a good place to start ..

I hunt and I kill animals, but I don't want to wound anything..
Just a shame

[1shot1kill]

I've had chickens for about 15 years now.  Have only twice now lost a chicken to a bear.  I've had plenty of encounters with them getting into feed.  I always just chase them away.  My son always had a big box of soccer balls on the deck, so they made great "ammo" to pelt them with.  Very comical actually.  The best thing to do is shame the bear, make a lot of noise and persistently scare it enough that it learns its not welcome there.

A few years ago I called the DEC about a collared and tagged bear that was a nonstop problem.  It was very brazen.  Bluff charged me several times when I chased it away (with pistol in hand).  The DEC offered me either rubber slugs or blanks for my 12 gauge, I can't remember which now.  I turned them down just because I was too close to neighbors to shoot.  I've since moved to a large parcel of land and I have a very large coop and run with about 3 dozen chickens.  Have had one chicken taken by a bear already.  His prints are all over the side of the coop and he pushed in a mesh window to get in one night.  I ran electric to the coop and hooked up a very extensive electric fence.  So far, so good.

I'm not above shooting a nuisance animal to protect my flock, but it would have to be the last resort in an extreme situation. 

[MUSKRAT]

1 shot
Thanks for your honest and informative response...
I would love to see a video of the soccer ball treatment technique...  :-)

I wondered if dec could give out 12 guage rubber shot shells , or something non lethal..
better alternative to birdshot....

I know bears can be a big PIA sometimes.., but they are truly magnificent animals ..

I also was bluff charged one time , on a Canadian fishing trip ...snapping teeth and all ..
armed with my fishing pole only , it was not an easy feeling ..makes you pucker a little .

Good luck with your flock , hope the electric fence works...

[LouieM]

My brother and I both got our first bears last season and both were loaded with bird shot of course. His bear was much older and had some down at the bone on his hind legs been there for years butcher said and even some in his snout from years past. My bear the bird shot wounds were fresh as if he were shot just a day or two prior of me getting him.  We haven’t found any while eating my bear but have bitten into about 5-6 BB so far from his bear.  Both are amazing quality meat nonetheless

There are countless bears out there who get shot with bird shot and later die of infection.

[greensider]

1 shot shooting a nuisance animal under permit from dec is reasonable it’s not intentional wounding animals

[ole bleu]

If you have any live stock DEC will offer you rubber bullets for a 12 ga no reason to give them lead poisoning from bird shot

[WEM144]

I have a few rubber .12 ga bullets in the event i find a bear near my chicken coop. I wouldn’t feel right letting a bird shot round fly and actually hitting the bear.