Today's lesson is:

[steve-o]

I have one of my cameras in a very remote wooded mountaintop area. I checked it about 2 weeks ago, and all I had were a bobcat and a deer picture. But I saw lots of bear tracks in the area. So I was hoping to get some good bear pics.

I went back yesterday and saw huge bear tracks along most of the 2-mile-long trail I take to get to the camera. When I got there, I was surprised to see the ammo box slid down near the base of the tree and turned sideways. There were claw marks all over it, but it didn't break my glass lense or poke a hole in the fresnel lense.

But the bear managed to bend a heavy-duty 1/8" thick steel reinforcing bar that I bolted to the back of the ammo box. He also bent the 1/4" stainless steel turnbuckle bolt into a 45-degree angle. There were scratch marks all over the tree and the chain I used around the tree. I tried to bend the steel bar back into shape, but I couldn't do it. That was a strong bear!

When I opened the ammo box, rusty water poured out. Apparently the holes for my mounting bracket allowed water in when it got bent up. We got several inches of rain since I last checked the camera. Luckily, there's nothing in the bottom part of my cam, so nothing was swimming in the water. But everything was pretty damp inside. So I removed the camera and brought it back home with me to dry it out.

I was hoping to deploy my new 3d-camo camera (which is in a plastic Seahorse case) in the same area. I had carried it all the way in there (2 miles) and picked out a tree on my way in. But after seeing what the bear did to my ammo box and heavy-duty steel plates, I decided that I'll have to build another ammo box setup if I want to use that area again. I don't think my plastic camera and bungee cord would last very long against that bear. So my next project is an ultra-strong, bearproof enclosure.

The worst part is that I didn't get a good picture of him. I had it set on a 3 minute delay. All I got was this picture of his ear:

 

[wilbur]

Impressive..... I think I read somewhere where they have put 9 volt batteries/leads to the face of the box. Enough of an electrical zap on fleshy contact that the animal leaves things alone. This one may take some kind of battery/capacitor/Mr.Zappy setup to do it. Maybe someone here knows how that would work.

Another idea would be to train the bear to make the powerslave modifications for the vivitar flash.

That'll learn him.......

 

[brokenarrow]

Looks like you need to add a solenoid and some bear mace to your setup...

 

[steve-o]

Wilbur, that's a good idea. I tried something similar to that a few years ago. I was living in New Jersey at the time, living in a cramped neighborhood, and not allowed to have any guns (that sure ticked me off, but that's another story...)

I had a groundhog who was living in my yard under a small shed, and I couldn't get rid of him. So I borrowed some high-voltage capacitors and a transformer from the place I worked and built a 6000-volt storage capacitor bank. I used a large piece of nickel screen mesh for one electrode and layed it flat along the bottom on the entrance to his tunnel. Then I used a couple small aluminum 'feelers' suspended above the screen for the other electrode. I charged it up and tested it with a shovel. The spark was so big that it actually welded the shovel to the screen.

So I charged it back up and went inside to wait for the groundhog to come out. I went outside an hour later to check on it, and my next-door neighbor was standing on his back porch, watching his toy poodle using the bathroom in my backyard (which really cheesed me off, but the guy would just shrug his shoulders when I'd complain). Anyway, the poodle walked over to the shed and sniffed at the groundhog hole, about 6 inches away from the electrodes. I was kind of hoping the dog would get fried, but then I figured the neighbor would sue me. So I said "Hi, Bruce!". He saw me and started calling the dog away. Luckily the dog backed away and left. After the guy went back inside, I discharged the caps and dismantled the setup. I was too afraid I'd fry the dog the next time it went out there.

So I moved back to West Virginia soon after that, where it's open season on groundhogs with whatever firearm you want. I sure missed having my Second Ammendment rights when I was in Jersey.

 

[wilbur]

Great idea!

Make lemonade out of lemons. Wire up the poodle and leash him to a tree next to the camera......... Bear gets tangled up with it and learns to leave poodles alone. Bear would leave things alone as long as you camoed the camera to look like a fuzzball dog.

Let's see: there's Mossy Oak camo, Trebark, etc. You could call this pattern Barkydog

 

[brokenarrow]

Poodle, the other white meat

 

[wilbur]

tastes like chicken..........

 

[steve-o]

Is there anything that repells bears? I had a problem with deer licking and chewing on some PVC pipes I had in the woods as part of a water monitoring project. I sprayed some of that "Deer Away" spray on it, and they left it alone.

But the bears are starting to get really aggressive with stuff lately, and they're messing with the PVC pipes. And now I'm having this problem with the bear eating my camera. Are there any scents that will keep a bear away?

 

[brokenarrow]

Tabasco Sauce.... Something really hot...like a jabenero` extract.... If it burns there tounge... they may not want to chew... And I dont think the scent would run anything away...

 

[RayC]

LOL the 'messin with the cam' and fur pic have a real familiar ring. Just had same thing happen to mine, bear knocked cam down (not bungee corded, I forgot) and when put back up got a few pics of her (radio collered) and her two cubs. I'll post pics later. Ammo can wasn't hurt at all in my case