I'd really like to catch this dude with a real camera

Dear Board,

We live in a quiet wooded neighborhood adjoining 11,000 acres of State Game Lands and another 20,000 acres of a military base. There are three mountain ridges with creeks in the valleys and the area is home to a healthy black bear population.

Though he arrived late this year this dude makes an annual Spring pilgrimage into our neighborhood to raid the bird feeders once he's up and about each year. I'll keep my feeders down for a couple of weeks and he will head back up over the ridge where he belongs for the Summer. He'll repeat the process again in the Fall in an effort to fatten up for his long Winter nap.

This dude is a big bear. I had suet cakes hung on a tree limb with a hook that is over 8 feet off of the ground. He stood up and flipped the doors of the feeder open to knock the suet cakes out the other night. The empty feeder stayed in the tree.

Here is a shot of him from Easter morning. He emptied that sunflower seed feeder ball the other night and I guess he was hoping I had refilled it. Finding it empty he overturned the neighbor's garbage cans and ate the leftovers from the picnic they had yesterday.

He usually comes around in the wee hours of the morning, say between 1:00 and 4:00 AM. Does anyone have any tips on how I can set up a camera on a tripod in hopes of getting a better shot of him?

Regards,

Tim Murphy

Harrisburg, PA

http://www.bearsmart.c​om/live/overview/

DON'T BAIT BEARS into your neighborhood. You are making your neighborhood less safe for people and bears.

I just walk outside and face them. Then again, according to the sheriff, I am not a very smart guy

drewhh wrote in post #18332243
http://www.bearsmart.c​om/live/overview/

DON'T BAIT BEARS into your neighborhood. You are making your neighborhood less safe for people and bears.

Dear Drew,

I don't bait bears, I feed birds. For a couple of weeks each year those activities unfortunately overlap. The feeders are down and will remain down until the end of April. The picture taken on Easter morning was of the same bear that destroyed my feeders a few nights earlier.

There are only about 50 or 60 homes in my neighborhood. It began as a development of summer camps for people from Harrisburg but it has long since grown into a year round community. Everyone in the neighborhood knows that we live amongst bears and none of us have to my knowledge have ever complained to the PA Game Commission about them? I've lived here for 16 years and never once have heard about anyone, or any pet being seriously threatened or hurt by a bear.

I'm looking for a way to get better pictures than a trail camera can provide and I am hoping someone can give a couple of tips other than to say sit outside overnight and see what comes your way? That might require me to slather myself with bacon fat and peanut butter to insure success.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

Harrisburg, PA

Dear sibil,

Last summer my wife went outside and shooed a bear away from her hummingbird feeders. She got a picture or two because she is from New Hampshire and of hardy stock that doesn't cower before animals.

Congrats on your picture!

Regards,

Tim Murphy

Harrisburg, PA

You ain't kidding about big ߘ

I'd take a cue from the trail cameras. Pick up a remote w/ motion trigger, set it up on a tripod in a small blind of some form and a battery pack, overnight. May have to rig a remote flash to capture it in the dark, too. Seems a fun project.

Alternate to the motion trigger, just get a long range remote trigger and sit inside and trigger, yourself, if it shows up.

https://digital-photography-school.com …era-wildlife-camera-trap/

it's either that or pull an all-nighter...i think the big thing would be finding a safe spot for the camera outside

@OP, I asked a similar question, a while ago.

https://photography-on-the.net …/showthread.php​?t=1384843

Dear Dre,

Thanks for the idea. I could set the camera up 15 feet away from the feeders that get raided on a tripod and hope if it gets knocked over it falls backwards into the brush.

I'll work on setting something up for the Fall.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

Harrisburg, PA

Dear sibil,

I'll read your previous post and answers too.

I'm almost down with the bacon fat and peanut rub though!

Regards,

Tim Murphy

Harrisburg, PA

Dear Board,

All this talk about him tonight obviously emboldened him.

He sniffed around the empty feeders and then tore my finch feeders to the ground even though they were empty.

I'm going out on Friday night after work with my old 1DMK2, a 12 pack and bacon. If he gets me he gets me, but the 1DMK2 will at least give me a decent battering ram!

Regards,

Tim Murphy

Harrisburg, PA

Interesting. So you have no problem with this? I would like to know your opinion as to why feeding birds (which I think is fine) and allowing a bear to get the bird food is not feeding bears.

Are you sure that is the same bear in all those pics? Could be angles but the first one looks larger. It seems odd to me that there would be only one bear in "11,000 acres of State Game Lands and another 20,000 acres of a military base... three mountain ridges with creeks in the valleys and the area is home to a healthy black bear population" that would follow its nose to bird seed.

Just FYI this activity is expressly forbidden in Game and Wildlife Code, 34 Pa.C.S. § 137.33 .

Correct me if I am wrong but it seems to me you are now trying to take advantage of a situation you have illegally created.

There is no big penalty for this. They would probably just tell you to not do it. But I think you have to look at the reasons the regulation was put in place. Even the argument that the seed is no longer there is covered in the regulation as the reference to "residue" is mentioned many times on the hunting side of the regulations concerning baiting.

There are numerous case studies going back to the Craigheads' research in Yellowstone showing a track record of why it is unsafe for bears to associate humans or human development with food.

I know this post probably sounds accusatory and it is intended to be so. Maybe I'm trying to "poke the bear" so to speak to see where this discussion goes.

I do not agree with what you are doing and am of the opinion that you creating an unsafe situation for humans and bears. When working for Alaska Department of Fish and Game a good portion of my job was spent trying to educate the public on these dangers. I researched nuisance bear case studies from around the northern hemisphere. There is no difference between what you are doing and other situations that have not ended well for the bear.

I've had similar discussion with other photo guides who work for the same company I do about baiting and where is the line. I find it a fascinating discussion. A situation came up recently where I photographed a pine marten that was eating "bird food." I took the picture...and it was a good one. It prompted internal questions as to where is the line.

Does my photographing this marten who is now food conditioned endanger public safety? probably not. Does it inhibit the marten's ability to survive on wild forage? I don't have an answer. Is it ethical? meh...borderline.

I look forward to hearing your side of the discussion.

What is it you think he's doing? He hasn't put out bird food since the bear came, so what is he exactly baiting the bear with?

You notice how each of these bears is sticking its nose in the empty bird feeder? Answer your own question. Why do you think that is?

Because when he first came down it was full...and he can probably still smell what had been in there...so he's checking it again