Less than lethal 12 gauge for nuisance bears

[usaral63]

Title explained the goal but not the whole situation. So my uncle has black bears openly tearing open garbage bags and dragging them all over the property in broad day light right before his eyes as if to add insult to injury. Now he is not within the Pisgah Bear Sanctuary like my house is so really he could dispatch them during hunting season but he's too soft for that. He hit me up this morning knowing that I reload for 12 gauge and .410 wanting some less than lethal 12 gauge 2 3/4 inch loads to scare the bears away. I have never done less than lethal and most of the stuff I've read elsewhere sounds inadequate, for example I red 6 grns of red dot with an empty wad over a fed209A. 1 I'm afraid that will squib and end up with a plastic wad stuck in the muzzle of my uncles modified choke gun and 2 I doubt this would run off a trash fed spoiled rotten bear. This data came from a guy that was running off stray dogs. I've heard tail of using dry beans like buck shot but I wonder with how much powder? I'm guessing something like 15 grns green dot with. 12SO in a cheddite with cheddite primer and as many dry beans as I can fit

I have that bears first cousin living hereabouts..............been going on for a couple of years and as the gracious state of Florida forbids lethally addressing the issue I picked up one of Fith Op's .12 perimeter alarms...........installed a latch on my 90 gal container that he broke the lid on.......re-installed said lid with the alarm jammed under a handle....he tips the can, device goes off.......bear leaves post haste. I understand he's laying waste to the fancy subdivision to my south where a couple of years back some NY or NJ type tried to 9mm one.....finally died and FWC had a field day writing citations.

Not a permanent solution, but neither are your less than lethal loads...........my perimeter load is a cut off federal stoked with 90 grains of triple f, topped by two 23/8 hard card wads, roll crimped............loud, flashy, stinkey..........and works...............thought about using some of the flash bangs or specialty loads but so far not necessary.

 

[JFrank]

Title explained the goal but not the whole situation. So my uncle has black bears openly tearing open garbage bags and dragging them all over the property in broad day light right before his eyes as if to add insult to injury. Now he is not within the Pisgah Bear Sanctuary like my house is so really he could dispatch them during hunting season but he's too soft for that. He hit me up this morning knowing that I reload for 12 gauge and .410 wanting some less than lethal 12 gauge 2 3/4 inch loads to scare the bears away. I have never done less than lethal and most of the stuff I've read elsewhere sounds inadequate, for example I red 6 grns of red dot with an empty wad over a fed209A. 1 I'm afraid that will squib and end up with a plastic wad stuck in the muzzle of my uncles modified choke gun and 2 I doubt this would run off a trash fed spoiled rotten bear. This data came from a guy that was running off stray dogs. I've heard tail of using dry beans like buck shot but I wonder with how much powder? I'm guessing something like 15 grns green dot with. 12SO in a cheddite with cheddite primer and as many dry beans as I can fit

Here’s a novel idea~ take your garbage to the dump more often. No more food equals no more Bears

 

[film495]

Your trash collector will hate you. Lol

we have black bears in the neighborhood, so I looked into the bear barrel thing. if you shoot them, they'll just be replaced with another bear that will fill the void soon enough and that bear may be more of a problem than the one that was gotten rid of. if you chase them off with rubber rounds or whatever, they'll just go get into someone else's cans and again, another black bear will just take over where the last one left off. the only real good option far as I researched was to train them that trash and trash cans are something they want nothing to do with. I never did it, but apparently it is just a trash can that looks like or very similar to your cans, and the bear gets it when they pull the trash out of the can. There is a real risk of shooting at them even with rubber bullets or whatever, then you have at best a hurt bear, or even a wounded bear, a large animal you're sending off probably wounded to play with the neighbors kids and pets.

you know there is a show about this. I remember being at my Mom's house and she has seen it and we watched a few episodes. some guy's job, was to keep the bears out of the suburbs of this area, the bears were a large part of the local tourist economy, so - they wanted the bears, just not in everyone's trash cans and back yards.

 

[EricBu]

Great idea! Dunno how well brown bear piss would work in NC as we only have black bears but the overall idea sounds great! Perhaps some ammonia sprayed on the bags

It's instinctual, the scent marks the area as belonging to apex predators that the black bear doesn't want to have a thing to do with.

 

[Rule3]

Non-Lethal Bear Managment Tools - BearSmart.com

Noise Deterrents Noise deterrents work by making a loud, unpleasant sound that causes the bear to be uneasy and move away. Noise deterrents are advantageous if you are a long distance away from the bear. Furthermore, they cause neither harm nor injury to the bear when correctly used. In some...

www.bearsmart.com

 

[mkl]

When we had coons, cats, possum, etc. messing up our garbage cans, I had good luck by just pouring a little ammonia over the trash in the can. I would think an electric fence would work at high voltage (low current), but I would try ammonia on the food in the can first.

 

[toivo]

Ammonia on the cans worked for me when we had a nuisance bear in the neighborhood. I put it on the trash and on the lid of the can.

Just my 2¢, but I wouldn't mess with less-lethal loads. I would use bear spray and have a lethal weapon in my hand in case things went south.

 

[jmorris]

If you are going to rely on spray try it before you actually use it. My BIL got himself more than the bear the first time he used it.

+1 on the food. You leave access to it and they are going to go after it.

That includes leaving your lunch in the truck with the windows down. He sent me this one a few years ago.

August 6, 2018

www.youtube.com

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

Before my father in-law sold off all his cattle and retired he had problems with black bears getting into his cattle grain bins. High protein grains and nutrients. Expensive stuff but necessary for healthy cows. Also Bear Granola. An electric fence around the bins solved it. Solar powered chargers and good old fashioned lead acid batteries. Black bears don’t like loud noises. Sometimes they run off and sometimes they get disoriented and run at. It’ll only take one run-at to mess up your uncles plans for non lethal bear control.

 

[Rule3]

Bear "proof" trash cans. These are expensive but are well built. Same company that makes our residential cans for Waste Pro and other companies,
Available at other places Home Depot Amazon etc.

Toter® Bear Tough Carts -Bear Proof Trash Cans

Toter’s Bear Tough trash can is designed to withstand repeated chewing and clawing of bears and other wildlife. Virtually indestructible, the Bear Tough Can has received a Three Star rating, the highest rating given by Living with Wildlife. Bear proof your yard with Toter® Bear Tough Trash Cans.

try.toter.com