After the Bear: Rebuilding

It's been a little over a month since our home and homestead were wracked by a marauding black bear. I’ll be the first to admit, it’s been hard getting past the PTSD. And that’s not to villainize the bear.

Bears gotta bear.

Here’s a little update on how we got through it, how we improved our setup, and how we’re slowly rebuilding what was lost.

Another Close Call

I'll preface with this: barely a week after the first bear incident, I ran into a completely different bear. Smaller, but no less shocking. This one didn’t do any damage...unless you count the years shaved off my life...because I ran face to face with him. In my backyard. In broad daylight.

Thank goodness for my dog. She had my back and ran that intruder halfway up a poplar. Not on her watch. Heck no.

First Priority: Protect the Rabbits

The first thing I did, after spending a couple hundred bucks I didn’t really have, was install a welded wire barrier on the woods side of my rabbit hoop hutch. The cages on that side hang outside the cattle panel hoop. While the original bear hadn’t ventured that far in, it felt inevitable. A couple of easy chicken dinners and he’d surely upgrade the menu.

While I love my chickens for the eggs and the bug control, the rabbits are my main meat source—and a personal passion project. My does are more than livestock. They’re pets. They come from my original trio, bred intentionally for size, temperament, and sustainability.

So yes, I put serious intention into protecting them.

That barrier helped ease my mind, and so far, it’s held strong. But it was a full day's work. (Cue Yosemite Sam voice: Ah hates wire.)

Reinforcing the Chicken Pen

Next up, the chicken pen. We cut it in half. I’m down to five grown hens now, and that pen needed a revamp anyway. Between the bear and the tree that Hurricane Helene dropped last September, the back side was wrecked.

I lined the goat wire with coated chicken wire on the inside, then ran electric poly tape on the outside. The poly’s baited with foil tabs coated in peanut butter. That’s a trick known to teach bears to leave things alone...after a zap or two.

We also added a motion-sensor strobe alarm where the bear had been coming in and put up more solar lights around every animal shelter.

Oh, and we plugged in an old radio. It blasts oldies all night. Bonus. The neighbors probably hate me.

It’s Working (So Far)

Since all the upgrades, my trail cam hasn’t picked up a single intruder—not even the fox that used to roam through, or my mom’s cats taking shortcuts.

I’m not naive enough to think we’re fully safe. But I am sleeping a little better. Slowly but surely.

We’ve got a passel of chicks coming up, hatched from that OG flock. That’s both a comfort and a lot of
work. Our little Spice Quack patrols the yard like they own the place, chasing off voles and even gnats. We’ve got one litter of buns weaning already, and hopefully more on the way.

We don’t surrender around here.