What kind of poop is this?

[Shezadandy]

Our feet are in the picture for scale. We found three such piles on our gravel road, all roughly the same size. We're in Oregon about 25 miles outside of Portland in a hilly forested area. The poop was still very moist and definitely wasn't there a couple days ago.

 

[azygous]

Black bear. I get to see a lot of it where I live.

 

[mowin]

X2. Definitely bear.

 

[Shezadandy]

Black bear. I get to see a lot of it where I live.

X2. Definitely bear.

Oh boy. We'd heard rumors of a black bear in the area a couple months back but this is the first scat we've encountered. One of those piles was about 20 feet from our garage. There's a group of deer that frequent our property, anywhere from 3-7 depending on the day.

Any suggestions on extra precautions? Chickens have a double walled shed with hardware cloth in between the walls. Fully enclosed run, 6ft chainlink with hardware cloth top to bottom and aviary net over the top. We've got 2 bigger goats- right now they're locked up down in the shop while I finish their new "house".

Thank you both!

 

[NHMountainMan]

100% black bear. For the most part, they’ll be after your feed, not your birds or goats. For the most part... They are opportunistic and will take any easy meal- they won’t typically run/ chase to kill. This time of year it’s all about maximizing calories/ fat for winter and hunting burns calories while scavenging doesn’t.
That said- they can get through chain link and hardware cloth. Best defense is electric fencing. I have a ton of bear in the area- we bait the fence with bacon . The bear touches the bacon with nose or tongue and learns quickly.

good luck

 

[mowin]

About the only thing that's good to stop a bear is an electric fence.

They can just about rip through any fence run or coop, but a hot wire works wonders.

I've got a few bears in the area, and thankfully haven't had any issues. I've got all the stuff to put up a electric fence, but just haven't had the time to get it done.

 

[Shezadandy]

OK. Time to set up the electric fence. Is there an optimum range of heights to set the hot wire to detour black bears? I did it at the last property and had it going at 8000-10000 volts, so happily it's a matter of pushing this to the top of the to-do list ... as opposed to learning how to do it.

 

[Shezadandy]

100% black bear. For the most part, they’ll be after your feed, not your birds or goats. For the most part... They are opportunistic and will take any easy meal- they won’t typically run/ chase to kill. This time of year it’s all about maximizing calories/ fat for winter and hunting burns calories while scavenging doesn’t.
That said- they can get through chain link and hardware cloth. Best defense is electric fencing. I have a ton of bear in the area- we bait the fence with bacon . The bear touches the bacon with nose or tongue and learns quickly.

good luck

Excellent info, thanks! Extra note to self on keeping the garage door closed- that's the feed storage. I like the bacon idea!

 

[NHMountainMan]

Excellent info, thanks! Extra note to self on keeping the garage door closed- that's the feed storage. I like the bacon idea!

Absolutely! A few years back I left the garage open while loading up trash for the dump. Took a break- then went outside fortunately with my 2 dogs. Walked right into a yearling male ripping open the trash bags. Fortunately- the dogs (ea 125 lbs) got into it with him. A big swirl of the 3 of them 10 feet from me inside the garage. Fortunately the bear ran out and they treed him. One of my dogs had torn ligaments in his knee- it was a very expensive lesson of living in black bear territory!

as for the electric fence- they could walk right through almost anything you put up. The key is to trick them into getting the shock on the nose or mouth. They’re very smart and will learn with one shock. Electric fences are not a physical deterrent. It’s an psychological deterrent- your need to get into their head.

 

[azygous]

Glad you see the urgency is getting hot wire up, even if it's slap dash for the time being. A single wire at 30inches high baited with peanut butter or bacon will invite the bear to zero in on it and get a nice painful shock. If you wet down the soil where the bear will be standing, it maximizes the jolt.

This time of year, bears take risks they otherwise wouldn't. Your goats are especially vulnerable. Chickens and their feed will be a close second in my experience here where I live. For now, take in all food at night so you won't wake up to a leveled chicken coop and goat pen. Bears can do immense damage in just a few short minutes.