OP any update on talking to the GW?

ursusguy said:

---

On the internet now, so I'm pretty certain it will be somewhere in Collin County within two years.

---

I'm pretty certain it will be my wife showing me the neighborhood facebook updates.

Good to here.

My general practice was at point last seen. Be forewarned, your sow with cubs may throw a bit of of a link in this issue. I have seen a yearling inadvertently get in at trap, and had the big boar (intended target) show up and think tje greatest thing in the world was to pound the craps out of the trap. And then happily ignore the trap for several days.....so I brought in a different trap that looked different, and popped him in about 6 hours.

The warden said the exact same thing! He didn't want to just put a trap up, and get a different bear. Because then he has to put a tag in it's ear, and that means it is 1/2 way to being euthanized.

I'm am going to do my best to help them pattern this big boar, so we can specifically target him.

It seems even more likely it's the same blasted bear as 2016. Will be on the alert

cupofjoe04 said:

---

Go directly north from there, where Martinez splits with Dutton Canyon. We are in the neighborhood that is between those 2 canyons. Not very far at all. There is a really good national forest access to a nice mountain bike trail pretty close to Stevens Circle that I have used before.

---

Stayed at a house on Lake Pagosa, which looks to be pretty close to you, just a week ago while on our way up to Ouray. Neighbors came and told us about several bears they had recently seen.

Yeah, I know the talking points of nuisance bears....I've trained quite a few on bear biology amd trapping (and talked a number to TPWD personnel through it too). It truly sucks when you trap a non-target bear, especially one you have never seen before. The odd thing is most will become trap shy (males typically get really trap shy), and every once in a blue moon you will get one that is trap happy. Some guys like using what is attracting them, aka random trash. I never liked this approach near residential areas, because you never know who might be trap happy. New Mexico was 3 strikes, and I had one female that never did anything wrong (and was rarely more than 100 yards from people) but if you set a trap in the area it was almost a sure thing you would have her within 6 hours (really likely within 2). It was a borderline game with her. She would just be sitting there, bait bag completely gone, just waiting on us. We'll juat say we had an agreement with NMGF when it came to her. She had been a study bear, and other than liking traps, never caused a problem.

I've trapped more than I care to admit. I say this because at the time, I thought it was cool as hell. I was good at catching them, and not going to lie, ladies thought going to help release them was pretty cool (not that it helped me all that much, not going to lie). In the end, the bears I dealt with through aversive conditioning worked out much better than those I relocated. But I could take steps that I can not reasonably ask John Doe Citizen to do. At Philmont, a "Happy Chasing Party" (pretty much what it sounds like) was often called for. Get a couple guys, and literally chase them around for awhile. If that failed more than 2-3 times. I'd come in and hang around for awhile. If I could get close enough to spray them, I did. As mentioned before, I never had to spray one twice. Uhhh, sling shots work well for distance work (remember, I did all my bear work with now firearms). Some times we'd use my supervisors border collies to harass them (granted, this was usually to tree them to get tranquilized or "get a shot of 270" (which amusingly enough a lot of staff thought was a medicine). All of which, I can't really ask standard public to do.....but you can certainly use the ideas ;-)

Bluntly, sounds like you have what I like to refer to as a Jack a-- bear. Likely he's been trapped before, or seen a bear he is close to in some manner (remember, they are pretty smart), and if all the warden has is one type of trap, you may be getting the bear version of the middle finger. In my case, I had three different culvert or box traps to try my luck with. Simply changing from a OLD yellow barrel with a drop door, to a wire box with a spring loaded door did the trick. I had one JA male that was trap happy that figured out that if he belly crawled in, the door would drop on his back legs, he could snag the bait bag and simply back out (solution--jerry rig secondary arm with a cactus pad that swung down a split second behind the door drop).....Honestly, best thing with a JA bear was high energy, loud, with good agility that could scare them up the tree to be shot (aka, not an old lab).

cupofjoe04 said:

---

I laughed way harder at parts of that post that I should have...

Thanks for sharing the experience and advice. Definitely gives me some options to chew on if needed.

Here is step #1 that I installed tonight. A bear board, or "Unwelcome mat". I'm going to widen it a little bit on both sides, I just need to get some more screws. Paint and sign are warning for people (we often get packages delivered at 10:00pm). I'm going to put a more robust "kick board" next to the door, just incase someone inside forgets its there early in the am.

---

ursusguy said:

---

That's a good start.

Just don't have one too many and decide to go pee off the porch.

---

I can only promise you that one of those two things won't happen...

Yeah, I'm worried his bear is smart enough to figure out how to do a 'ring-n-run' in the middle of the night.

Yeah, I heard it called by other names, but I figured this is the more discreet terminology.

cupofjoe04 said:

---

ursusguy said:

---

That's a good start.

Just don't have one too many and decide to go pee off the porch.

---

I can only promise you that one of those two things won't happen...

---

Which one? Because one usually means the other WILL happen!

Next up? Bear test drive!

Hmmmn. Can't get photo to work

Off the in laws deck this morning. Young guy, retreated with yelling and rocks. Don't think he's the OP's problem child

dubi said:

---

Next up? Bear test drive!

---

I remember seeing this in the local paper or something. If I remember correctly, I think it happened in Durango, which isn't too far away from us. It is a CRAZY year for bears. Earlier in the year, a bear broke INTO the Durango jail... ha ha

Anybody know anything about Meeker, CO? I might have a chance to do some field work there...

Awesome. Sounds like I'll be having fried chicken... and I might just leave it out.




(Kidding. I'm not camping while I'm working) but you are damn sure I'll fish some!

The Trapper Lake, and the lakes up top in the Flat Tops are supposed to be pretty awesome. There are some small lakes to the south of Trapper Lake that our packers specifically pointed out that they guide for trout on. If you draw a line between Trapper Lake and Star Lake (on top), the lakes and streams in between are supposed to be pretty good.

This would be 40-45 miles east of Meeker. The set up at Trapper Lake Lodge is basic but pretty nice, and you can't beat tue setting.