Where the Wild Things Are

 The Wild Things Are Actually Right Here…

Along our little wooded lane, seven families live on the seven 10-acre parcels, and there’s another farmer with about 50 acres—all habitat for bears, coyotes, deer, raptors, songbirds and rodents.

Photo credit: Unsplash

Lately, most of the action has been right next door. About a 1/4 mile from our house, our neighbors put out what’s called a deer block. It’s a big chunk of manufactured grains and molasses, which ideally the neighborhood deer will feed on—instead of coming into their unfenced yard and devouring their pretty ornamental flowers and shrubs.

Our neighbors report that it’s been fairly effective—but there’s one big problem: the block attracts far more than deer. Songbirds, for instance, which is lovely. 

Black bears, which is not.

Shortly after they set out the block, some critter moved the 40-pound chunk a few yards away from where they’d set it. I don’t need to tell you that only a bear would have the dexterity—and the strength—to do it.

In the last couple of weeks, with this ready source of bear food on their property, they’ve seen a sow with two cubs several times on their game cam. Which I have to admit is a bit chilling.

The destructive—but fortunately shy—bear that broke into our yard the summer before last was a singleton, and that was bad enough. I would NOT want to confront a mother bear, with not one, but two cubs to get elevated over.

In my June 24 post here, I mentioned our neighbor who was keeping a few beehives.

Hal, our neighbor, discovered not one but three bears attacking his hives on his game cam. He said one bear was holding a big honeycomb in his paws. “It looked just like Pooh Bear,” said Hal, “munching on the comb with a big smile on its face.”

Sounds like a fun story…but as I mentioned in that post, the next day, when Hal tried to tend to his damaged hives, his bees attacked him. 

He was stung about 20 times. The thing is, our little corner of the Foothills is not a place to have a medical emergency. The closest medical help is the fire station about 9 miles away; the hospital is an hour’s drive, and that’s if you break the speed limits.

The happy ending is, that Hal recovered…and he’s now got an electrified fence around his hives.

The most serious wildlife episode recently happened to our other “next door” neighbor—her house is about 100 yards from ours.

She has three dogs, Aussie-Doodle mixes. The two burly adult males are good watchdogs, while the third is a five or six-month-old puppy. They all freely wander around her property.

A lot of country folks depend on their dogs to deter wildlife, but it didn’t work this time.

As our neighbor related, a coyote went straight for the puppy, but one dog managed to protect the pup. Then the coyote(s) went after the other adult dog and badly mauled him. The vet said the nature of the bites indicated this poor dog had been attacked by at least two coyotes.

I’m delighted to report the injured dog is healing. But our neighbor, who immediately reinforced her backyard fence with large steel panels, no longer allows any of the dogs out of her yard.

Before this, I’d only ever heard of a cougar attacking adult dogs. And while I’ve never felt afraid of coyotes, this incident does give me pause.

And More Bears…

I’m also happy to report that I’ve had only two minor bear encounters this season. 

While I was cycling through the county park, just a few feet away from me a bear strolled across the narrow, forested park road, about 3 miles away from our house.

As soon as it saw me, it scuttled into the woods and disappeared. No danger, no drama, the way I like it.

Taking my evening walk earlier this week, I saw another bear about 40 yards away, crossing our lane. I stopped immediately, just it saw me. The bear just looked at me for a long moment, then, like the other bear in the park, it strolled into the woods. 

Needless to say, I turned right around and headed back home…checking over my shoulder frequently!

In the local bears’ non-hibernating months, from April to November, I never go too far into our woods without John. But after hearing about all this bear activity close by, I’m super cautious just going out to my compost piles.

Now if only all the neighborhood bears would just trek the 3 miles to the park’s woods and stay there!

This post is from my June 2025 newsletter, This Little Farm Life…it’s where you’ll also find monthly wildlife stories and book recommendations!