Bear of a Tale.

We’re still new to this homesteading thing, so we make a lot of mistakes and sometimes we learn by trial and error.

The bears have been bad this summer.

Yes, these two statements corelate.

Being in the mountains means we can’t just leave our big garbage cans outside. They are treats to raccoons, skunks, bears, and probably more. Because our garage is Lumberjack’s wood shop, there’s no room in there. (21 years of marriage and I’ve never parked in the garage….) We decided to make a nice shed for the garbage cans. Lumberjack is an engineer so he makes things sturdy. There shouldn’t be a problem, right?

Mistake number one. We put the garbage cans in before we put the roof on.

The first time the bear got the garbage he just reached over the wall and pulled it out. We thought that would stop after we got the roof on.

Now we know that once a bear knows where a meal is, he keeps coming back. We have since seen pictures of car doors and roofs torn off, holes in garage doors, and bears crawling through windows, all because  a bear remembered getting food there once. But hindsight doesn’t help when making initial decisions.  

Mistake two. We left gaps between the wood because of the high winds. Turns out they’re great for giving a bear a place to grab.

The roof really didn’t matter when the bear wanted to eat. We fixed it and wrapped the whole thing in fencing to keep the bear from getting a hold of it.

 

That’s what he thought of the fencing. 

We pulled it all down and rebuilt it with ¾ inch wood, reinforce inside and out with 2x4s. No gaps except at the top and bottom of the door because of snow and ice buildup. We lined the gaps with spikes. Then, because I’m not an engineer and I like pretty as well as functional, I painted. 

The garbage is back inside and, so far, safe. Bears will be hibernating within the next month or two. I guess we’ll find out next summer if it’s good enough.

One good thing is that the bear was so preoccupied with the garbage that he left the chickens alone. Guess our early mistakes did serve a purpose.