Yogi the Bear (Front Royal, Blue Ridge, Shenandoah: houses, live in, storage)

[nm9stheham]

We live up on the western mountains in VA. Went out of the house early one morning on 3 weeks ago and the back door of 2 separate pickup trucks were hanging wide open... wha???? Some animal had tracked dirt in the back seats and on on the front consoles but left no clear prints; I gfigured a racoon got in after someone opened the doors. Another neighbor had the same thing happen around the same time. Only once in 30 years have had folks messing with our vehicles.... uh oh.

Fast forward to this past Monday. Went to the driver's door to open one truck that was all locked up. To the right of the door handle was a muddy black bear print on the side of the truck, and there was another muddy print on the door handle. LOL... mystery solved.

Yogi has moved into the area..... you know ... smarter than the average bear... smart enough to know how to open some car doors. Glad I don't leave the keys in anything.... I have the vision of a black bear careening down the Blue Ridge Parkway in one of our vehicles.

On a more serious note: This all can lead to more serious break-ins. The same bear broke into a storage building at a nearby neighbor 2 times over the past weekend; busted the door open one night, and then did it again to the boards over the busted door the next night. Busted windows and tool cases. No food was there... just looking. Over $600 to repair. Beyond that, breaking into houses gets to be a possibility. It happens rarely but it does happen; people being around usually scares them off.

So, if you are moving from town/city into the more rural area of VA, especially in or near the mountains, you gotta take black bears as potentially serious nuisances and not leave any sort of food within reach. Low birdfeeders, trash in non-bear-proof trash receptacles overnight, food in cars.... those are all non-no's. The bears figure it out really fast and become break-in artists.

[Bigfoot424]

Before retiring from my federal job in Front Royal we saw non stop black bears. Of course we were on thousands of acres of protected land so they were not harassed at all. One year, 2016 I believe, we were seeing more than normal and they were very comfortable around us and even coming into our parking lot and around our cars. It got so bad a bear expert from the NPS was brought into to talk to both of the federal organizations on this site and she said due to a food shortage they were losing their fear and coming in closer to us humans. I live in the Shenandoah Valley and they seem to be plentiful here but not like they were in 2016.

[16 Acres]

Have you reported them to your local Extension Agent or Animal Control?

I love nature too, but not when they get destructive.

[nm9stheham]

No, my neighbor is a hunter and I understand bear