Just had the world's greatest assassin visit me

Saw a big shadow of a bird fly right by us a few minutes ago and looked out a side window and saw him in a deadwood tree next to our cabin. I made a call and to my utter surprise he flew over and down from the side of the cabin and landed on our deck right in front of us. Maybe ten feet away. Motion sensor lit him up which made for a nice shot. He sat there for a few minutes just looking at us.



We are sitting on the couch and have 16 feet of sliding glass windows on the front of our cabin. Took the top photo from the couch. I've even got video of him talking to me. I gave out a "hoo hoo, hoo hoooo" and he answered me with his own. Apparently that's a mating call so I imagine he was pretty disappointed when he saw me. Kind of like a dating app. I opened up the glass to the deck and he flew to a nearby tree. Put some beef out for him and he watched me from the tree for a long while, but never did come down and take it.

The squirrels are no doubt not happy about my new friend, but I love owls. They are the world's foremost hunter. Microscopic feather endings that make them fly silently like no other bird. Amazing eye sight and hearing. They are nature's greatest predator.

Too bad they don't do electrical work though...

Now lets see the footage of you making friends with a Kodiak... One of Timothy Treadwell's buddies.

His friends said that he thought he was playing with "people in bear suits".
The reason he wasnt attacked the previous years was they were good years for the bears food sources and he left well before they prepared for hibernation. The bear that killed him was 28, and desperate for food.

Batvette said:

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His friends said that he thought he was playing with "people in bear suits".
The reason he wasnt attacked the previous years was they were good years for the bears food sources and he left well before they prepared for hibernation. The bear that killed him was 28, and desperate for food.

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news cant trust any sources.

Batvette said:

Now lets see the footage of you making friends with a Kodiak... One of Timothy Treadwell's buddies.

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Not a chance! I think Treadwell was eaten by regular Brown Bears, not even the larger ones on Kodiak. Sad that he brought his girlfriend with him for that one. He had a death wish I think ("I'll die for these bears") but involving her was a poor choice. We rarely see them but the timing of your post is interesting because we're in "brown bear week" on our homestead. October of 2020 we took a weekend to go the city. When we got back, brownies had destroyed our yurt. A small mom and her large cubs. Multiple large holes in the side of the yurt, everything inside destroyed. Outside plastic shed destroyed, place looks like a tornado hit.



The next year they came back within a day of their previous visit (our place is just a stop on their way to their hibernation area). We were ready for them this time so they didn't get any payday and the following year they didn't show up.



We're waiting here now to see if they return in a couple days or not. I have no illusions of messing with these monsters. I did spray three little black bears point blank in the face this year that showed up on our cabin deck (the cabin we built after our yurt was destroyed). The wife videoed me off to the left of the image below spraying one directly in the face and he scrambled though the fence wires and down the ten foot high deck. Then came back 30 minutes later and I gave him a warning shot and now we see him on the cameras on the property but not on the deck. Which is good because I got a bear tag and a chest cooler of ice in case he came back. As a rule we don't hunt animals on our property. Stellars jays, gray jays, nuthatches all land on our hands and eat regularly and join the squirrels in the cabin on the couch for snacks. We even have grouse that show up on the deck to join the birds and we don't even harvest them. But black bears have done so much damage to anything left outside that, despite our cabin being designed with bears in mind and the chance of one getting inside being very low, if they keep this up, we'll make an exception and start stacking the freezer.




But you won't catch me purposefully getting close to one of these brown bears and bear spray doesn't even factor in my decision tree with them. I have no desire to see one outside of a zoo.

But this guy can show up anytime he wants...

funny this popped up again at this time. yesterday 5 people got mauled by a black bear in the Aomori region. all injured no deaths. two 70/old grandmas, a 60 ish grandfather a 45 y/o that chased the bear off and on middle schooler got scratched, by claws. the local authorities tracked it down and trapped and relocated it out into the real boonies.

Hell these Japanese black bears tend toward the smaller size and are actually cute in appearance does not stop them from being a bear though. now on the northern island of hokaido they have honest to goodness grizzlies just like Canada and the US... not something I would want to mess with.

sorry the ladies were in their 80's thankfully all minor injuries.
update as I listen to the news report... one other lady that was in her 80's got a nasty cut on here head.

Bears are assholes.
I heard japan is going to use robotic wolves or something like that to scare bears away from populated areas.
So bears are stupid assholes.

Batvette said:

Bears are assholes.
I heard japan is going to use robotic wolves or something like that to scare bears away from populated areas.
So bears are stupid assholes.

Bears Are Assholes | DELIGHTFULLY DYSFUNCTIONAL

Bears are assholes. Need proof? Take a look at asshole bears in pop culture and in the wild. Seriously, dude. Assholes on four legs.

delightfullydysfunctional.com

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ok that meme has me giggling like a 5 year old

Batvette said:

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That's awesome!

Last night after sacking out the wife told me she thought she felt a bear on the deck. I didn't feel anything, but I went down and walked out onto the deck with my Glock 20. Turned the corner and was face to face with a pretty beefy black bear. Fortunately he turned and ran because when I went to fire a warning shot my Glock jammed. Recyled it and it jammed again. Third time it also jammed and I got no shot off.

Guess I'll be cleaning that Glock and will take two pew pews with me during bear checks.

Edit: turns out the spring in my magazine is failing...time to have the mag replaced.

Owls are cool.

Snicker …. They will learn ppl and grizzly can’t co-exits because both want to be the apex.
The grizzly roamed the lower 48 until men with sense realized they - grizzly were to dangerous to co-exist so the grizzly were very controlled..bang bang.
We could bus all the illegals to feed the bears. Or better yet round up ppl pushing for these grizzly ro repopulate - have them talk to these bears make sure humans and bears can co-exist.

AlaskanNoob said:

Last night after sacking out the wife told me she thought she felt a bear on the deck. I didn't feel anything, but I went down and walked out onto the deck with my Glock 20. Turned the corner and was face to face with a pretty beefy black bear. Fortunately he turned and ran because when I went to fire a warning shot my Glock jammed. Recyled it and it jammed again. Third time it also jammed and I got no shot off.

Guess I'll be cleaning that Glock and will take two pew pews with me during bear checks.

Edit: turns out the spring in my magazine is failing...time to have the mag replaced.

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If I had the possibility of bears- grizzlies, especially- on my property then nothing less than a barrett .50 cal would make me feel secure. And Id want a sidearm too.

D71 said:

Owls are cool.

Snicker …. They will learn ppl and grizzly can’t co-exits because both want to be the apex.
The grizzly roamed the lower 48 until men with sense realized they - grizzly were to dangerous to co-exist so the grizzly were very controlled..bang bang.
We could bus all the illegals to feed the bears. Or better yet round up ppl pushing for these grizzly ro repopulate - have them talk to these bears make sure humans and bears can co-exist.

Grizzly bears to be restored to Washington's North Cascades, where "direct killing by humans" largely wiped out population

There has been no confirmed evidence of a grizzly within the North Cascades Ecosystem in the U.S. since 1996.

www.cbsnews.com

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"populations declined primarily due to direct killing by humans."

Did they stop to think that the reason why was direct killing of humans by bears?
Before the invention of the repeating rifle it was nearly impossible to defend yourself against a large brown bear. Killing it at all even if you intend to do so took a lot of skill and luck. Now they want them back. Amazing.

Batvette said:

If I had the possibility of bears- grizzlies, especially- on my property then nothing less than a barrett .50 cal would make me feel secure. And Id want a sidearm too.

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These are almost like anti-aircraft guns

Pranegus said:

These are almost like anti-aircraft guns

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at 50 cal they are the same caliber as the armament on many WWII and Korean war aircraft. so it would not be a stretch that they could take out a lingering chopper. a plane would be to hard to track without a truck mount and a twin or preferably a quad mount of the guns, but it would work in that scenario.

Daddy Tanuki said:

at 50 cal they are the same caliber as the armament on many WWII and Korean war aircraft. so it would not be a stretch that they could take out a lingering chopper. a plane would be to hard to track without a truck mount and a twin or preferably a quad mount of the guns, but it would work in that scenario.

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You remember that fake russian guy on youtube FPSRussia? One if his clips he had a 40mm full auto anti aircraft gun. LOUD to say the least.

Batvette said:

You remember that fake russian guy on youtube FPSRussia? One if his clips he had a 40mm full auto anti aircraft gun. LOUD to say the least.

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I always questioned him being russian... he seemed more like pensylvania to me...

Given our solar arrays and heat pump, sometimes it's tempting to think we live in a suburb with a really big yard. But then we're reminded we live off grid in a huge forest. Yesterday we heard a ruckus out front of the cabin and went out onto the deck to take a look. Moose calf was screaming nearby, sound getting closer. Then we saw a healthy black bear run across and away from the sound followed by a moose cow. Bear was doing a tactical retreat but was focused on the calf. I know a bear has to eat and each year they feast on moose calves, but any bear near the cabin gets a warning shot so I put a few rounds in the air. The calf's cries stopped at that point, but the bear ran back toward the calf and the mama moose stayed in the area but we never did see her reunited with the calf. I'm guessing the bear ate good. I just wish black blears would kill their meals before eating them.



Up on the civilized deck, one of this year's new squirrels has made it clear he/she wants to move in. Sleeping next to the bird feeder, sleeping on the logs we have on the deck. Only a matter of time until a goshawk has a snack, so we made him a temporary house out of an Amazon box, put a trash bag over it to keep out the rain, and he took about ten seconds to move in. We'll probably break out some wood working tools and hollow out a section in the log and give him an access hole along with the little balcony below so that his property prices go up. With little cameras installed inside so we can hopefully see some baby squirrels eventually.

Edit to add: just saw what appears to be the same mama with one calf. Not sure how many she had, but perhaps the calf made it. Or is missing a sibling.



They were admiring our solar array.



My deck neighbor seems sleepily unconcerned.

AlaskanNoob said:

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What thermal imaging are you using?

42OhmsPA said:

What thermal imaging are you using?

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That particular camera is a Dahua.