• Thursday-What'sUP June 17 - 04:29 pm

Guess who's coming to dinner in the Copper Country? Jon Soper didn't have to do any guessing, but instead had to do some chasing away.... more than once! This young bear found a free lunch on the Soper's bird feeding station, but had to perform a bit of acrobatics to reach out with it's tongue to get the seeds from that feeder. Jon said that he took these photos on the bears first visit, then he chased him away three times, until they decided that the best way to deter the bear from coming around and stealing the bird seed, was to take the feeders right down for a while. After a couple weeks of the little bear being a no-show, Jon has re-hung the feeders and stocked them up for the birds. The Soper's are hoping this fuzzy black bear has moved on to greener pastures.

How funny is that LOL

GREAT pictures....he's hungry! I remember watching a big black bear come to eat sunflower seeds, and I had to take the feeders down for awhile too...it works.

Funny how the heart pounds when there ain't nothing but a piece of glass between you and a couple hundred pounds of black bear! :D

I finally got to see a black bear other than in a zoo last saturday. Near Brule Wisconsin on a fire road on our ATV vacation. I was within 50 ft. of the bear, hubby was too slow and missed seeing it before it lumbered back into the woods.

What town is this?

I can remember going to the dump in Copper Harbor many years ago, at dusk, to watch the bears eating. That was pretty interesting. I know Copper Harbor no longer has an open dump, though.

In many places in Montana (like Whitefish and Bozeman, among others), it is illegal to have bird feeders because they do attract bears, and bring them down to the lower elevations and into town areas, endangering the public.

I can also remember staying in Silver City, MI, I think it was, where they were talking that you didn't dare put your garbage out, almost until you saw the garbage truck coming, because of bears.

Squirrel proof does not equate to bear proof :)

It's too funny how he's using the baffle, meant to keep away
squirrels, to hold him up while he enjoys his snack.

GREAT pictures! Where is this located? I know not to mess with bears, but how fun would it be to see one like that? Somebody we know a few miles downt the road from us spotted one last week or the week before and made the paper with the picture he captured. So awesome to watch these fellas!

These woodcarvings are getting better and better all the time :)

Alex...your comment bears the Top Award today!!!

A few years back we had a very "hungry" bear who loved going after the garbage put out for the weekly pickup. He didn't discriminate - he loved it all. And not just our garbage but everyone in the area. Even keeping it under lock and key outside in a shed wasn't good enough - he ripped the door down. Finally we were told to keep our garbage in our house until it was time to put it out for the pickup. We still do - all these years later - just in case.

Viewing these scenes the old adage comes to mind...."Where there's a will, there's a way!" We often saw these little fellas when visiting the Great Smokies in TN. Thank goodness they're not as big as the grizzlies we've seen in Wyoming! But no matter the size, I think they're all 'cute'......from a distance.;) Thanks for the pictures, Jon!

Years ago a bear or maybe more would visit the landfill near Gaastra in Iron County. Folks would drive up to see it at dusk. Soon they started charging admission, until the police told the kids they could not charge admission and the kids vanished.

Looks to me like that poor guy is bearly reaching the bird feeders......

We have been raided by his cousin Rocky Raccoon and the occasional squirrel. Bear proofing the bird feeder would be more of challenge than I would want to take on. Bears are no longer native to the prairie, so we'll have to pass on that sort of excitement. The local fox and coyotes are more interested in the birds. We did have a tiger get loose in a truck stop near here a couple of years ago. He was the unfortunate victim of stupid humans.

Went for a drive into the Porkies one day to see if I could spot some bears. I wanted to take pictures of bears for my photo album. So I drove along up into the mountains until I got deep into the woods. As I rounded a curve, I spotted a sign that read: "BEAR LEFT."
So I turned around and went home. Not a beary nice trip. :(

'Huntandfish'.....LOL! Good-un! ;D

Sounds more like a blonde joke to me.....

Today is my moms birthday and she would have been 78 yrs. old and I miis her a lot

Years ago, I watched a full grown bear come in and eat sunflower seed off the ground. The feeders were tucked away...all that was left was the stuff on the ground. The big thing waddled over, layed down, licked it's paw and slapped the ground. Then it licked it's paw again. Slapped the ground again...and it continued till all the seeds were gone. Then it got scared off by a pair of fox that were strolling through. LOL...Amazing stuff...

In Bayfield Wi. there is a bear that knows which day is garbage day and he comes down the ravine to town just that day. He is very smart. I am really amused by these things. We don't give animals enough credit. Most folks put their bird feeders away in May and June.

Great pictures! I remember going to the Copper Harbor dump to see the bears as a kid with my family. They never disappointed us, they came and gave us a show every time. As kids it was one of the most exciting things about summer vacation in the UP, next to camping and swimming and seeing our Grandparents. We also saw bears on our annual trip to Florida going through the Smokey Mountains. I am curious as to whether the bear population in the US is increasing or decreasing? It is amazing bears and humans have been able to live so close together without too many problems...they can get so big.