Bear's can be a nuisance when it comes to bird feeding stations here in the Keweenaw. Today's photos show just why... here's the scoop from Bob Gilreath:

We left the feeders down for 2 weeks hoping to avoid the Bears. Put them back up last week and 2 were destroyed the next morning. I found the remains of one way back by the horse shoe pits, with no sign of the second one. The critter cam went up that night to see who it catches messing with the feeders. By the next morning we had caught the culprit on camera! He steals the first feeder around 1:00 a.m., then comes back for the second one 45 minutes later.

Bob may have caught the actual culprit on "critter-cam", but the critter in the second photo looks awful suspicious as well.... ;-)

One time when Dr. Nat and I lived in Red Jacket, her parents came up from Texas for a visit with their two dogs. One evening before bed, we decided to take them for their walk (the dogs, not parents) in the neighborhood. As soon as we walked out the door the dogs went crazy. Sure enough, a bear was helping itself to dinner at our ground feeders in the backyard. Once the commotion started, the bear left in a huff. Luckily for me, I "kinda" bear-proofed the main feeders by mounting them on a 4x4 about 8 ft. above the ground; the ground feeders on the other hand were usually knocked over and scattered across the yard. Such are the struggles of feeding the wildlife in the Keweenaw.

I wonder if Donna has the same issues??

Interesting...How about trying something like an outdoor motion detector light/alarm or filling the feeders with some kind of bear deterrent for a week or two?

Not at this place. I did live in a little place
right up behind the Baraga State Park, and had
bear in there!!! One Spring, I put my feeders
in a tub, and bungie corded it across the
top...went to bed, turned off the light and
heard "THUNK" against the outside wall...I went
and looked and the tub was gone! I saw
nothing....so I went out and got in my car,
drove back and forth...saw nothing again, so I
went over to the neighbor's the next day and
told them a whole tub of feeders was
missing...well, later that afternoon, there was
a knock on the door and my neighbor had gone
walking his property, and found my tub...all
the feeders were empty and one destroyed. That
lil' Bungie Cord turned that tub into a big old
lunch pail for that bear to carry!!! LOL.....so
far so good here, and I'm not that far from
that first place!!

We had a great motion detector system which sprayed a high powered jet of water at the critter. Worked on deer and smaller critters. A bear would probably think it was a pleasant shower!

Busted! Caught on Camera! lol!

It's a pain but we bring our feeders in at night.

Too bad they're so destructive because it sure would
be fun to watch them on camera otherwise. I enjoyed
the pictures.

You might try spraying hot sauce on the seeds. It works as a deterrent for squirrels and it might work on bears. The birds do not have taste buds, so they don't even notice.

I know people in the mountains of north Georgia
who do like Waveaction (above) and take their
feeders in every night. A lot of trouble but the
only way to do it with bears around. And they
don't store bird seed in an insecure garage or
shed either!