• Wednesday-What'sUP September 6 - 01:21 am

Bill Haller, up in the Bete Grise area, sent me some photos and a report that there is someone or something digging in the garbage cans at the park, tipping them over to get at everything inside. In addition to that damage, someone or something has really done a number on Bill and Eloise's thistle feeder, giving it a good twist, maybe trying to wring the last of the seeds from inside. I did a little detective work and I think I've found the culprit, although he's a little ways away from the scene of the crime. I snapped this shot of the perpetrator near the Eagle Harbor Transfer Station, just as he was about to attack an innocent teddy bear! Maybe it's not the same bear, but it certainly could be, couldn't it?

Maybe the little bear is a relative?

Oh how precious is photo #3? This made my morning! I was in the UP a few months back and really missed seeing bears. We used to visit a 'bear dump' when I was little, and it was always the highlight of any evening in the UP! Thanks for the memory! Have a lovely day...Michelle

There used to be a bear dump in Iron County and it got to be very popular with tourists at "feeding time." So popular that some little entrepreneurs starting charging admission, unbeknownst to the authorities who ran the dump, er, food waste recycling station.

Folks used to go to the dump in Mass City to see the bears too. I used to have nightmares about bears when I was a kid. Our neighbors lost a calf to a bear once. I saw the calf afterward...very scary. I definitely keep my distance from bears.

Thank you for bringing a big smile to my face this morning. How fun! That reminds me of scenes of Copper Harbor, back in the early 1980's. Copper Harbor had an open dump, and the big attraction at night was to go watch the bears at the dump at dusk!

Cindy's right, you should keep your distance from them, but they sure are fun to watch from a distance!

Those holes on the bottom of the drums look to have been made from the inside. Maybe those Big front paws of his ??

Convienent how the drums roll right into feeding position even with them chained at the top.

I remember as a child having a big 'ole bear on his hind legs with paws on the roof of the car and my Mom hand feeding it out the window.
YIKES Maybe that explains my childhood BoogeyBear Dreams

When we lived in Red Jacket, we had a bear mangle our bird feeder. It bent the metal pole the feeder was on to a 90 degree angle. The Captain then mounted the feeder on a 4x4x8 piece of wood that is still standing today. The only problem with that was the neighbourhood racoons discovered they could climb it. Imagine my surprise when I went outside one night and found four very fat racoons sitting in our little bird feeder. So the Captain then MacGyvered a way to make the wooden stand racoon-proof.

Those pics remind me of the Chris LeDoux song "Ole Slewfoot" about a bear that creates plenty of mischief for some poor rancher. Unfortunitely for the bear, they shot him in the bottom just to hear him yell!!

Chris LeDoux. now there's a man we lost way too soon; what a performer.......

Memory of the E.H. dump (now transfer station):
One summer we restless teens/preteens put up a sign that said bear fights E.H. dump. Got quite the crowd and then several lectures, one of which was from Mary Francisco of the E.H. Store. Then our parents got involved......

When I lived in Soudan, MN, I heard a ruckus late one night. When I went downstairs to investigate, a large black bear was in my truck bed tearing into the garbage I had there. Being a generous sort, I decided if he wanted too, he could play in my truck bed as long as he wanted! Bears have really come back in the past few decades. Really great to see from a safe distance.

The feeder damage is amazing.

We used to go to the Deerton Dump. Great memories.

I wonder if anyone remembers the article in the Mining Gazette a couple of months ago about the bear that got into someone's back porch, turned over a refridgerator and could not get out because the fridge now blocked the door. He went through the house to get out.

I was just thinking about that article, Wabbit. It happened in Chassell, while we were staying on the east side of Houghton.

The bear actually broke out the sheet rock and the walls, to get out of the house, if I remember correctly. The picture in the paper & online was worth a thousand words, to borrow the old expression! :-)

Marianne we went to the dump in Copper Harbor every night we was on vacation and we called it theatre in the round. We was so dissapointed when they closed it down.

The holes in the cans were likely punched to help the water drain out.

Wow........he looks like my wooden lawn decoration.???.....he doesn't do as much damage tho....

We saw a cub in the porkies hiking once, that was cool. We saw 2 coming back from South Range outside the dumb also, that was back when you could ride in the back of a pickup so we got a good view.

Mary,
I was in Eagle harbor last week and drove by the transfer station.Out of the corner of my eye I saw the bear.
Stopped and backed up.
Drove into the station to take a picture only to see that the bear was a very good life size cut out and is permanently there.
I wonder how many other non Harbor residents have also checked it out.

Mary says: FINALLY!! I was waiting for someone to point out that it ISN'T a real bear at all, but a well painted cut out!!! The same scenario as Dan described above here, is how I got this picture too. When I walked back, so as to not scare the bear away and focused him in my lens, I just started laughing!! I too wonder how many others have been "caught" like that!
P.S. Thanks, Paul and Neil for not spilling the beans yourselves! :->

Cindy I know all about bear nightmares as a kid. We stayed with Uncle Bernie Slattery in Hubble one summer. Sort of on the edge of the woods and my cousin Alice scared the begebbers out of me saying that the bears could crawl up the side of their house to our 2nd floor room! What did us city girls know!? Sorry if some of you have heard this story before from me. But sure left a strong impression. Never could forgive her for that :0>) When I visited her in Marquette,as we were grown ups. we got a good laugh. But it was awful scary as a 10 year-old!

My nightmare was similar in that I dreamed that the bear that got the neighbor's calf could actually look into my friend's bedroom window on the second floor of their house. I also dreamed that I was in a house that had bears lounging all over the driveway and I could not leave.

We used to take our kids to the "bear pit" outside of Eagle Harbor & Copper Harbor while on our evening drive when we stayed at the camp. We always enjoyed watching them dig into the garbage. And if they started coming towards our car, the kids would start screaming. Like the bear is really going to come near us with a carful of kids screaming like that. LOL But it was fun. We hated to see the dumps closed.

Deb & Ron, hope everything has gone good for your son today. I've been thinking of you all day.

Good one, Mary! That is so funny. Would have been a good one to post for April Fools Day, but that is almost 7 months away and this is too good to wait for.

Kay, you can never believe family on that stuff. My Aunt & Uncle have been married 36 years and she is wary, I guess they told her Villia (spelling?) was Vanilla Pudding and she dug in. I am sure she got even.

ha......just as I thought with my previous comment.........I didn't want to offend anyone, but clearly it isn't real at all...that is why I said looks like a lawn decoration???? But, I too backed up to take a second look at the bear/decoy....
Good one....
:)

Back in the 60-70's we used to visit the dump at the south end of Lake Gogebic by the County Park. There was always activity. Folks used to just drive in and park to watch the rummaging. There was another dump also about 5 miles or so up the west-side of the Lake near the Fisherman Resort. That dump was a little harder to get in to as there was only a logging road and minimal space to turn around. Those days are long gone now - but the bears are still prevalent.

Captain, you're right we lost Chris LeDoux way too soon, Im with you on that!

I looked at that picture 3-4 times when I thought it looked a little "thin". good for a laugh though! Pat

That's funny, Mary! It's been a long day today, and I have to admit that I fell for it. Good one!
I also remember the garbage dump in Copper Harbor years ago. My kids thought it was really cool to see the bears up close like that. I can understand why it closed, since some people did really dumb things there at times.
I was very surprised in August, when we spent four days in Copper Harbor, that we didn't see any bears. That is the first time that has happened, and I was really surprised.

Back in '46 '47 while In high school I worked at McGinty's resort. One of my chores was to take the garbage to the "dump". The bears, at least 3 or 4 would greet me looking for the "good stuff". I would be on one side of the trailer throwing stuff out while they would be on the other side eating. Figured that was too close so I made a habit of, when I first arrived, throwing some smelly stuff as far as I could to get them away from the trailer (and me). By the end of the summser they learned to go where I threw stuff instead of to the trailer. I know, I was a dumb kid, but it was fun.

Just remembered that some folks wouldn't know McGinty's on the corner of the main drag and the road south to Fanny Ho.

I thought it looked a little too stiff to be a real bear. Had me fooled
for just a second tho! Does anyone know why its there or who put
it in that area?

I remember when I was a kid, we used to go up to Grandma & Grandpa's cottage near FH 13 south of Munising. We always loved it on "trash day" because there was a good chance that we'd get to see bears at the dump! What cheap entertainment!