On October 27, 2003 09:09 am, you wrote:
> Howard,
> If you do a search of past bear attacks in Bee-L - nearly 100% of bears
> will return the following night once they start in on your hives.   Next
> time you can use this information to lay in wait with prepared defense.
>
> What to do then?  The bad news is once bears have identified your hives as
> an eating location that spot is marked on their minds until they're dead
> (natural or otherwise) so you always have to be cognizant that your hives
> are at risk at that location while the bear is alive.
>
> > could not use an electric fence  does anyone have experience with another
> > type of fence that works?
> > Any thoughts will be much appreciated!  Howard

Also I, an electric fence would not have been appropriate
This happpened in '80 or '81
the hives were 2 here and 2 there etc, no large level areas
(this being 100 mi W of Ottawa in the hills)
I suppose it was a minor victory,
after 30-40 visits late spring to mid oct
I still had 1/2 hives, 1 bear dead, 1 wounded,
a large pile of junk. Even runty black bears are strong
Smaller bears are very wary, you won't see
them. If you are there they won't come out of the
brush, they make little noise, they wait patiently
for you to leave and for dark
I was never able to sneak up on them (only in the snow),
they seldom came out of cover in daylight
I did get compensated for the junk over the
inspectors objections (as per the regs then)

Foot snares should be 15-18" not smaller
Once the size was right it was the 1st or
2nd trip of the spring set. (many futile trips at wolf size)

Later I learned that in  BC for the fireweed (grizzlys)
they use metal strapping to band each hive 2 ways
tightly with plywood top boards, and 8 hives together
In the archives is something about chain link fence

After that  year the hives were in a cabin,large tube entrances
Since it had windows and a stove this made wintering a snap,
and in spring easy build up. No winter loss in 2 years
I rather had the impression that the bees liked it,
perhaps they came to feel 'not the poor relations'
I certainly liked it, was a shame to move then out,
that lead to another disaster(AFB in a package).

dave

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