Here in the mountains of Western Maryland, bears are a given most of the year. In my early years, I had numerous visitations with the expected results. Since I put up solar powered electric fences at all my yards, visitations have been thwarted. I did have one last year who figured out that the hive was close enough to the fence that he (she) could reach through the fence and grab it. Which happened. Got it knocked to the ground and made a mess and ticked off the bees, but the minute he (she) stooped down to the ground to partake of the spoils, he got really whacked by the fence and that was it. The ground here is usually wet enough where a single ground rod is sufficient. I use drive-able metal fence posts and three or four strands of wire around the yard. Because of the relatively short length of each run, I'm carrying close to 11,000 volts on each strand. A real slap in the face. Total cost of each installation runs around $300-$400.

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