On Sun, 29 Jun 2003, muses wrote: > BACON! > > Just like the comericals... hang a piece on the juiced up fencing and they > will learn quickly. Their fur is too long to notice anything other than on > their nose but that tender mouth, now thats another story. > I've got a 3-tier defense that is working nicely. First is a 3-strand barbed-wire fence on metal T-posts. The intent of this is not so much to stop the bear, as to (a) slow him down, so he can't just charge through the fence, and (b) make sure he is *very* well grounded electrically. Which brings us to the second tier, a 4-strand electric fence two feet inside the barbed wire, and baited with bacon strips. The fence energizer sends out 1-joule pulses, which is about the energy of a smart kick in the nose, so it is pretty peppy. The idea here is that by the time he touches the electrified bacon, he is moving slow and well tangled in the barbed wire, and the barbs will reach the skin for maximum grounding. It certainly gave *me* a powerful jolt when I touched both fences at once. If he gets through this, I expect he'll be pretty well traumatized, so when he reaches the third tier and the Critter Gitter screams at him, with any luck he'll either give it up and high-tail it out of there, or have a heart attack on the spot. I know the Critter Gitter certainly gives *me* a surprise every time I accidentally set it off. I'm not 100% sure that this will stop all bears, but it seems to work on the black bears that we have here. The electric fence alone works reasonably well, but after I got a bear that had apparently developed a taste for bees elsewhere, and figured out he could charge the fence and get away with one jolt or less, the barbed wire and critter gitter went up. He hasn't been back in the yard since. I've considered coils of razor wire, too, although that may be a tad excessive. I've already been informed that the bee yard is looking like a prison exercise yard, and razor wire would just push it over the edge. As a final touch, every time you go to the bee yard you could try urinating around the border. Hey, if other mammals can mark their territory this way, why can't we? It can't hurt to try it, and has the advantage of being free. -- Tim Eisele [log in to unmask] :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: -- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and other info --- ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::