Being in the Northwoods you expect to see many animals and their locations are not subjected to just woods. Living outside of towns in the Northwoods you can expect to see wild animals in your yard or close to your house/cottage and this could be a few scary or dangerous situations. Living in the Northwoods, it’s no surprise that Monica and I have seen Bear near our house and even though we’re only two miles from downtown Land O Lakes, every year we have captured bears on our trail camera attacking our bird feeders (see the pictures).

Truth is, when natural food supplies are limited (USUALLY SPRING) encounters with Bears or other wildlife will become a common occurrence. Even if Bears can find natural food in the woods, trust me, they will NEVER pass up an easy meal. Bears are very intelligent and remember were they found easy that unchallenging food. Depending on wind, bears can pick up the scent of food over 15 miles away.

If you don’t want these encounters, here are a few things that could prevent this from happening.  It’s been said that feeding wild animals by your house/cabin it’s a possibility that an easy supply of food could make them more dependent on humans and less likely to survive in the wild. Different web sites suggest bringing in bird feeders at night, (I’m guilty for not doing so), clean your grill after each use, have tight fitting lids on garbage cans and don’t put the garbage out the night before pick-up.

In the spring when bears start to emerge from their dens, they need to replenish their fat reserves used to survive the winter, and depending on their size, need 15K to 20K calories a day to do so. Each year can be challenging for black bears due to the weather conditions, and because of the amount of snow we still had, this spring wasn’t in their favor.

The normal food sources black bear consume are berries, nuts, insects and even fish, but in the spring their diet consist of green vegetation like grasses, leaves and until bushes and trees start to sprout along with wildflowers could even prey on small animals. So, being opportunistic will sniff out any food (like bird feeders and garbage we put out) that is available.

So far this spring, mother nature hasn’t been great for bears or for us, but hopefully that will change in the next few weeks.