The Peaceful Valley Lodge is located in the mountains of Colorado near Breckenridge. Because of our remote location we occasionally get visits by local bears.  This article by a forest ranger provides some tips on protecting your vechile from inquisitive bears.

By Mark Lamb, District Wildlife Manager

Recently, a bear has found the Placer Valley area as a good place to find food.  Although this is not unusual, the amazing part to this bruin’s food searching activities is that it has figured out how to get into vehicles.  It seems that this bears first attempt to get into a vehicle, it “accidentally” got its’ paw caught in the door handle.  When it tried to pull the paw out, POOF MAGIC, the door opened.  This provided the bear the entrance to a new food source.  Something as small as a sealed bag of peanuts was all it took.  The bear came back later that night and opened all 4 doors to the same vehicle.  This time, empty gum wrappers were part of the enticement.  Now the bear routinely tests vehicle doors and goes exploring when one of the doors opens.

Bears think with their stomachs and always seem to follow their nose.  Their sense of smell is 100 times more sensitive then ours and some research indicates they can smell food five miles away.  So if you keep that in mind, you can see why it is so important to minimize the ways we attract bears.  There are 5 main attractants: 1) Pet food – even empty pet food bowls have enough residual odors; 2) BBQs – think how good they smell!  The best thing to do after use is to burn off any residual food.  Keep grills clean and store in garages or sheds if possible; 3) Hummingbird feeders – They not only provide nourishment for birds, but bears too.  If you gamble and put them out, you need to at least bring them inside in the evening when bears become more active; 4) Bird feeders – Attract bears, whether they are empty or full.  Bears have excellent memories and they recognize feeders and remember where we routinely put them.  A feeder put on a rope strung at least 10 feet high, between two trees can attract bears.  Even if a bear doesn’t get the food, the feeder itself makes them come around; 5) Garbage – Plain and simple: garbage kills bears!  The best thing to do is keep your cans out of the sight and smell range of bears.  It is advisable to occasionally clean the inside of your garbage can with an ammonia/water mix to try and eliminate odors which attract bears.

Most black bears will try to avoid encounters with humans.  If you see a bear near your home, do your best to chase it away by making loud noises – blow a whistle, blow an air horn, bang pots and pans and/or clap your hands.  It is best to leave them alone if they are eating.  They may think you are trying to steal their food, so a bear may become more defensive then normal.  If you are hiking and see a bear before it sees you, go back the way you came as quietly as possible and give the bear its space.  If you do encounter a bear, the best thing to do is make your self look bigger by raising your hands above your head.  Talk firmly, but don’t yell, to the bear and slowly back away from the bear.  If you’re like me and have two left feet, make sure while you’re backing away, that you watch where you are going so you don’t fall down and appear smaller.  If a bear does attack, which is rare, do not play dead.  Black bears like to eat dead things.  So make sure you fight back.  
 

The Colorado Division of Wildlife (CDOW) is often asked to trap and move nuisance bears.  The problem with doing this is that bears have strong homing instincts and usually return to their home ranges.  Black bears have big home ranges, from 10 – 250 square miles.  This has been proven with data collected from ear tag and radio collared bears.  Trapping and moving a bear doesn’t usually work.  CDOW policy on trapping bears only allows a bear to be trapped two times.  If a bear is trapped a second time for whatever reason(s), it is euthanized.  People tend to think that removing a nuisance bear is the solution because the problem is gone.  What they fail to realize is that a new bear territory has been opened up.  A new bear will move in.  If the people there haven’t changed the bad/lazy behavior(s) that led to the creation of the last “nuisance” bear, all that will happen is the training of the new bear to meet the same fate as the last.
 
You are the solution to this vehicle searching bear.  Besides limiting the attractants previously discussed, right now the best recommendation is to completely clean your vehicle(s) out.  Look under seats, between seats and anywhere else food, wrappers or other items may be hiding.  The sooner you do this the better.  Every time the bear gets something from a vehicle, it is one more time the bear confirms, vehicles provide food.  This will only make the bear more persistent on searching and possibly damaging your vehicle.  The time invested is minimal, compared with the time needed to take your vehicle to the repair shop and/or filling out the paperwork for your insurance company.  Something as small as an empty food wrapper is all it takes.  Hopefully, now that things are starting to green up, the bear will go back to its’ normal, natural food sources.
 
If you have questions or concerns, please give me a call at 719-836-2207.    Thank you for your help!

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