We had a few weeks of some night entertainment at our house. It all began about two weeks ago when I woke up one morning to garbage scattered all over. I would pick it up and then a few days later it would happen again. I was starting to get tired of it so I would wait up at night to see if I could catch the culprit, and nothing. Well I left to a family reunion and the night I got back I had unloaded most everything out of the back of the truck but a big storage container full of snack stuff ( candy, crackers,etc.) well the next morning I went to go get the container for some bread and it was gone. I thought Jay had taken it or something so I start looking around
and I see some big tracks all over. I followed them up the mountain a little ways and way back in there was my container and everything had been eaten out of it and it was torn up. So I waited up that night and about midnight I heard the garbage can crash I went running out to see a white trash bag being carried up the hill behind the house. I never heard anything after that so the next night Jay got home and I was doing some laundry and looked out the window and there was the bear standing right outside the door just about to get into the trash again. I yelled for Jay and he and the kids came. We opened up the door and Jay started videoing the whole thing. That bear just stood there eating the garbage about 5 ft from the door Jay had open. Finally Jay yelled at him and he would run up the hill and stand there until we would shut the door then he would come back again. At one point he walked right up to the window that Harvey was standing in and put his face right up to Harvey's, then walked right up to Jay almost. This went on for a few hours. Then he disappeared for a while. We went to bed. At about 3Am Jay and I woke up to a loud whack at our window we both jumped out of bed and ran to the front door just to see the bear coming up on the front porch. Jay opened the door and yelled at him and he just stood there looking at us. Finally he left then a little while later we heard him again so we looked out the door and he was laying on the front lawn eating the grass. Jay wacked him with a piece of wood and he took off. We were up all night wondering if he was going to get into the house. The next day we found his prints all over our trucks on all the windows in the house all over. We called the game and fish and they brought up a live trap. That night we were sure that he would be in the trap when we got back from doing fireworks. When we got there he hadn't come yet. It was late so we got the kids down for bed and I was up getting some church stuff ready. Jay had taken the garbage and put it in the back of the truck while we were gone so the truck was parked right outside the kitchen window. I was doing some dishes and walked away for a minute and when I came back I could see a trash bag on the ground not to far from the truck and then there he was again. So Jay came in and then the bear disappeared into the dark. I was looking for him and then I saw him on the hood of the truck standing there. He went up the windshield and onto the roof. He then slipped into the back of the truck and started trying to get the trash barrel out. He would hop out and then back over the side of the truck and back in. Jay was ready to shoot him. We scared him off and moved the truck. We put the trash right in front of the entrance into the bear trap and finally he came back and jumped in. It was a crazy few days. I don't doubt that if he would have had another night he probably would have been in our house. A little scary. The game and fish came and got him the next day. Oh the adventures of living in the woods. Here are a few pictures. We did get some good video that I am trying to see if I can post. The kids thought it was great.
Teeth marks in my container
Foot prints on the kitchen window
Bear track
trash scattered up the mountain
Print on the truck window
more tracks
Where he had bit into the container
it was funny he even ate the suckers off the ring pops and left the rings
Here is the bandit right outside our door
He loved the trash!
