bears,cougars and more bears
 

how bad is this bear problem, Ive read plenty on hear about them, so how bad is the problem, i mean are your kids safe to go out on there own, we are thinking of okenagen or salmon arm area, what about these cougars, are they common???

Ive also read on hear about some recluse spider, black bloody widows, rabid raccoons, rattlers.
anything else i should be concerned about??

Re: bears,cougars and more bears
 

Tarantula, polar bear, wild geese/wild turkey (they're not called wild for nothing).

Devils club, poison ivy, blackflies, mozzies, killer bees, african mutilating wasps, avian bird flu, etc.

Canada: it's the wild frontier.

Rich.

Re: bears,cougars and more bears
 

How about wild rednecks? :D

:beer:

Re: bears,cougars and more bears
 

Periodically you'll hear about a cougar sighting, but that's generally in more rural or secluded forested areas. Bear sightings are more prevalent, especially since the area is encroaching further into the mountains and/or forestry.

Friends live in a gully and see the bears mainly at the end of summer when they are starting to forage to fatten up for hibernation. There are all sorts of tips available to help make them less interested in coming near your home.

I was born in the Okanagan Valley and have personally not seen either a bear or cougar in our area (although I'm aware of the possibility of coming across them). In some areas, you may also see deer, etc. grazing on your lovely plants! ;)

Oggy

Re: bears,cougars and more bears
 

Yes.....cougars are common here am told, they prey on young studs :D

Re: bears,cougars and more bears
 

:D :eek:

I used to be a Cougar, older men are much more interesting, more rings to count...

Re: bears,cougars and more bears
 

Lots of bears in the Okanagan. That was one thing that put me off there a bit. The difference between there and Ontario is; ask almost anyone who has lived in the Okanagan for any period of time (except NessieOggy :) ) and they will all say they have seen a bear - ask anyone from Ontario if they have seen a bear and they will say, no but I have heard one!!

When we were in the Okanagan we saw a "little" black bear in Kelowna and a grizzly was shot in Armstrong....this being an area that grizzlies are not supposed to frequent!

The problem here in Ontario is that they cancelled the Spring Bear Hunt so there are far more bears around and the lower in the pecking order they are, the closer to humans they are having to come in order to survive. There is some talk here of re-instating Spring hunting again.......

As for Coons and all the other critters....yes there are loads of critters here. Coons, skunks, moose, chipmunks etc. Buy a bin that allows you to chain the top so that the critters can't get into your garbage.

Re: bears,cougars and more bears
 

We came here on vacation 2004, saw a bear. :eek:

So much fun, we decided to come back for good ! :D

Rich.

Re: bears,cougars and more bears
 

Ive seen one!..well two actually, but i only got video of one. Heres some if the stuff taken in my backyard.

Re: bears,cougars and more bears
 

We did have one up in our woods, had to ride right passed it (me on ATV and daughter on pony) and the pony was not amused! I told the neighbours that it was there....of course they all thought I was mad - "no bears around here!" until 2 days later a neighbour shot it! Then there were no bears around here!

Re: bears,cougars and more bears
 

Tarantulas???? Where do they overwinter???? Florida? :D


Don't forget the skunks.....my fav......especially at 11pm of a Wednesday night when one decides "....er actually I DO own all of this and I WILL go anywhere I want even if that is into the Super 8 in Swift Current and wasn't it-nice-of-that-customer-to-leave-the-door-open-for-me and even if I DO get locked in the loo and have to be rescued and re-released by an RCMP Officer in disguise. You get the picture and my boss didn't believe I hadn't seen a cat!...she didn't believe me either when I had two customers telling me they'd seen a mink either. I saw a number of deer in my back yars a few months ago and a cougar was shot in town two months ago.

City living???Godda be kidding :scared:

Re: bears,cougars and more bears
 

Never seen the little buggers dangling off the bottom of icicles??

Very common species in Alberta ...

Re: bears,cougars and more bears
 

Of course you should be concerned but you don't have to be paranoid.

I grew up in Canada playing in rural areas and was taught at a young age to be 'bear aware', if I get bit by anything tell an adult, don't feed the wildlife, don't eat yellow snow, etc...

Educated yourself and your children about the local widlife, their diseases and how to protect yourselves. For example, knowing the difference between a black bear and a grizzly is highly important should you meet up with one in the woods - how you defend yourself against one is different than the other. Once you have that information things aren't as scary or as dangerous as they might seem to you right now.

I've met up with grizzlies, black bears, rednecks, cougars, etc... but the worst thing that has ever happened to me in my whole life in the Canadian outdoors is going behind a tree to take a wizz and squatting my butt down into a patch of poison oak. I had the itchiest rash on my ass for weeks! :eek: :D

Re: bears,cougars and more bears
 

Eeeoooooowwwwww! :scared:

Re: bears,cougars and more bears
 

Before or after you came here, some might say you are just after the oldermen's money? :D

Re: bears,cougars and more bears
 

Don't forget the Rattlesnakes. Theres a nice little warning sign in the RV park between Kelowna and Vernon! :scared:

Re: bears,cougars and more bears
 

I have been here now for 5 months, visiting the mountains almost every weekend. I have seen 2 black bears (both from the car), had a close encounter with an elk, passed within 5 feet of a male moose. Yes they are out there but you should feel priviledged if you see anything as most of the time they will all try and avoid you. However, I would totally agree with the other posts - knowledge is key to keeping safe. KNow what to do and when as well as what to take with you and how to use it i.e. bear spray. And if you spot a Brit hiking in the backcountry signing out of tune and very loudly that will probably be me.

Don't stress about it until you have to,

Phil :beer:

Re: bears,cougars and more bears
 

oh crikey....a bad nightmare just waiting for some sleep...eeewwwww :eek: lucky I'm on nights this week...mighta forgotton the image but hen!

Re: bears,cougars and more bears
 

It's amazing how they adapted from the tropical warmth of south america to the frozen desert of Alberta ... but that's immigrants for you ;)

Re: bears,cougars and more bears
 

I live in the lower mainland of BC, in a subdivision but backing onto farmland. We regularly see coyotes, sometimes a cougar, racoons, deer, etc. And last night a rather large black bear crashed through our garden fence to get to our apple tree. So today we had to fix the fence, but he's likely to be back tonight now that he has a source of fruit. We picked up all the "fallers" today and fired them out across the field using a catapult! Figured if they were out there, he'd leave the fence alone. As for spiders, thats one thing I am terrified of, but I've been here 30 years and they are no worse than the ones in the UK. In fact, I remember some huge house spiders over there. I've been bitten once by a poisonous spider, just a little brown one in the garden, but nothing worse than an infected arm.