Idaho baby sitter kills black bear Associated Press <!-- begin body-content -->PORTHILL, Idaho - A northern Idaho baby sitter shot and killed a 422-pound black bear that broke into a backyard where three toddlers were playing. The bear was likely drawn to the yard by the scent of food from a barbecue, said Idaho Department of Fish and Game Conservation Officer Greg Johnson. "We've not had a single incident in Idaho of a black bear attacking a person," he told the Bonner County Daily Bee newspaper. "If you have a bear, you probably have food out." The baby sitter did not want her name revealed and could not be reached for comment. She was baby-sitting for her sister, Becky Henslee. Henslee said her 3-year-old daughter Brooklyn and twin 2-year-old sons Cleo and Charles were playing in the backyard of their home on the Canadian border early last week when Brooklyn alerted their aunt by shouting "Bear! Bear!" Henslee said her sister looked up and saw the bear running out of the woods toward the backyard. She grabbed the three children from the yard and ran inside the house, shutting the door. After taking the children into a bedroom, the woman loaded a 7mm hunting rifle and returned to the back door, where the bear had pawed the screen door and broken the door frame. When the bear looked away from the door, Henslee said her sister opened the door slightly and shot twice, killing the bear instantly. Henslee said her sister had a valid Idaho bear hunting tag. Wild berries, the main food source of bears in the region, have been less abundant this season than past, prompting the animals to look for other food sources in residential areas, Johnson said. In April, a 6-year-old Ohio girl was killed and her mother and younger half brother seriously injured when a black bear attacked the family at a swimming hole in the Cherokee National Forest in southeast Tennessee. <!-- end body-content --><!-- begin body-end -->
I've got one that has torn up my last fish food feed box I keep near the ponds.....seemed like a good idea when I built them, but one got shredded last year, and the other they got the other night.
This summer I surprised a black bear in the woods who smelled the food I was eating but didn't see or hear me until he was too close. I let out a bit of a belch which alerted him to my presence, and he started huffing/blowing which alerted me to his presence. He didn't see me until I alread had a bead on him with my M38 Mosin-Nagant. Once I allowed him to see me, I had decided that if he stepped forward he was dead and if he retreated he got to live another day. The bear population in my county stayed stable that day, at least as far as I was concerned. Smart bear. This other bear in the story got desperate and desperation can lead to stupidity.
Several years ago while worked with mentally retarded adults a black bear plodded past me and one of the residents at no more than 30 feet distance. Talk about a hair raising experience.