[susieq]

Hi Joy,
If you are worried about the smaller live stock, you should be concerned about the bob cat. Do you shoot? Most weapons are fairly accurate if sighted properly. I would take my chances with the rifle. Just make sure there are no homes beyond your target, in case you (or the shooter) miss. That is the biggest concern when firing a gun, at least for me. What is beyond the target if the round keeps going....

Eddy, the wildlife folks pretty much told me to go ahead and ask a hunter to shoot the bear.... They referred me to their website which explains that they no long relocate problem bears because they either come back or become a problem in their new territory. I do remember the attack you are speaking of. It was horrible. There was another in a park some where, a bear came out of the woods and grabbed an infant from a stroller as the mother was pushing it along.

People do cause a lot of the problems themselves. Garbage is hard for a bear to resist....and there are idiots out there that feed them. We have similar problems here with the gators. It is illegal to feed them but the morons still do it.

My mother was not happy about the idea of killing the bear. But I have tried to reason with her. My father goes out to get the mail every day...the drive way is over fifty feet long and the mail box is at the end. Dad has severe rheumatoid arthritis and can barely shuffle along. Predators single out the weakest possible target to attack. Dad would be a sitting duck. I spoke to mom about it again today and she finally realizes that they would be helpless if the bear caught them outside the house. I think she will call the neighbor man the next time the bear makes an appearance. I really hope it doesn't come back. None of us want a dead bear.

[Eddy Smiles]

SusieQ... The wildlife officials gave you their "official Ostrich reply " with the hope that if they put their head in the sand the problem will go away. Like I said, you now have something from them in writing and if something does happen you've got them dead to rights. I'm not sure that one of the major North Carolina newspapers would be so cavalier!

Not to make fun or light of the situation but while I was working on a bear carving for my daughter for thanksgiving I had one of those carving brain farts....if you haven't already done so check out my "beary hungry" post.