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We moved from the city to a small community in the Sierra foothills a year ago. When we first moved to the woods, I was leery about leaving our windows open or our doors unlocked, due to my lingering concerns about potential prowlers. My husband installed the motion-detecting security cameras we had used in the city, pointed at various places around our yard.
After seeing the footage from our outside cameras, I now make double sure to lock the doors and close the windows at night -- to keep out four-legged prowlers: bears, mountain lions, foxes, and other woodland critters
We moved from the city to a small community in the Sierra foothills a year ago. When we first moved to the woods, I was leery about leaving our windows open or our doors unlocked, due to my lingering concerns about potential prowlers. My husband installed the motion-detecting security cameras we had used in the city, pointed at various places around our yard.
After seeing the footage from our outside cameras, I now make double sure to lock the doors and close the windows at night -- to keep out four-legged prowlers: bears, mountain lions, foxes, and other woodland critters
We have windows open in summer to keep out bugs. The other critters usually stay far enough away from the MDL sensors that false alarms are only occasional...and then I enjoy seeing the fox or whatever cruising by.
There is enough unpeopled land around that animals have plenty of wildland to live.
We have windows open in summer to keep out bugs. The other critters usually stay far enough away from the MDL sensors that false alarms are only occasional...and then I enjoy seeing the fox or whatever cruising by.
There is enough unpeopled land around that animals have plenty of wildland to live.
Well, in less than a year, we have caught four bears, one mountain lion, and countless deer, foxes and skunks on our cameras -- and the cameras only cover a small portion of our yard. One bear was right outside our master bathroom and bedroom windows (luckily closed at the time), and another walked up our walkway to our front porch, then barged through a fence as he was leaving. The mountain lion strolled through my dog's agility course and then around our hot tub -- which we were soaking in an hour earlier. The foxes are so tame you can often walk within a few yards of them during the day without them even blinking.
Unfortunately, some bears learn it is easier to live off human food than to forage or hunt. They may start by rummaging through garbage cans (very common around here) and progress to breaking into houses and ransacking fridges and pantries -- a real problem in the Tahoe area. Once they become habituated to humans and learn how get into garages, homes, and cars, they can become increasingly bolder and more dangerous. (Just search "bear breaks in" on Youtube...) They can barge through doors, squeeze through windows, and open car doors. This lady was lucky to survive a bear attack in her Tahoe vacation home:
My friend just had a fox come in her house through her small cat door. I haven't heard of mountain lions breaking into houses here, luckily, but they do kill many goats, chickens, and other pets. Coyotes too, of course.
I love living among all the wildlife -- you just need to learn to take some common-sense precautions.
Well, in less than a year, we have caught four bears, one mountain lion, and countless deer, foxes and skunks on our cameras -- and the cameras only cover a small portion of our yard. One bear was right outside our master bathroom and bedroom windows (luckily closed at the time), and another walked up our walkway to our front porch, then barged through a fence as he was leaving. The mountain lion strolled through my dog's agility course and then around our hot tub -- which we were soaking in an hour earlier. The foxes are so tame you can often walk within a few yards of them during the day without them even blinking.
Unfortunately, some bears learn it is easier to live off human food than to forage or hunt. They may start by rummaging through garbage cans (very common around here) and progress to breaking into houses and ransacking fridges and pantries -- a real problem in the Tahoe area. Once they become habituated to humans and learn how get into garages, homes, and cars, they can become increasingly bolder and more dangerous. (Just search "bear breaks in" on Youtube...) They can barge through doors, squeeze through windows, and open car doors. This lady was lucky to survive a bear attack in her Tahoe vacation home:
My friend just had a fox come in her house through her small cat door. I haven't heard of mountain lions breaking into houses here, luckily, but they do kill many goats, chickens, and other pets. Coyotes too, of course.
I love living among all the wildlife -- you just need to learn to take some common-sense precautions.
I stopped putting a game camera where deer were always going by. Don’t care to look at deer videos. They almost never come that close to the house at night, though. Foxes do periodically cruise close by; it goes in bursts and often it is when we are puttering around—not at night. It’s as if they learn the range of the MDL and avoid going into those areas.
The mountain lions steer well clear of the developed area, and the bobcats do not but they, like the foxes, stay out of MDL range. We’ve seen them during the day in all kinds of places, just not frequently.
I like the foxes, bobcats, and mountain lions because they control the populations of deer, mice, and feral pets while not intruding on our safe range. BUT we don’t hike between dusk and dawn.
Bears are around but, again, avoid coming close to our buildings. We have many videos of them and mtn lions on game cams...about a quarter mile away. We see evidence of all these critters in scat, tracks, odors, kills.
The MDL are carefully aimed to only light up immediately around the buildings, and only after dark. They’re intended to deter human scum but they also teach the wild animals to avoid getting too close to the buildings. It works out beautifully.
We do not have the bear-trash problem at all. It WAS a problem for neighbors in our old home area because they put trash bins out the night before collection day. Too many dog food bowls around, too. We put it out just before collection time. Here, we do the same.
Just noticed my previous post should have said “...windows open WITH SCREENS ON to keep bugs out.”
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