Wild fruit and Bears

We had a slight frost on June 1 of this year, then a cold weekend on June 13 and 14, with serious whiteness on the ground the morning of the 14^th. I think the wild blueberry crop took a hit from that as we went to check our favourite picking spots later in July, and could find no sign of fruit. The plants were lush and green, as we'd had adequate moisture at that point, but no berries. I managed to pick a few quarts of wild raspberries later in July, and they are squirreled away in the freezer for making jam this coming winter. The wild blackberries also didn't amount to much this summer. May and June were unusually dry, and the rain we've had this August just couldn't make up for that.

Last year was a mast year for beechnuts, a preferred food of bears, but there aren't any nuts this fall, so as a result of less wild fruit and nuts, we are expecting an influx of black bears, as they will be looking at our apple trees to fatten up for hibernation.

Bears can sure mess up a tree, break branches and rake the trunk with their claws. We have only been the stewards of this property for a short while and the trees and bears have been around much longer and both have survived, although the trees show scars.

To delay the inevitable, we have been collecting fallen apples and putting them in front of a trail camera several hundred yards away, to give the bears an easier food source and divert them until the apples ripen, and I can harvest the fruit we need. We will then shake the remainder down for the critters, and hopefully keep them from climbing the trees.

Sure enough, on the trail camera is a shot of a yearling bear, not too big. Deer also like apples, and we think the third shot is of the Orphan Fawn.