Monday, May 23, 2016

Bears and bear fence

I have been getting many reports from beekeepers getting hit by bears. If you live north of 94 you are in bear country. Most of the hits were in the northeast part of the metro. Hugo, Scandia, near Big Marine, Wyoming, Isanti. Better to put a fence up sooner than later.
This is a link to the MN Dept of Natural Resources bear fence. The prices are out of date, but the design is sound.
http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/assistance/backyard/privatelandsprogram/beehive_protection_with_electric_fence.pdf
This is a pic of a bear on my trail camera. he got up close and personal to the camera
This fence used hog panels from Fleet Farm. The panels were insulated from the wood posts and the ground. The panels were electrified. Heavy duty fence. You can weed whip around the fence and will not hurt the fence. I believe this fence area is 16 ft x 32 ft.
Premier1 fencers. Premier 1 supplies is out of Iowa.   https://www.premier1supplies.com/
They do have a full catalog of fencer supplies. In my opinion you can get a better quality of nylon cord fencer wire from them. They do offer different levels quality of fencer cord to pick from.
This is a chart of the energizers they carry. To work well on a bear, the energizer needs to put out 2 joules of energy to really get the bears attention. This would be a 110v or a 12 volt fencer.
https://www.premier1supplies.com/pages/energizers/comparison_chart.html?segment_id=2
The intellishock31 puts out 3 joules of power for $187.00 a deep cycle marine battery is also needed.
Stay away from electric netting. If the grass grows into the netting, the netting can easily get damaged if the netting is to be moved.
Bear Fence video