Bear? In Merrimack Valley

[Jjarosz2892]

I hunt turkeys in Haverhill. Me and my buddy go out early Saturday. As we’re approaching our spot, to the left of me about 15 yards I see a black ball (now this is important; I’ve never seen anything so round and so pure black) take of running. Unable to clearly identify I keep walking just thinking to myself ... must of been a cat, or maybe the fanned backside of a turkey, maybe a black coyote? but it’s eating at me the way the small trees and brush was shaking as it ran away, my buddy taps me on the shoulder no less than 15 seconds later and says “dude, what in the f*ck was that”

Fast forward to Saturday night. My neighbors went out and left their small dog home alone to bark and yelp for hours (one of their dogs has already been taken by coyote). I’m smoking on my back deck and head the woods rumbling. Something came barreling in huffin and puffin like it was running for miles and hungry. It honesty sounded like a boar (I live about a mile from a farm) but we have never seen bores and they do t have any.

Then, this morning.. my buddy sends me this.. his boss’s friend had got a black bear on cam in Georgetown. About two miles from where I live in Haverhill

 

[Jjarosz2892]

Have black bears made it this far East? Sometimes I hunt turkeys with my bow. I know it’s illegal to carry a firearm but it has me seriously contemplating asking/letting PD know I feel unsafe and want to carry my .357 revolver

 

[mothybee]

Of course there's bears in the Merrimack valley. The more housing development there and so. N.H. the more bears here.

 

[edmxz2002]

I have seen a bear in the Ward Hill area of Haverhill a couple times.

 

[Jjarosz2892]

I have seen a bear in the Ward Hill area of Haverhill a couple times.

That’s where I’m at essentially

 

[whacko]

I hunt turkeys in Haverhill. Me and my buddy go out early Saturday. As we’re approaching our spot, to the left of me about 15 yards I see a black ball (now this is important; I’ve never seen anything so round and so pure black) take of running. Unable to clearly identify I keep walking just thinking to myself ... must of been a cat, or maybe the fanned backside of a turkey, maybe a black coyote? but it’s eating at me the way the small trees and brush was shaking as it ran away, my buddy taps me on the shoulder no less than 15 seconds later and says “dude, what in the f*ck was that”

Fast forward to Saturday night. My neighbors went out and left their small dog home alone to bark and yelp for hours (one of their dogs has already been taken by coyote). I’m smoking on my back deck and head the woods rumbling. Something came barreling in huffin and puffin like it was running for miles and hungry. It honesty sounded like a boar (I live about a mile from a farm) but we have never seen bores and they do t have any.

Then, this morning.. my buddy sends me this.. his boss’s friend had got a black bear on cam in Georgetown. About two miles from where I live in Haverhill

My wife and I saw a black bear cub in a tree in the wma in groveland 2 years ago. She had her binoculars and was bird watching. She said "oh look a raccoon up in that tree". I took a look with her binos.....it's a baby bear sweetie......let's get back to the truck because I dont know where momma is.

 

[HorizontalHunter]

Have black bears made it this far East? Sometimes I hunt turkeys with my bow. I know it’s illegal to carry a firearm but it has me seriously contemplating asking/letting PD know I feel unsafe and want to carry my .357 revolver

Telling the PD that you are going to commit a crime with a gun probably isn’t a good idea.

Bear spray is more effective anyway.

Bob

 

[FrankNA]

North Andover/Boxford area has resident bruins. Lots of good size woods around here and plenty of backyard bird feeders too!

 

[whacko]

Have black bears made it this far East? Sometimes I hunt turkeys with my bow. I know it’s illegal to carry a firearm but it has me seriously contemplating asking/letting PD know I feel unsafe and want to carry my .357 revolver

The PD doesn't give a shit about you carrying a revolver while bow hunting. The epo's sure would. Give them a call and let us all know how that works out for you.

 

[jhblaze1]

North Andover/Boxford area has resident bruins. Lots of good size woods around here and plenty of backyard bird feeders too!

a bruin is a brown bear (griz) not a black bear.

 

[MisterHappy]

Dude....they've been in Newton. And you're surprised that in a place with woods, there are bears?

The amount of wildlife that's around that "nobody" notices is huge. I had a bobcat in my yard. How do I know? Damn thing ran past me, within six feet....and I had a witness.

 

[deepred]

They're all over the place. Most of the time they do a very good job hiding themselves from humans. They have been in the Middlesex Fells in recent years.
For several years I lived within a quarter mile of a female bear regularly producing cubs in a fairly built up area with only small patches of forest in the immediate area. I only saw the cubs once by chance, and never saw the mother (now I wish I had tried to get more glimpses of them). Although my roommate at the time almost collided with her on his bicycle late at night once...

Under Massachusetts regulations, bears are probably the most difficult game species in the state to take. I would say, instead of getting worried about a bear that will most likely never bother you, try to pattern it so that you get a column added to this data: Black bear harvest data

 

[Kevin_NH]

Have black bears made it this far East?

Maine is about as far east as you can get, and has what may be the largest populations of black bear in the contiguous states, with an estimated +30,000 bears.

Under Massachusetts regulations, bears are probably the most difficult game species in the state to take. I would say, instead of getting worried about a bear that will most likely never bother you, try to pattern it so that you get a column added to this data: Black bear harvest data

ME/VT/NH all make bear relatively easy to hunt, in part because of the higher-than-desirable population of bears in many areas. ME & NH allow baiting.

While I haven't had any conflict with them, given the time (and preparations to process the meat and hide), I'd try it.

 

[Deleted member 67409]

Maine is about as far east as you can get, and has what may be the largest populations of black bear in the contiguous states, with an estimated +30,000 bears.

ME/VT/NH all make bear relatively easy to hunt, in part because of the higher-than-desirable population of bears in many areas. ME & NH allow baiting.

While I haven't had any conflict with them, given the time (and preparations to process the meat and hide), I'd try it.

I've seen a black bear show up on the Pemi Valley Fish and Game Club range while we were shooting a match. So, yeah, they're around in northern New England.

Black bears also show up in western Providence County, RI on an annual basis. Burrillville, Glocester, and Foster, typically. I would imagine bears were more plentiful here in RI in the 1600s-1700s, but I haven't read any historical accounts of colonial RI'ers running into or hunting bears. Although, the English word "moose" does derive from Narragansett, meaning moose must've been down here or the Narragansett were familiar with areas where moose lived.