Bears in Indiana?

[sp3worker]

An old 77 yr old buddy told me this a few yrs ago.

DNR people are bringing back black bear to Indiana, they are raising them now on leased land in Crawford County, very securely I might add. Elk are being raised and developed now in Orange County, home of town of French Lick, Ind. (Larry Bird 's town, and the town nearest to where I grew up at.)

A few years ago one of the elk got out and a guy I know from the French Lick/Paoli area shot it. It wondered onto his property, and he shot it from his driveway with a 7mm Mag. It's mounted in his shop.

 

[Lawguns]

I talked to some DNR officers that said they have not seen bear in Brown County but there are regular sighting over by the Ohio River. I don't see any reason why they might not move through out Southern Indiana. I have also seen reports of Mountain Lions in Southern Indiana not far from where I hunt. I have never seen either but I don't see why they would not bee there. Bear can live anywhere down there. I would assume that if the food supply gets short that we will see then raiding trash cans sooner or later.

 

[spainy79]

Now that might have the real possibility of being credible from a dollars and cents standpoint. If there was a viable season for either of those in our state, people would spend the dollars to hunt them, be they residents or otherwise. I would love to hunt Elk at home!

Just north of Worthington a guy has an elk farm and during last years deer season I could sit out in the tree stand and hear them bugle (spelling). Makes me wish there were elk in this state to hunt.

 

[BloodEclipse]

There are NO WILD BEARS in Indiana. That is not to say a single "pet bear" couldn't have gotten loose, but this whole thread is highly suspect.
Its sort of like the "Big Black" cat sightings, Big foot, or Alligators in the sewers.
If this isn't a deliberate hoax {anyone with common sense can fake a print} its likely a simple case of wishful thinking.
I have been trapping in Indiana for 19 years... and NEVER have a seen a single sign of a bear... you would think dead animals on snares would be an easy meal and therefore attract any large predators in the area.
This whole thread should be placed under the UFO, Bigfoot, and Chupacabra section.

Yeah and years back there were next to no deer, coyote, geese, or a myriad of other wildlife that is finding it way back.
I have personally saw both Bobcat and Cougar.
It is completely possible that Black bear has made it's way into Indiana. I don't think the OP started this thread to scare anyone.

 

[jclark]

I have encountered timber rattlers in Brown, Morgan, and Monroe counties. These were the real thing, not just a snake shaking it's tail. I have a friend in Morgan co that swears he saw a wolf, but I have yet to see a bobcat, wolf, bear, anaconda, buffalo, 6' bunnyrabit, or bigfoot, and I'm not holding my breath for any of em.

I would like to see a 6 foot rabbit this year... so I can shoot it and fill my freezer.

 

[dak109]

The 6' rabbit is Harvey, you might see him at the 1500 at the end of the month.

I live in Brown County and have not heard of any bear sightings, bobcat yes,cougar yes, feral hog no, monkey yes(got loose from the reptile kingdom years ago), rattlers yes, copperheads yes(killed a few), Bald Eagle yes, bigfoot yes(unconfirmed, beer may have been involved) black panthers more than one story(all were of the animal varity).

I know the local CO's and have heard stories of reintroduction of species. They will not admitt it officially.

 

[Indy317]

What would be everyone's pros/cons to purposefully introducing/transplanting bears, wolves, etc.?

Safety to humans is my #1 issue. Safety to property (including animals, gardens, whatever) would be my #2 issue. There is a huge wolf debate out west, lawsuits have already been filed over their de-listing from the endangered species act (or some other similar law). The wolf worshipers don't want wolves to be killed at all unless they are attacking a human. They want farmers to be reimbursed for livestock kills. The problem I have with just paying out is that there could be fraud, it has already proven to be a time consuming issue, and there are some cases where it isn't clear if wolves were to blame for the kill, so they get no money. To me, if a farmer is having livestock kills on private land, they should be able to kill any wolf, bear, ect. that comes upon the land to protect their animals.

Now when animals are using public lands like out west, I believe nature should be allowed to take its course, and that letting live stock feed on public lands is a risk the owners take.

 

[Indy317]

I talked to some DNR officers that said they have not seen bear in Brown County but there are regular sighting over by the Ohio River. I don't see any reason why they might not move through out Southern Indiana. I have also seen reports of Mountain Lions in Southern Indiana not far from where I hunt. I have never seen either but I don't see why they would not bee there. Bear can live anywhere down there. I would assume that if the food supply gets short that we will see then raiding trash cans sooner or later.

The idea that there could be no wild cougars, wolves, or bears in Indiana is laughable. While they may or may not have had help getting here, there is _plenty_ of land where they could live out their life just fine. Not only that, the lack of others in the area would likely mean they would expand their territory greatly compared to their more rural living cousins. It wouldn't surprise me if a wild wolf used a 1/4th, or even 1/2, of the entire state throughout its life.

As far as DNR goes, every single wildlife agency like the DNR in almost every state is involved in re-introduction efforts. That is what these people live for, so I fully believe that there are at least plans to reintroduce cougars, bears, and wolves in Indiana because back in the day, they were likely here anyway.

As fewer and fewer people hunt, and there is a push to move closer to more metro urban centers and less building housing additionals in more rural counties, watch for the return of a few of these native animals back to the state.

 

[Boilers]

Safety to humans is my #1 issue. Safety to property (including animals, gardens, whatever) would be my #2 issue. There is a huge wolf debate out west, lawsuits have already been filed over their de-listing from the endangered species act (or some other similar law). The wolf worshipers don't want wolves to be killed at all unless they are attacking a human. They want farmers to be reimbursed for livestock kills. The problem I have with just paying out is that there could be fraud, it has already proven to be a time consuming issue, and there are some cases where it isn't clear if wolves were to blame for the kill, so they get no money. To me, if a farmer is having livestock kills on private land, they should be able to kill any wolf, bear, ect. that comes upon the land to protect their animals.

Now when animals are using public lands like out west, I believe nature should be allowed to take its course, and that letting live stock feed on public lands is a risk the owners take.

Wolf. Sheep. Fraud. Never?

 

[tyler34]

well I know for a fact big cats can survive in indiana, just go to the exotic feline rescue center in center point. which reminds me not to be anywhere near there in a shtf event for fear of being kitty bait.

 

[tcshooter]

If you wonder what can live in the woods without being seen - buy a trail cam. I know many guys who hunt 30 - 80 acre wood lots surrounded by open fields who never see a nice buck in all their years of hunting deer there....but put a trail cam out there before season and see the size of the bucks that seem to frequent those woods.

Just my opinion - FWIW - just because you don't see it doesn't mean it isn't there.

 

[clt46910]

well I know for a fact big cats can survive in indiana, just go to the exotic feline rescue center in center point. which reminds me not to be anywhere near there in a shtf event for fear of being kitty bait.

I use to pass a big cat rescue center when I would doing work in Monon IN. There was one house the was only about a hundred yards from it. I would worry about one getting out and deciding I would make a nice snack when I was mowing the yard.

They also seemed to have a large collection of old and weak looking goats, sheep, horses and cows around there as well. I think I know what they was for.

Maybe with the new health bill we can help them out. Ok, that was just a joke, kind of.

 

[FordMan08]

There are NO WILD BEARS in Indiana.

Now look at this little flashy thing.

 

[Boilers]

Now look at this little flashy thing.

Funny, I was just listening to iPod to the Autoblog podcast and they made mention of flashing the memory of someone, and read this post at the same time. Just seems coincidental to have same allusion to a movie at same time in two places.

 

[tyler34]

any news?

 

[Militarypol21]

Still awaiting a response from the DNR. Have been back to the site quite a few times and haven't seen any more prints in the mud. We did notice 2 things though that could be any number of things. (1) We noticed scratchings / rubs on a few trees pretty far up the tree that I wouldn't believe to be a deer. (2) We noticed a spot with animal remains along with a lot of feathers along the same trail that we found the print. Once again, this could be any number of things. I'm not saying there are bears there but it wouldn't suprise me one bit given how big the area actually is that there could possibly be one or more roaming around. All that is left to do is wait for the DNR to contact me back regarding the photos.

 

[Ashkelon]

Not saying there isn't one there but if there is one in the area my money is on an exotic pet release by a stupid persone who thought it could be a pet in the first place. Kinda like that gator they got in northern indiana earlier this summer

 

[jsharmon7]

I'm with you Ashkelon. We saw some large dog prints on Thursday and they were in no way similar to the original prints we found. I feel pretty confident that these were indeed bear tracks that we photographed. I also don't believe that this was a wild bear, it had to have been an exotic pet that was released. The only thing that confuses me is why we only saw the two tracks. I guess there could have been others that we just didn't look for too hard. To be honest, when we first saw the tracks we only jokingly said they might be bear prints, but when we were back to a computer and could look at them more closely and compare them we saw how similar they were to bear prints. We have been back two more times since and haven't seen anything so I doubt we'll run across him.

 

[Mgderf]

What about the Chicago Bears?

Every now and again, when iI go to my brothers house, I find a Llama standing in the middle of the road. A neighbor has a dozen of them and one or five get loose now and again and chew up the neighbors yards, gardens, etc...

Brother keeps threatening to put one in the freezer!
Anyone know what Llama tastes like? And don't say CHICKEN!

 

[Deet]

Coyote in Dyer and Schererville, red fox in Munster, Deer Walking around in Griffith, Bass, Pike and Perch in Wolf lake- all these are common in NW IN. Mountain Lion killed by police in Chicago city limits. This is all new and exciting-I hope this trend continues. A bear in Indiana would be interesting.