[Growwine] bears and moose

[Doug Briden]

	Glenda, I would say that the bears will be the greater of the two
evils and that you don't want them to develop a taste for your grapes
or it will be a recurring problem with enormous amounts of damage.
Bears love fruit but in your area may not yet have a taste for grapes
unless the wild varieties are plentiful. Once they have a taste for
the grapes come late fall when they are foraging for anything and
everything an electric fence will likely not stop them. I wouldn't
recommend growing any sacrificial vines outside your perimiter as this
will serve to develop their palate. We had bears with a tatse for
birds seed at our old house and when when the feeder was empty the
bears looked for the source of the feed which was in a wooden shed.
They didn't bother with the door to the shed as this could be seen
from the house  nor did it bother with the dogs barking instead the
bear simply tore of the batten covering the seem of the plywood sheets
and peeled open the 1/2" plywood sheathing snapping of the screw heads
which were #8 1-1/2" every 6 inches as the shed had been repaired from
previous damage. A hungry bear not knowing whats inside you electric
fence will have more respect than one that knows there is allot of
good eating in there. Moose will likely respect the electric fence if
they can see it  i.e. you might consider a strand or two of the white
electrified tape to make the fence more visible. A moose trotting
across a field or out of the bush and accidentally hits the fence will
react and may just as a matter of being surprised with a 10 - 20kv
shock will likely do allot of damage. A moose on the loose in the
vineyard we hope will travel with the grain else will likely take out
a couple rows of trellis before it is stopped. I don't think moose
will bother with the grapes but I'm sure they would like the leaves
and shootsMoose will stay away if they catch scent of a dog or human
so setting out few "pee cans" will help but won't deter the bears. The
piece of tin foil and a little peanut butter on the live wire of your
electric fence may deter the bear but not once he knows there is food
inside at that point you'll have to call the ministry for a trap. One
the other side though if you do get a predator control permit
apparently "U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt liked MOOSE meat with
GRAPE jelly" you could augment your winey sales ! 

	Congratulations on your Crown land victory, good luck. 

	Cheers, 

	Doug. 
 On Wed 21/11/07 22:46 , 'Ralph Walton2' sent:
	In BC if you are an official farmer (farm number etc.) you can get a
predator control permit which will allow you to shoot just about
anything (probably no eagles or spotted owls or other endangered
species) for about $15 last time I asked. We are a bit out of the way
here and I got the impression from the wildlife folks that unless I
was to stand on the street blasting deer with an Uzi, they wouldn’t
bother coming, so I didn’t bother getting a permit. My concern was
with deer; if they made it thru or over the 6 �’ multi-wire
electric fence (I wouldn’t do that again by the way) that I didn’t
want to teach them they could go back and forth by chasing them out.  

	The 6 �’ fence surrounds almost the whole farm; we have an 8’
high mesh fence around the vineyard with electric 3’ outside that
(and a couple of low electric wires for the coons). The vineyard
electric is charged by a 200 mile Zareba “Wasp” and runs around
13KV, the outer fence is charged by a largeish Gallagher and runs at
about 8KV clean and dry to 6KV wet and dirty.  
	Ralph, Greenridge Farm, BC 
	-----Original Message-----
 FROM: growwine-bounces at littlefatwino.com
[mailto:growwine-bounces at littlefatwino.com] ON BEHALF OF Glenda
 SENT: November 21, 2007 4:40 PM
 TO: growwine at littlefatwino.com
 SUBJECT: [Growwine] bears and moose 
	Has anyone had any experiences with bears around the vineyard? I
will be planting in an area that has been frequented by bears; do they
eat/damage the grapes and vines? What about moose, anyone know if they
have a taste for grapes or the vines? 
	Thanks,  
	Glenda Baker 

	Dark Cove Cottage Farm & Winery Ltd 

	http://www.dccw.ca [1] 


Links:
------
[1] http://www.dccw.ca
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