Ha, think I'd rather see a raccoon in my front yard than a bear, thank you! (although we mostly get deer....and mice....and gophers....don't they count as wildlife? )

Great photos Bob! I love it when the bears come to visit too.

Poppa bear was huge!!!! The youngster was soo cute. He/she came back the next day.

I had to keep my feeders in for awhile.

Dave,

Looks like the cow badge changed.

Margaret great pictures. I'd rather have bear come around then deer and rabbits any day.

Thanks Dave.

Bob, those are even better photos, love mom and the cubs.

For most of the summer they used to walk past the house almost every day. We were saying she was bringing the kids to the beach.

I don't want any of those things in my yard. Only animal I'd like to find in my yard is a dog.

Karen

I'm keeping both badges but will pass on bear visits.

Bob: Great photo's of the bears visiting your garden! I already had the bear badge but had to purchase the raccoon too! We have black bears here but not in my particular neighborhood or part of town. Every so often there will be a report on the news of a bear being hit by a car on the highway. I've only seen black bears in the wild when vacationing in the Smokey Mountains of Tennessee.

We have lots of Raccoons here (they raid the bird feeders almost every night), & possums and armadillos that root around in the yard for dinner. Although Florida has black bears, coyote's, panthers, bobcats, SNAKES, lizards, deer, wild turkey's etc., I don't know how I'd feel if I came across one of those critters in the yard ... kinda scary! I think I will stick with cute little furry bunnies

I live a couple of blocks from the state park in a small community that has 5 lakes with watershed land on the other side so we get lots of wildlife. During the spring and summer you see at least a few bear each week. Mostly mothers with cubs avoiding the large male in the park . I worry more about the coyote , but so far they seem to stay in the woods.Bobcats are rare but run as soon as they see you, We have been getting a lot more foxes lately which is nice to see. Would love to see panthers but not here.

Turkeys on back patio .

We live in a small town surrounded by woods and the area boasts of 50 lakes in 50 miles. We also have bobcats and cougars, which I have not seen. we have lots of coyotes, they come into town, they know where to find dinner, a lot of cats disappear.

Here in the woods behind me I see the wild turkeys, foxes, raccoons, owls, hawks, among other things. The owls are some of my favorites. I haven't seen a Bobcat here but did in CA. They were known to attack and kill people walking or jogging there. Lots of coyotes out there too which occasionally killed and carried off dogs and cats. We saw many of those ... and heard even more.

I hate bears, I hate the idea of bears. Thank goodness there are no bears here on Long Island. In fact I never bought one of the wildlife badges because of the black bear symbol. But I am very glad I stumbled upon this thread. I just bought one of the racoon badges. I figgure that is very apt for my yard as the racoons run thru here every night, play in my ponds, dig up my mulch looking for grubs and raid the garbage. I have lots of racoons in my yard.

What did we ever do to you?

Love that shot Bob. I used to be afraid of bears until I moved here, and even though we have a lot of bears that wander all over the place I have not heard of a single person being hurt by them. I know it can happen when there is a rogue bear. When they cause a problem here it is usually because people leave their garbage available to them.

Any of you watch Lily The Black Bear live web cam? I started watching it a couple of years ago and it has been quite a learning experience.

This photo was taken by my sister about 20 feet from her patio door. That cub is so cute.

The only problems you here about in the end is mostly things people do wrong leaving food in cars or leaving garage doors open with garbage. I don't understand the people who move into bear country and then want them gone there are plenty of places without bear for them to live.If you ever get to watch them you would know what marvelous animals they are.

Well, like I said there are no bears here on Long Island and I have always lived here where there are no bears or any big predators. Bears give me the creeps. But fortunatly, I don't have to deal with them.

Bears don't give me the creeps but I'd be a bit terrified if ever I saw one in close proximity! I've had a few "meet ups" with poisonous snakes in my backyard in the past and that had me shaking for hours! We have Alligators down here that I've seen from the boat but I sure wouldn't want to be in the water with them!

This isn't a poisonous snake but a photo I took of a large Yellow Rat Snake that was in a tree in the backyard a couple of years ago ... eek!