Bears in the Hemlock/Canadice State Forest

I started this article last year about this time and decided it was time to finish it. Although I have never seen a black bear, many of my neighbors have had sightings at their bird feeders, crossing the back roads, swimming across Hemlock Lake, or coming into their yard to eat garbage or compost. My up close and personal experience was hearing a growl, smelling an awful smell in the night air around my house, watching my dog sniff in the air for a few nights and bark to indicate a strange animal was close by. Although I did not see anything, I’ve been told it is a black bear.

Click for an article on one bear in Livingston Co (2008)

Last year I called the DEC to let them know something growled at me and my grandchildren in the Canadice Outlet and followed us home that night. I thought that this animal was injured, or even questioned if it was a cougar, as the smell was very strong like a dead animal and it seemed to be stalking us. My response from an officer was “get used to living with the bears lady, take your bird feeders down and keep your garbage inside! This past fall I was told by some other neighbors that someone had documented 18 bear living in the Canadice Outlet. Although I have trouble believing this, I’ve gone down to the outlet which is behind my house for many years, never thinking there were bears out there. I have to admit I am a little hesitant hiking there alone now.

A week ago neighbors on Canadice Lake Road reported seeing a large black bear walking down the road and another seen on Canadice Hollow Road near the outlet area. The bears are waking up (they do not hibernate, just go into a deep sleep) and are on the move now that the weather has warmed. If anyone has any reports or pictures please comment to this article and we can begin to document stories. Maybe we can learn to live with the bears if we can see their patterns, be aware of their locations, and know how to handle an encounter if we have one.

One thought on “Bears in the Hemlock/Canadice State Forest

  1. I have experienced the same things in that area and jumped a large bear out of the swamp right there.
    There were several large piles of dung which at the time I thought to be horse but after reading know it to be black bears.
    Also in the pines close to the road just at the Hallow and Lake Road there were several pieces of white tail up in the crotch of one, which could have only been placed there by a bear.
    Up at our cabin on Larance Hill Road there have been several signs and actual sightings of black bears at bird feeders and on the southwest corner on the nature conservatory.
    I have smelled the bears and been growled at while out in my yard and hunting the areas.
    I also had a bear dig up my pet Labrador we had berried in 2016
    It was after the cookies and dog biscuits which were berried in with her.
    No other animal could have dug up the area and done so much damage iother than a bear.
    It scattered her bones all
    Over but did not chew any of them and dug up a 3 foot deep grave to get in to it.
    The grave is a total of 4 ft deep so no fox or coon did that .
    It tore up her dog bed and a heavy blue tarp like it was paper towels.
    What concerns me is that this bear is either old or young and is hanging around the cabins even with several dogs around.
    This is a dangerous bear.

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