Bandit the Black Bear Demolishes my Trail Camera

Our young male black bear was drinking from a spring when he noticed my trail camera. Unfortunately, unlike many bears, he didn't just sniff it. He killed it!

When I arrived at the site, I saw my cam broken into two pieces, a padlock pried open, and the front part of the camera on the ground. At first, I was furious, thinking that a bad human had done it. Then, I noticed that the memory card was still in the camera, and that made me think that maybe it wasn't a human who destroyed it.

Indeed, the memory card showed that "Bandit", the young male bear who I introduced you to yesterday had attacked the camera. I felt so much better that a bear had destroyed the camera rather than a human. After all, I put my trail cams right in the midst of where bears live out their lives - so this type of thing is expected. Young ones like Bandit get curious, and they use their strength to fully investigate a camera. It was my mistake not to have the camera in a bear case.

Bandit

The trusty camera kept recording video until the "end".  The two parts in the photo below were attached to each other before the cam was attacked... I wish that I'd thought to take a photo of the camera at the scene but I was a little too rattled to remember to do that.

Here's the video of Bandit killing the camera (from the camera's point of view) plus a video of him attempting the same thing with another camera on a snowy day a couple of weeks later. I think that bear security cases are becoming essential due to this youngster!

You can watch the video here or at Youtube.

It's rather shocking and scary to see Bandit's teeth attacking the camera from the point of view of the camera. I am generally not worried about bears when I'm in the forest because they are so timid. This video gave me some idea of the power they possess. We are lucky that they are normally timid!

A Bear Who Earned the Name "Bandit"

While we were innocently playing around in the desert, a certain bear was plotting revenge for my "spying" on him with my trail cameras. But, we had no idea...

We were so relaxed, having no idea what might be underway at home.

It turned out that a youngish male bear was visiting areas where my trail cameras are located. I got fun video of one of his silly attempts to mark a tree. Milton also marked the same tree, which gives you a chance to compare a mature dominant male bear to a young adult male bear who really doesn't stand a chance of competing (yet).

It turned out that Bandit's mischief was expensive to me. I discovered it today, and I'll get to work on a video to share it with you. I'll give you the hint that I gave him the name "Bandit" after finding his handiwork today.

For now, here's an introduction to Bandit. He's a silly youngster who isn't very good at marking trees yet and isn't anywhere near as strong or skilled as a bear like Milton.

If you have trouble watching the short video here, check it out on Youtube.

Tomorrow, I hope to show you why I decided to name him "Bandit".

On another note, I've had a lot of trouble getting caught up with my work since getting home. I hope to catch up with all of you very soon! My apologies for being so slow.