One of my neighbors liked to feed the bears(only about 3). My other neighboe likes to hunt and didn't like the bears eating her bird feeder and cat food. So, she waited until the opening day of hunting season and the rest is history. Feeding a wild animal is a death sentence.

Karen- How cute... we have sandhill cranes and an occational wild turkey. I feed them.

Squirrells, bunnies and chipmonks, Oh My!  That's all we have in our back yard besides the birds.
I have seen a few deer in the area, though and hubby said he's seen foxes come thru every once in a while.

My area has a lot of deer, turkey, and smaller animals.  I've never seen a bear.  There is a fox that lives across the road in a stand of woods. 

I planted a dozen tomato plants a couple of weeks ago.  The deer ate them overnight.  It appears that deer don't like basil. 

Wow Karen talk about being out in the woods. I can't imagine a bear stopping on by my place like that but it would be cool :) I do have the dear though as evidenced by all my schrubs that have been chewed up :)

Uh oh, Maureen McCabe is going to come in here and defend those Ohio people....or maybe she'll just feed your bear.

As long as she leaves a trail of crumbs headed to Columbus, she can feed him all she wants....hee hee

Greg - it would have only been a matter of time before those three bears decided to play Goldilocks and try to get into your neighbor's house!  Feeding the bears is a stupid thing to do.  It's a shame that they were ultimately lured to their deaths that way. (I'm not anti hunting but it seems like they never had a sporting chance in that situation.  Lose Lose for everyone..)

Mark - we have lots of turkeys here too - the kind with feathers and without! :-)  I have seen them in my yard too, and my dog goes crazy.  For some reason, my disdain for feeding wild animals doesn't extend to those of the feathered variety...I still don't feed them though because of the big furry beasts lurking nearby... 

Nancy - the chipmunk has to be my dog's greatest enemy.  We have a stone wall in the back and they lurk in there, and squeak at my dog, who goes NUTS because they know she can't get them.  It's like they TAUNT her.

Lenn - I saw a fox running in a field near me the other evening.  It was the most graceful creature - very pretty and it makes me sad when I see some of them as roadkill.  I've also seen coyote here too (but heard them more than seen them).  Basil, huh?  Hmmm.

Bill - when I first got married my mom's friend gave me a car load of plants for the yard.  I was so happy as I planted them, and thought "How homey this place looks."  Two days later I was wishing it was deer season.  

 Thanks all for the comments - and no offense to any Ohioans.

they say we have these guys - but in all my years I have never seend one in the wild - how cool is this - I would love to see them

OMG, I can't even imagine having a bear just wander through my back yard.  I think I'd completely freak out! :) 

I think I'll stick with the cute bunnies that hop through our garden!  But, your post reminds me of when my brother moved to Alaska to work as an air traffic controller.  As part of the job benefits they gave him a fully furnished house and a car and a RIFLE so he could walk safely from the house the car.  They had lots of bears & aggressive moose up there.  He was back living in New York 6 months later ;) 

When we first moved to the mountains in CA, we thought the squirrels and deer were just darling and left food out for them.  We changed our minds after they ate everything in the garden and on the porch.  All my potted plants, too, just disappeared the second night.  The first night they ate the food we left out.

In Southport on the coast, we used to have an American Egret that hung out at a local outdoor restaurant. It literally walked around the tables and mingled with the guests looking for handouts. People were amazed.

Thesa - I'm surprised that you have not seen them, given some of the "wild" photographs you've taken - it looks like Eden out there...

Kelly - the only time I freaked out was when the momma bear was coming thru with her baby, and my dog and kids were out in the yard!  I managed to get everyone inside safely as they moseyed along their way. 

Tina - Yes, I much prefer bunnies.  I don't know that I'd want to live where I was actually ENCOURAGED to carry a gun to protect me while I get from my car to my house!

Virginia - They did seem so sweet and lovable didn't they? Kind of like the raccoon that stole a bag of potato chips from right off my hubby's chair once while we were camping...

Vicki- isn't it cool when the animals walk around with you like that?  Well, almost cool...kind of makes you sad to think that they'll be dependent on people.  When I was at Mt. St. Helens, a little chipmunk actually jumped on my sister in law's foot, begging for muffin!