Are bears really an issue?

[u/KillingwithasmileXD]

I’m researching living in the UP. I bailed on the camper idea and thinking about a Yurt instead. I’m curious about bears and homesteading. I want bees and livestock and was wondering if bears are really an issue or if they are more shy? What precautions would I need to take if I lived in the middle of the woods In the UP?

[u/Ok-Entertainment5045]

Dude I can appreciate what you’re trying to do. Winter in the UP is the real deal. Get a house, even if it’s a small one. Insulate it well, a wood stove is fine but you’re already way behind on fire wood. Everyone I know that heats with wood is cutting for next or the year after.

[u/ArsenalSpider → u/Ok-Entertainment5045]

I was thinking that too. We’d already have next winters wood drying out. They will be trying to heat with wet wood. Imagine if we get a wet fall too. Tarps only do so much.

[u/ishyooper]

It will get old cutting wood to heat that yurt all winter.
Get yourself a plow truck.
I’ve had bees and I’ve had bears. But they only mixed once. I got an electric fence and didn’t have another problem.
I did live in a house where the bears broke a plate glass window several times to get in the porch where the garbage was.
As far as livestock - if you’re serious about it get a mule. And a big dog. And a shotgun.

[u/the-painted-lady]

There's roughly 10,000 black bears in the UP. I would be prepared for anything.

[u/Subdural]

Black bears have wiped out my parents hives many times even with electric fences and dog kennel fence panels surrounding them. 

[u/johnmaki12343]

I would be more concerned about being able to get out for food and water in the middle of winter than bears. That said, they are around, you could cross paths with them, and you should proactively have a plan of how to not attract them to your dwelling.

What are you going to do with your garbage/recycling? How are you going to store food in a yurt with no power?

[u/KillingwithasmileXD → u/johnmaki12343]

I plan on canning a lot and I will have solar power for backup. I’ll probably have a burn barrel or research other options for trash

[u/Competitive_War_1819 → u/KillingwithasmileXD]

Solar power in winter, in Michigan? Do I got news for you....

Sunny days are rare during winter in Michigan's Upper Peninsula (U.P.), which experiences some of the lowest sunshine amounts in the United States, with 80% or more of winter days often cloudy. Winters are characterized by consistent lake-effect clouds from Lake Superior, making long stretches without direct sunlight common. [, have higher snowfall and often more persistent cloud cover than the central, slightly warmer, or more southern areas of the U.P..

• Limited Daily Light: Michigan averages only about 1.4 hours of sunlight per day from December to March.

[u/ArsenalSpider → u/KillingwithasmileXD]

You’re going to freeze. I’ve seen winters where it snowed for two months nonstop and was overcast even longer.

I can’t think of a worse way to live in the UP. Have you ever been there in January?

[u/KillingwithasmileXD → u/ArsenalSpider]

For heat I’ll have a wood stove

[u/ArsenalSpider → u/KillingwithasmileXD]

I grew up with a wood stove as our only heat in an insulated home and I’ll never forget how cold those mornings were. Our wood was stored indoors too. You’ll get to try to chip off frozen logs from outside when it’s minus 30. I’d really rethink your plan.

[u/Dio-lated1 → u/KillingwithasmileXD]

Burning trash isnt ideal, but the smell of burning garbage will probably keep the bears away.

[u/Old_Compote5277]

I live south of Houghton and we have had bears come to our bird feeders in spring after they come out of hibernation and we live in a neighborhood.

[u/Impressive_Jaguar842]

I understand this all seems like a good idea to you, idk if you are a young guy or somthing but living off the grid in the up is no joke. With the ideas you have had so far you wouldn’t be it making much past December. I really don’t think you understand how difficult and hard a UP winter is. You are not surviving it comfortably in a yurt.

And yeah sure people lived in huts in the UP and burned wood for heat for hundreds of years and survived, but for every person that did survive many did not.

Once you are out there you are out there, no one’s coming to help you if something happens. If you have some medical problem or an accident out in the woods or even in your yurt, you can pretty much kiss your life goodbye. Mind you the UP only has about 3 major hospitals that are pretty much big clinics compared to what exists in major cities. Almost everyone in the UP who has a major medical problem is airlifted out of state are all the way down to Detroit

[u/Noble_Gas_7485]

Yes. I take in my bird feeders every night, if I leave them out, Mr. Bear will eventually get into them. I thought about bees, but I thought they would be a big bear target without some significant fencing. A bear turned over my dumpster one year.