A black bear spotted on the deck of Jerry Greiner in Drayton Valley on June 20.

By Sheldon Spackman

Beary Scary

Close encounter of the bear kind in Drayton Valley

Jun 27, 2019 | 10:57 AM

A Drayton Valley man is encouraging fellow residents to keep an eye out for bears after one walked right onto his deck last week.

Jerry Greiner says it happened on June 20 around 9:30 p.m. while he and his wife Rose were sitting at the kitchen table.

“I looked out the window of the door to our deck which was five feet away from me and I see a bear looking in,” exclaims Greiner. “I got out my camera but I moved slow so he wouldn’t move and by the time I grabbed my camera, he walked a little bit past the one way and then he walked back across and I got to see him again. It was right on our deck, right beside our door next to the kitchen table.”

Although surprising, Greiner admits he’s heard of other residents seeing bears in and around the community before, even two of them together.

“I’ve heard a lot of the neighbours and the people walking, saying they’ve seen a couple of bears around this spring but really surprising to see it on the deck right beside my house,” says Greiner. “It’s pretty scary because quite often you just walk out. It wasn’t dark yet, it was just in the evening and it would be pretty normal to just open the door and walk out and that’s right where the bear was walking.”

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Once the black bear made its way off the deck, Greiner says it simply walked away back into the woods.

“We’ve seen lots of wildlife in our yard, like it’s really common to see deer, and moose we see occasionally,” he explains. “We’ve been there about 20 years and we have seen cougars out in the yard but never on our deck. It’s not normal to see anything on the deck really.”

Greiner says the bear seemed curious more than anything.

“He walked along and it seemed like he was sniffing and he didn’t knock anything over, he walked to one end and then walked back down the middle,” he recalls. “He wasn’t making a big mess or tipping everything over. There’s a BBQ on the deck and a smoker that we’ve used in the past week or two, so maybe there’s some smell of stuff, but he didn’t try knocking it over or anything.”

Greiner says they’ve had a bear on their property once before, about eight or nine years ago.

“They’ve been in there in the night because they ate all our cherries,” says Greiner. “They eat the cherries off of the cherry trees and the apples off the apple trees, usually that’s at night, we’ve never seen them in the day.”

Scott Lundy with Alberta Environment and Parks says it’s not uncommon to see black bears moving throughout rural Alberta, even in towns or cities.

If you happen to run into a bear unexpectedly, Lundy says try your best to keep your composure and assess the situation.

“Avoid the bear for the duration that it’s at your property,” says Lundy. “Of course in some cases, bears can be quite destructive – remember that they’re looking for food. They might see a pet or they might see livestock as a potential food source and be very interested in that.”

Lundy says there are some precautionary measures you can take to deter a visit from a bear on your property.

“Generally, their eyesight isn’t all that good but they do have a very strong sense of smell, so any odours that could resemble food are things to get rid of,” he explains. “So a dirty BBQ grill, some seed below your bird feeder, some grain that you have on your property, all those things can be cleaned up. If you have food or any kind of garbage for that matter, keeping it locked up and away from a bear, that’s your number one way to avoid an unpleasant encounter.”

Lundy adds it’s important to remember that bears are wild animals that can be unpredictable.

“You want to reduce the risk as much as possible and when you’re outside enjoying your activities, I just encourage people to be aware that there could be bears and other animals in the area.”