Danny Nickleson was curious. He had heard the Department of Natural Resources had released black bears in Southern Indiana to help reduce the state’s white-tailed deer population.
He thought it was somewhere around the Muscatatuck River area in Jennings County. Or, it could have been Jackson County.
Nickleson was concerned because he recently bought a cabin in Southern Indiana and one look out his window told him there might be a need for such a strategy.
What he saw was a herd of white-tailed deer at a feeder.
“There must have been 20 of them,” he said.
It wasn’t a one-time visit, either. They came so many times they became tame around humans.
Black bears have deer fawns on their menu, especially in the spring, so Nickleson was concerned that the deer herd could attract bears that would attack family members who visit the cabin.
READ MORE: DNR won’t discount sightings of black bears | The Indianapolis Star | indystar.com.
