Animal Science

Speak of the ursine devil---had these black bruins visit, and raid, my bird feeders in the last two weeks.

This one shimmied up and snapped the suet feeder right off the tree. I was so stunned that all I could do was grab my camera and snap photos as the bear trundled off with the suet cage (which was filled with the hot pepper suet).

Then this beastie appeared just last week and snatched a thistle feeder:

In a moment of utter insanity I ran outside in my barefeet (!) and yelled for the return of my property. With complete disdain the bear plopped down about 10 ft away and began to feast. S/he was also w/in about 20 ft of a doe grazing with her twin fawns.

Later that day I walked the back 40 and found both feeders without a scratch or toothmark on them.

I also found evidence of what else bears do in the woods.

Interesting info on black bear tracks--thanks for posting.

Wow Sue - thanks for sharing those pictures! Looks like he's posing in the first one. I guess that's why they say not to feed the birds outside of the winter. Great shots photo op though.

Nice Pic's Sue - we found that mounting salt blocks back in the woods away from the house helps keep them at bay - after all, all they want is some easy pickings

These are lids for septic tanks. They are made of high strength concrete about 4" thick and 4' in diameter.. The bottom picture is of one that a grizzley chewed on. He probably smelled the effluent in the tank and wanted to get at it. He treated the lid like a big chocolate chip cookie. The new lid is at the top of the picture. I was doing electrical maintenance at Ram Falls in western Alberta http://www.aurumlodge.com/english/spot02.htm when the ranger pointed these out to me. Imagine the power of the jaws of a grizzly.

It seems as though bird feeders are a delicacy. I know some relatives that have had previous encounters with black bears trying to get at their bird feeders.

I am slightly disappointed that you never explained what to do when you encounter a bear... Does the rumor that you should play dead still stand? I suppose my best bet would be to run the opposite way if i should see a track.

Still a solid blog entry, very enjoyable!

Hi Jaxy - check out the link I posted toward the end of the blog entry. There are some tips at the bottom of the website about what to do when face-to-face with a bear.

Never run is the most basic advice I've ever received. They can always outrun you. Well, they certainly would outrun me.

And I would never get too close (unless they were otherwise occupied by chowing down on my bird feeders), lest I end up like the hapless Grizzly Man, Timothy Treadwell.

Do not lock eyes with them. That is a threat posture.

Do not run. If charged by a mother bear with cubs she will likely stop and slap the ground with her paw as a warning. Back off slowly.

Grizzlies are territorial and most will attempt to frighten. Maulings, though rare, are an added reminder to 'stay out' and generally result with a chewed up, but alive, interloper. Old scruffy looking bears are dangerous (and hungry).

Be aware of your surroundings. Make a lot of noise if in bear country... carry a whistle...this will warn the bears of your presence. Though most bears will run away when spooked there are the rare ones who will attack as a defence.

And finally.........Do not mistake grizzly bear cub for cute puppy as two bimbos did in Jasper Nat'l Park and brought the thing back to town with them.

I've only seen black bears a couple of times - first time being in Old Forge, NY. From the back deck of the room I was staying in, I sat and watched as 3 mid-sized cubs took advantage of tourist season and went after the garbage cans by the lake. Even though people were staying quite close to where they were dining, the cubs seemed unphased. The other residents of the lodge, however, freaked out.

The second experience I had with black bears was on my first canoe/camping trip after college. Each night we had to walk deep in the woods to tie-up our food (which is sometimes trickier than it sounds as you have to take height and branch legnth into account). Luckily, we didn't run into any problems. If we had though, I'm not sure what I would've done. Thanks to this blog entry, I feel as though I'll be better prepared next time. Thanks!

I was staying in an oil field camp in Colorado, and one morning as I walked to the canteen for breakfast I came across a black bear in the parking lot. He was headed for the canteen dumpster so he did not bother me any. We both went our ways and each had a pleasant breakfast.

The camp admin called the wildlife service and they came and relocated him.

A couple of years ago, a black bear - apparently - came to live in the wild area where I like to pick mushrooms. Although I never saw the bear, I did see some compelling tracks. Apparently bears are very fond of matsutake. As well as king bolete. There were some interesting diggings in the mounds where these grow. I guess beetles and so on that are also into the food, can be dug out and add to a bear's meal. Yummy!

I believe I heard the bear on one occasion. That was before I realized it was in the area. I found a half eaten matsutake which I added to my bag. There was a very strange noise like someone clearing their throat loudly. I was told afterwards, this is a sound bears make when they are displeased.... I probably spooked the bear off its breakfast, and then walked away with it! oops... Then I found the telltale track.

I've been told that bears have a great sense of smell but poor eyesight. Afaict, this bear whose matsutake patch I raided, also followed my tracks around the area, and helped itself to my best teeth mushroom patches as well as taking all the king boletes. I also found tracks near my home on one or two occasions, which was a bit unnerving. Still I never got a glimpse of the mystery bear.

Over the next couple of years, it dawned on me that my own behavior and haunts were nearly indistinguishable from the bear. Basically shy, mainly hidden, snuffling around the woods after food, indignant when I found "the other guy" got to it first.

There are not many black bears in this area - wildlife people assured me there are no bears here, but every so often there's a sighting. They're a bit scattered, and as the hunters pointed out, they're basically shy. You'll never see them if they see you first. You have to build a hide high up in a tree and leave bait to draw them out.

That's a different scene from where they are more common and close to human areas, and you find them out for goodies at the dumps or campsites ... or your bird feeders! (Great bear pictures, Sue.) I was told not to play dead if attacked by a black bear: fight en off. If not attacked, look large. Look too big to be dinner. Try not to smell like a matsutake, if at all possible.

Two business men are walking in the woods. One guy stops, takes off his wing-tips and puts on a pair of running shoes. The other inquires as to why. "There are bears out here you know." to which the one says "That's silly, you can't out run a bear!" to which he responds "I don't have to out run the bear, I only have to out run you!".

In my years of mountain running I have come across quite a few black bears... in fact more bears than people due to the remote areas in which I run. Perhaps as many as 30 different sightings and countless scat and track. On one encounter I was on a run with my wolf-dog (3/4 wolf, 1/4 husky/malamute) and I came off a ridge into some mixed conifers and hardwoods (about 3000 feet elevation in far Northwest California). Not far in front of me were 2 mature black bears. My wolf-dog charged the pair and they turned tail. I was still running down the hill. The first bear climbed the first fir he got to, the second right behind him. As the second approaches the tree he stops, turns and charges my wolf-dog. At this point I am about 20 feet from the bear. My wolf-dog turns tail and runs behind me. The bear is oblivious to me until, at a distance of less than 10 feet, I let out a deep, bellow from the base of my gut; a roar. I've never heard that roar before nor since. The bears stopped dead in his tracks, stood up, regarded me and turned tail into the woods. I'm 6 feet tall and this bear was taller than me.

I've never been worried about the black bears out here. They don't see many people and, as long as you're not food or a threat, they'll turn tail and run. The only ones with which I am particularly wary are cubs. A mom can get quite defensive.

Grizzlies are a different story. I watched a "Faces of Death" video back in the day of a griz taking a guys head of with a lazy swipe. Being filmed from behind, a tourist crept up to a griz feeding on trash to get a close-up picture. The bear ignored him until he was real close; the bear stood up and swatted the fly away... the guys head came clean off. This was filmed when they were flocking the dump for food. A grizzly will eat you on a whim... big, big animals.

Note: my avatar is of a bear stripped salmon carcass found on the South Fork of the Trinity river in California... only uncommon because the salmon are too few a far between, not the bears.

Let me tell you a bear story. We live in Western Montana about 70 miles south of Glacier Park in black bear and grizzly country.

I had taken my wife, another older lady and my son huckleberry picking on our favorite mountain. The huckleberry bushes were high and thick and loaded with huckleberries.

My wife and the other lady were picking the berries up above the old logging road we had gone in on and parked the pickup. They were out of sight but I could hear them. My son who was about 12 at the time was walking up the old logging road in front of me around a few bends and well out of my sight.

My wife shouted down to me that they could hear a bear on the other side of the bushes from them and asked what should they do. There was a little panic in their voices as they told me they could hear the bear. I hollored back at them and said to bang their metal pans together and shout.

After what seemed like an eternity the banging and shouting ceased. I was starting to get embarrassed because I knew that within a few miles of us there were some other berry pickers.

I started to continue my walk up the old logging road and within a minute or so my son came running down the road towards me. His eyes were like saucers and he was gasping for air and said "DAD, DAD, I was walking up the road and this brown bear came from behind me and ran right past me. He was running so fast that his back feet were reaching out in front of his head.

We see and get close to a lot of bears but that time is the one we'll always remember. We haven't been unlucky enough to get real close to a grizzly while outside of our vehicle. That's good, because they are mean.

I remember a story on the local news about two moose calves standing by the water at one of the lakes in Glacier Park. There were tourists standing all about taking pictures when a grizzly ran out from the brush, grabbed one of the calves by the neck and hauled him back into the brush. They aren't afraid of people.

I was armed too...

Once in the northern Cascades near Baker, the bear and I were oblivious to each other and intent upon the berries; they were tasty. When we met almost nose to nose the bear and I each screamed an ran in opposite directions. I ran until my breathe was gone and collapsed in the brush. As I caught my breathe I could hear laughter from a ways up the hillside where someone had seen the encounter and it made their day

In central California mountains I was sitting waiting for a fish to bite at a small creek and as I looked to my left about twelve feet away was a steaming pile of bear scat never heard nor saw the depositor and the fish weren't too loud either.

Early in the morning on the outskirts of Great falls Montana near Emerson Junction I was the intended breakfast of a fast charging large brown bear with a hump. The swipe of it's paw missed and I skee-dattled into my truck and dropped the hammer but I didn't out run my guardian angel!

Up close bears normally can be deterred by many less than lethal means in the daytime. If accosted during the hours of darkness you are likely being hunted.

A strobe-flash can temporarily burn their retina causing them to panic; don't be in their escape route, in their attempt to flee they may charge into something and break and hurt themselves. The best protection from an aggressive bear is a cool head or a loaded weapon and an intent to survive.

They are opportunists for easy pickin's. However.........

Learning to live with them is to understand the immediate factors that climate dictates...ie.....if there's any disruption to their natural food source they can become dangerous as was recently witnessed in BC with the berry crop failure. Ontario went through similar conditions in 95 resulting in the death of two campers who were killed by a starving bear. In both cases the Natural Resources Ministry was asleep at the wheel by not issuing warnings.

This year I am witnessing similar conditions on the north shore of Georgian Bay where the mayfly hatch has failed. Mayflies are a major source of protein in this area.

Mother bear teaching her cubs (the male is sleeping under the trees) to eat spent mayflies washed up against the shore.

I have had two close calls with bears, both in southwestern Washington. The first one, a buddy and I were fishing the middle branch of the Palix river for salmon. We were putting the fish we caught into a pool beside the river to keep them fresh. I turned around to walk up stream and there was a black bear sitting in the pool eating all the fish. I never heard a thing until I saw it about 20 feet away. I now carry my 30-30 pistol when I fish there. The second one, I was on my motorcycle coming down highway 101 about 11pm south of Raymond Washington and came around a corner to find a bear in my lane. I missed it but am sure glad no car was in the other lane. I had no problems staying awake for the rest of the drive home.

I live in the western shadow of the Shenandoah National Park/Skyline Drive. Apparently the black bears are breeding very well up there as this year there have been numerous sightings of them in the small town I live in.

Between bears and skunks (I've had 2 encounters with them in the last week or so) it's getting downright dangerous to go out after dark.

I, and many others, believe it's time for the Feds to allow a hunt to thin the population. Highways are taking care of a lot of the smaller critters, and deer. I generally count 4-5 new roadkills daily on my 14 mile trek to work across the Shenandoah Valley.

Hooker <-- who has had several very close deer encounters with a motorcycle in the last year.

I absolutely agree with a regulated hunt. In Ontario the spring bear hunt has been stopped for a number of years resulting in a population explosion. The Citizens Concerned for Cute Animals lobbied the govt and won. Interestingly their legal rep had gathered many proxy votes to effect this legislation. Most weren't aware when signing on that they were also remitting their vote through proxy...clever lawyer....now has oneover the gov't!

Incidentally, the reason used to stop the bear hunt was orphaned cubs. Though not a hunter myself I have never seen, or heard of, cubs that were left motherless by the actions of hunters. Most, not all, were well aware of the implications.

Thanks to my government I now have had to do what I never wanted to. This year I've shot and killed two aggressive and territorial male bears who posed a threat to my family. Normally I would have used my pellet gun.

There's an amazing number of examples of gov't's banning hunts, and then the very same do-gooders who promoted no hunting complaining to those same gov't's to do something about their property being over run by critters.

I'm afraid this situation is going to get much worse before it gets better. Stupidity seems to be rampant nowadays.

Hooker

Funny thing, in Newfoundland, you have to do a shooting course and test before you can get a license to hunt. But the first year, you cannot get a license to go moose hunting. You can only get a license to hunt bear!

It seems a little odd to me, that the novices should hunt bear. (Is this the way to prove yourself, or what?)

In fact we are overrun with moose, many highway fatalities as a result.

Yes........I've seen the moose in NFLD. Nearly hit one. It's incredible how many there are considering they was only a few transplanted not that long ago.

Heard the govt wants to ban roadkill consumption of the critters. Given there's 700 - 800 per year that's a considerable amount of charity and fundraising money down the tubes.

I really don't know whether our or your provincial govt's do such things for brownie points or just out of stupidity and ignorance.

Often the best way to thwart bear attacks is to carry pepper spray and wear bells on your clothing.

The way to recoginze what kind of bears are around is to look at their scat. Black bear scat has leaves and berries in it and sometimes small rodents. Grizzly bear scat has small bells in it and smells like pepper.

and don't forget that black bears can also be brown, black or a mix. don't get in between a mother and her baby's!

Black bears are a nuisance here in the Catskills of NY. They wallow in my raspberry patch, strew trash all over, and raid the compost for melon rinds. They can run faster than a horse (at least a horse disinclined to chase one). I have a path to the shop that I 'pave' with bi-valve shells, and often a bear will spend some time getting 'that last little bit'.

The only way to outrun them is straight down hill. Their CG makes it impossible for them to make a high speed right angle turn. They will soon tire of that game, hopefully before you do. The last resort is dropping down and covering, making mewling sounds, as submissive behavior is all they want. This will not save you from a brain damaged bear, but you're screwed in either case.

There's no one in Delaware county that doesn't have a bear story. Some even better than mine, (2 naked humans, 1 bear, and a refrigerator).