As I was leaving church last Sunday, one of the guys walked up to me and said, “You’ll never guess what I saw at my place recently.” He went on to tell me that as he was heading out into his yard, two black bears approached, so he began yelling and the bears eventually took off. We agreed that the bears he saw were probably last year’s cubs, and that the bird feeders near his home is what was attracting them.
A couple of days later, I was telling my son about the bear sightings, and he told me they had spotted fresh bear tracks in the snow we had just had. That’s two different bear sightings passed on to me in the past week.
Granted, most bear sightings occur in spring, summer, and fall, but obviously, they do occur even in the middle of winter.
In the fall, bears will feed heavily to fatten themselves for the winter. By late fall, most bears will enter hibernation, with pregnant females being the first to enter dens by mid to late November. Males usually den several weeks later, but that can vary depending on the availability of fall foods.
Ample food supplies and less severe weather conditions as we move into the winter months may result in males heading into den sites later.
Hibernation in bears is more like resting than a deep torpor that is more characteristic of other hibernating species. While body temperature during hibernation is not drastically reduced, respiration and heart rate do decline somewhat.
Bears, during hibernation, remain alert and capable of fleeing or defending their dens, and on warm late-winter days, they might even emerge from their dens and wander nearby.
Mother bears and their one-year-old cubs will den together again the winter after their birth, but the family group disbands the following spring, thus a female generally only raises one litter every two years.
I suspect the two bears my friend at church spotted were chased off by a now-pregnant female.
Certainly, the chances of spotting a bear in Pennsylvania are likely increasing, as our bear population has grown over the years. Today’s population is estimated at around 18,000, but back in the 70s, fewer than 5,000 bears roamed Pennsylvania’s woods.
Not only has the growing population increased the chances of bear sightings, but more and more people are moving into bear territory.
Add plenty of bird feeders, garbage cans, and other food sources, and more and more people are going to spot bears even in the winter months. Once bears find easily accessible food sources, they also often lose their wariness of people and will keep returning as long as the food is available.
Well, keep your eyes open, you may still get a look at a bear or at least bear tracks before winter is over.
