By Don Daughenbaugh

Recently, while my fishing friend Paul Blechner and I were checking the Big Pine Creek water basin for rising trout, we noticed a Pennsylvania black bear trying to get into a roadside garbage dumpster below Blackwell. That’s not unusual in Pennsylvania because, in reality, we have a lot of black bears in this neck of the woods. It was amusing, however, because the bear could get his head under the steel lid, and all we could see was the rear end and two hind legs.

Our conservation quickly changed from scanning Big Pine Creek’s best pools for rising trout on the water to bear personalities, interesting problems with (grizzly bear with cubs) bears, and how we have learned to live with them. Our Pennsylvania bear belongs to a single species Ursus americanus. Their range is quite extensive in the North American continent, and it is not unusual to find large populations in the country of Mexico and well into Canada.

For 36 long summers, I had the pleasure to live and work as a park ranger in great bear country. That country was the Teton Wilderness, the Yellowstone National Park, the Grand Teton National Park, and Montana’s Crow Indian Reservation, all with remote bear habitat. These areas have a wide range of environmental conditions that influence bear behavior. The wilderness regions are open to hunting, while the park’s policy advocates an existing natural population. That produces a bear with exceptional physical and emotional characteristics. The fact that I worked at the South Gate of Yellowstone Park, in these great isolated regions, gave me the experience that I was actually living with bears.

Yellowstone’s Ranger quarters and the John D. Rockefeller Parkway (JDR) ranger staff are housed just inside the southern boundary of Yellowstone National Park (YNP). We often refer to that area as the South Gate.

Bears in those more isolated areas may look the same as a Pennsylvania bear, but generally, a bear of the same age as a Pennsylvania bears are much smaller and weigh much less because of the lack of food. And a nice size bear there may tip the scales at 300 pounds. It is all the availability of food. And that has always been the source of the bear management problems in YNP. For decades the population of black bears and grizzly bears would vary from 350 black bears to 200 grizzly bears. Their basic source of food was in three large landfill dump sites in the YNP. Black bears became roadside bums, and it was not uncommon for a summer visitor to see 50 black bears a day begging for a handout for as long as the granddaddy of all parks existed.

To manage the problem, the (YNP) officials closed all three dumpsites at one time. This decision was contrary to those of the great biologists, John and Frank Craighead, Penn State graduates, who advocated shutting the dumpsites down gradually. The park won that battle of words.

Black bear numbers on the roads exploded. To solve that problem, frequent roadside visiting black bears were shot by park rangers and hauled into the forests for predator consumption.

For the visitor, particularly, backcountry hikers, the nasty grizzly bears, were always a concern.

In particular, attacks occurred when backpackers slept in their tents with food or in clothing that had food odors. The second most common reason for attacks occurred when a hiker somehow got between a sow bear and her cubs, and that spelled big trouble for a hiker.

We have to remember that in some cases, a sow bear could get separated from her clubs, but be assured she is not far away and is keeping an open eye on her clubs. She will kill you quickly to protect her young.

Another basic rule is always to remember that “a bear goes where his nose takes him.” In my time, there were five campers killed where campers and food odors were involved. In one related case, two campers stored their food in their tent in their backpacks, and a grizzly killed them both. A young camper from Germany was killed in her tent, and the only related evidence of food was two candy wrappers in her pockets. Also, fatalities were rare with black bears; we did have one suspect incident where a young girl lost her life.

Even in this country, it is important that we keep food sources away from bears. Although young February born cubs may appear cute, it is important not to back mom into a corner. Always give them a chance to escape. In my time, I had more trouble with a mother moose and her young and a female elk with young. I have actually been chased by both while fly-fishing the great rivers of the west.

With the hiking and fly-fishing season soon to begin, these are primary precautions that we should adhere to when invading the homes of wild animals.