Come this spring and early summer, we hadn’t seen any bears in our travels or on any of the cameras we have posted around our home and in the nearby woods. That’s all changed in the past couple of weeks.
A couple of weeks ago, on two separate occasions, a large black bear walked through our yard and right by the house, once in broad daylight.
I have spoken with several other locals who were quick to show me videos they captured on their cameras of some large bears roaming in their neighborhoods. It’s possible that some of those sightings are the same bears we’ve seen before, as bears, especially males, can travel a considerable distance in a day’s time.
Of course, when bears leave their dens come spring, they are on the lookout for something to eat since that’s something they haven’t done while denned up. Food is not the only thing high on the daily routine list — so is finding a partner.
Bears mate from early June to mid-July, and you can bet males are on the lookout for available females.
Females give birth to cubs in late December and into early February. The cubs will not leave the den until they are about three months old, so come spring, mama and her one to five cubs will also now be on the move.
For the most part, bears are not particularly aggressive, but don’t get careless or take chances, especially around a female with cubs. Female bears with cubs are very protective, and they can become very aggressive if they feel their cubs are being threatened. If you find yourself in a precarious situation with cubs close by, the Game Commission does not recommend that you climb a tree to escape the circumstances. Adult females with cubs will often drive their cubs up trees to escape danger, and if you go up a tree, the bear may perceive that as an attempt to get her cubs. Instead, stay on the ground and slowly walk away from the area. There’s no point in running since there’s no way you are going to outrun an angry bear.
Bears will sometimes stand up while trying to detect odors in an attempt to identify what they see, and they may even pop their jaws as a further warning sign. Sometimes bears will even make a bluff charge. If that happens and you are caught in those circumstances, the Game Commission suggests that you wave your arms wildly and shout at the bear.
Just between you and me, I hope I never find myself in that situation.
While it is extremely rare, if you find yourself involved in an actual confrontation with a bear, don’t “play dead” but rather fight back with rocks, sticks, or your bare hands.
Obviously, something we’ve all heard before to help impede bear sightings in your own backyard is to place bird feeders where bears can’t reach them, and that can be a real challenge since bears are good tree climbers. Another thing that may help is not putting your garbage out in the waste can for pickup until the morning of the actual pickup. I know what that can be like since on a couple of occasions I have had to go across the road to retrieve my plastic garbage can and lid full of big bear teeth marks. No doubt the smell of fresh fish scraps was a big factor.
Great, now I can keep those fresh, smelly fish scraps from the bunch of panfish I cleaned the night before in the house all night until morning.
