Talk to it firmly and calmly while backing away slowly when the bear is not actively watching you and leave the area.įinally, if you have had a successful hunt, attend to your dead animal and remove it from the area you killed it as quickly as possible. ![]() If you happen to encounter a bear, keep the bear in your sight. While you will be carrying a weapon with you while hunting, keeping bear spray within reach is important, as spray has proven to be a real deterrent to an attack, keeping both humans and bears alive. However, it is important to practice encounter scenarios in your head, and to practice using bear spray. When bears become aware of human presence, they usually leave the area. Keep in mind that you may attract a bear unintentionally while bugling for elk, or using other game calls. This includes looking for bear tracks, scat, and evidence of activity such as turned over rocks, excavated tree stumps, and flocks of scavenging birds that may indicate a fresh kill. Look for sign – not just for the game you are hunting – but also for bears. Grizzly bears often use tall, dense shrub fields for areas to sleep during the day, so hunters should consider avoiding these habitats. While hunting in bear country, pay close attention to your surroundings. Make sure you know one another’s plans and have regular check in times. If you are hunting with a partner, do the same. When hunting alone, make sure someone knows your detailed plans, and have a way to check in with your person. When pursuing your quarry on the hunt, however, many of these bear-safe practices are exactly what you refrain from doing. Most attacks happen when bears (and humans) are surprised. Typically, when recreating in bear country, it is recommended that you are aware of your surroundings and make bears aware of your presence by making noise, wearing bells, singing on the trail, and hiking in groups. Hunting is not only a form of recreation and a way to connect to nature, but just like the other predators on the landscape, this is a time for humans to potentially harvest enough meat to survive though the year. It is hunting season here in Montana, and with this, comes a set of bear-safe practices all of its own. If they do not get enough to eat in the fall, the sows don't produce cubs and some bears may even die of starvation. Once they enter their dens, bears go without food and water for months. A bear that has become conditioned to non-natural food sources is more likely to get hit by vehicles while crossing roads, break into homes or businesses, or to get into conflict with people.Grizzly and black bears are found throughout our region, and this is the time of year that bears are in hyperphagia, the time when bears increase their feeding activity before heading to their dens for winter. Campgrounds, picnic areas, parks, and dumpsters are particular source points for bears to discover human food and trash and become conditioned to non-natural food sources. Due to their persistent nature, black bears are particularly vulnerable to becoming conditioned to human sources of food. Development, particularly in and near mountains, fragments and disrupts their traditional habitat. A bear’s sense of smell is one of the strongest in the mammal world, which is a critical tool for an animal that must constantly eat for the summer and fall seasons to build up enough fat storage to sustain them as they hibernate through the winter months.īlack bear habitat spans the forested areas of the entire Northern Rockies and while the species has never been listed as endangered, it faces several conservation issues. ![]() They’ll consume anything with a scent, but especially bugs, berries, and other plants form a major portion of their diet. Generally, a grizzly bear is larger than a black bear however, a large male black bear can weigh up to 500 pounds or more.īlack bears are voracious foragers. ![]() Here are some distinguishing characteristics between black and grizzly bears:Ī grizzly bear will have a large, prominent hump at its shoulder, while a black bear’s shoulder will be more diminutive compared to its more prominent rump.Ī grizzly bear’s face and snout will be more concaved or dish-shaped, while a black bear’s snout is straight, and lacking the concave/dish shape.Ī grizzly bear’s ears appear shorter in relation to its head and body than the black bear’s. For this reason, we shouldn’t assume brown bears are grizzlies. This often entices them out of the forest and into areas where they are vulnerable to conflicts with humans.īlack bears aren’t always black – they can be brown, cinnamon, or blond in addition to black. When they discover a food source, black bears may keep coming back to it repeatedly, even for years. Black bears are one of the smartest and most persistent scavengers.
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