Somewhere in the middle of Oregon.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

No Lions, No Tigers, Just Bears!!

Over the last couple of weeks I have become completely infatuated with planning a bear hunt. In the great state of Utah, we must enter into a drawing for a bear tag, and our chances of drawing a tag are not as great as I would like them to be. Turns out, this year, my husband actually drew a tag in one of Utah's prime bear areas. (well....it's prime to us because we know there are bears there and where to find them) It's a Fall hunt, so we have plenty of time to plan, but also, plenty of time to wait.....not so patiently for opening day.
Armed with a new camera, I'm excited to start scouting, but with this years' over abundance of late snow storms....it may be Fall before they even wake up!!

One of the hardest parts of hunting, for me, is waiting for opening day, but one of the great things about hunting is the opportunity to spend time scouting. It's really amazing just how much you can learn about an animal just by searching for signs from them.

Years ago, before we began hunting bears, we hunted elk in this same area, but had no idea there were bears there. Just because I wanted to try something new, I put in for a bear tag in 2006 and was lucky enough to draw the tag, but a little concerned that I had absolutely no idea how to hunt bears or what even to look for. I had NEVER seen a bear in the wild, and I wasn't really sure I'd even ever seen signs.....that I was certain were made by a bear.

Over the next month I wandered around trying to figure out where I would go if I was a bear. After treking into the thickest, deepest parts of the timber covered, rugged terrain, we found probably more sign than I needed to ensure that there were bears aplenty in any direction of travel. We found cub prints, and big bear prints, little scrapes and big scrapes, broken branches, stumps and rotten logs that were torn apart, claw marks that were left as they climbed to the top of a 30 foot tree, and roots that were uprooted. I was amazed at how many signs we found in the same areas we'd always hunted....but never noticed they were there. Though I never filled my bear tag that year, it was undoubtedly the funnest hunt I've been on....and I've been on a LOT. I have a new found love and respect for black bears, not because they are mean or vicious, but because they are the exact opposite. They are shy, quiet, and reclusive most of the time. So here's an insite for those who may fear this beautiful creature or may not understand them.

Unlike a grizzly bear, the black bear is mostly vegetarian, (which means....he would prefer not to eat you, but will if necessary). Their main diet consists of mostly berries, grasses, nuts, and bugs(larvae). Their claws are not as long and straight as a grizzly's which resemble small double bladed knives perfect for ripping flesh, but are round, much shorter and curved, and made for digging and scrounging. They come in several colors other than black, such as blonde, brown, chocolate, cinnamon and silver. An older bear has no interest in ever seeing or being seen by humans, so if he can see or hear or smell you coming, you'll never know he was there, (except for the hair standing on the back of your neck). When there are reports of bear encounters, it's usually youngsters that have been booted from mama bear so she can raise her new baby bears. These bears are learning how to look for food....unfortunately....some of them learn to follow their noses to your 'pic-a-nic' basket. Sometimes bears will attack if they feel threatened or are surprised, but these instances are rare.


In Utah, there have been only two major bear attacks that have made the news in the past 30+ years (that I can remember anyway). One of them happened because someones child was feeding a bear oreo cookies through their camper window and when the cookies ran out, the bear took the next thing he could find....the child who had been giving them to him. (This is why they tell you 'Don't feed the bears!!') As the story goes, grandpa wacked the bear over the head with a big flashlight and the child escaped. If you follow a few simple rules when you're camping, you'll likely never have problems. You are actually 180,000 times more likely to be killed in a car than you are by a bear, (that is an actual statistic) and....more people die from bee stings every year than from bear attacks. The moral of the story.....walk to where you're going, armed with bug spray, and leave the oreos at home!