Anyone seeing bears yet
Wisconsin
Contributors to this thread:
Bear sightings are showing up in the past two days around here. Sow with cubs spotted close to Stone Lake and a bear near my place was coming out of it's den when we approached from a short distance.
Fresh tracks in the woods behind the house this morning. I would say a young bear with no cubs. It's getting to be that time of the year.
There were very fresh tracks on a piece of public land I scouted earlier this week.
The den near my mil's house is still occupied. Central wi.
In February we seen tracks during those warm days. Seems to be still early for cubs to be wondering around, yearlings would be a different story.
MF - Yes it's early for a sow and new cubs. I didn't see them but my friend said they were not this years cubs. I'm guessing they were culvert bears.
Rub Line's Link
If you look from 2-12 to 2-20 they were feeding it burgers and petting it.
"If you look from 2-12 to 2-20 they were feeding it burgers and petting it." I don't know what to say about this. If this is a wild bear, its now a dead bear unless some sort of sanctuary will take it in.
If this is a wild bear, habituating it is not a very wise thing to do. Both parties are asking for trouble. I've known a few tourist and locals that both feed bears around their cabins. Luckily they weren't hurt as the bears become more habituated, but after a while these bears became a nuisance and then the call goes out. These stupid people don't understand that these bears are still wild animals and not some sort of pet. Long story short if they only understood that their fun recreational feeding of bears will turn it into a trouble maker and will probably end up a death sentence for the bear.
We have this type of stupidity happen all the time on the Apostle Islands. The only island that is inhabited is Madiline Island, some of the other islands you can boat to and camp, there is also a dock for your boat. The tourists think its great to feed the bears. The National Park Service then has to close the Island down, trap the bear (bear waits on the dock for food when boats approach) relocate the bear and or eventually euthanize the bear. One guy even started feeding the wolves up here. DNR was notified, thank goodness it was stopped.
Checked some bear dens today that had bears in them earlier, but the vacancy signs are out now. Maybe they were out on a walk-about, but no tracks from the recent snow.
Its cool how they rake leaves into the den.
MF - I believe I could be very comfortable in some of the dens I've come across as long as they aren't occupied. lol
I was shed hunting saturday when I was in some thick cover. Something was off when I noticed someone had trimmed off some branches on a downed balsam fir. I walked around the blowdown and was about 8 feet from momma bear in a ground nest instead of a den. I could here the young cubs sounding off softly. she was looking at me through the thick cover so I quietly left the scene without any more disturbance.
Its amazing how they can make camp & hibernate anywhere.
Do the Cubs wake up and start getting antsy before the mothers? If so, do they wander far from the den? Is this a likely reason why the pics of the cub are posted above? Or is it more likely the mother died somehow?
The pictures above is not a cub, its a yearling, it would be the bears 3rd winter. "Do the Cubs wake up and start getting antsy before the mothers?" Although in a hibernation state, slow heart rate, change in body temperature, bears awaken easily. If you were to look in a bear den at any time, they would be looking right back at you. The cubs usually will never wander away from the den without there Mother.
The yearling your referring to in the picture, yes, its possible the mother was killed during the hunting season, or hit by a vehicle and killed etc or another reason could be is the young bears Mother will be having more cubs. I don't know to much about the circumstances on the bear in the photos but I wouldn't doubt it that this bear was hand feed last Summer & Fall.
Thank you for some clarification. It looks so small I assumed it was born just last year. Knowing that they stay with their mothers for a couple years is what made me curious as to why it would be by itself. I've only ever seen one bear in the wild on its feet and one in the den near my mil's house so my knowledge of them is minimal at best.
Crusader - New cubs seem to be alert most of the time. I've never seen them even leave the den unless mom came out first. She usually has them out and close to the entrance where she trains and disciplines them. One thing I've noticed with sows is she trains her cubs with an iron fist. This picture is of sow exiting the den after her winter sleep. One thing I was constantly corrected on when I volunteered with some bear researchers was when I said hibernation. It is a common misconception that bears hibernate during the winter. While bears tend to slow down during the winter, they are not true hibernators. The main difference between hibernation and torpor is that during torpor, the animal is able to wake up easily if hurt or threatened by predators. Pregnant female bears can also wake up from torpor to give birth, then go back to sleep afterwards!
Crusader - New cubs seem to be alert most of the time. I've never seen them even leave the den unless mom came out first. She usually has them out and close to the entrance where she trains and disciplines them. One thing I've noticed with sows is she trains her cubs with an iron fist. This picture is of sow exiting the den after her winter sleep. One thing I was constantly corrected on when I volunteered with some bear researchers was when I said hibernation. It is a common misconception that bears hibernate during the winter. While bears tend to slow down during the winter, they are not true hibernators. The main difference between hibernation and torpor is that during torpor, the animal is able to wake up easily if hurt or threatened by predators. Pregnant female bears can also wake up from torpor to give birth, then go back to sleep afterwards!
Sorry about the double post. New cubs outside the den for what have may been the first few days of exiting.
Nursing her cubs at den entrance.
That's really cool Hoot...
Thanks for those pictures, was that from a trail camera or where you there.
Trail camera pic's. Just cropped and enlarged.
Thank you very much for some extra education Hoot! Just one more reason I love this site. It's mostly bullshit with a lot of knowledge in the middle. I like the bullshit and love the knowledge! That last pic is awsome. It looks like you were just a few yds away.
There was a dead bear in the median of 53 today just south of Bloomer. I noticed it at the last second but the glance I got, it looked fairly good sized. It was gone by the time I came back from Eau Claire.
I was at johnnie's and saw the bear that day. The bear was helping himself to whatever was on the ground. I didn't actually see anyone giving it food directly. The most disturbing part was watching kids walk up to ot and try petting it. What the hell are the parents thinking? It's not the family pet for f sakes! It's still a wild animal. Watching the animal people try to tranquilize it wasn't the most pleasant to watch either. It took him quite a few tries and the little feller was not happy about it.
Rut - There always seems to be numerous bears hit between Bloomer and Chetek. A friend of mine headed north for the last weekend of bear season got his by the northbound wayside a few years ago.
I know one of the threads discussed wolves and bears. I wonder if wolves find a bear den if they would dig it up to kill it?
JackPine Acres.....They don't need to dig it up, they most likely just crawl right in and snatch and drag out those cubs and smaller bears out. Contrary to popular belief, sows will not protect there cubs as one would think. When cornered (in a den) unfortunately its survival of the fittest, she knows she is beat and cant fight properly and probably will sacrifice her vulnerable cubs so she herself can survive. But I do believe a bigger older more mature Sow will put up a fight. Out in the open when her cubs are a few months older it might be a different story, but then again they are able to climb a tree to safety.
Here's a bear story I thought I'd throw in,...bear with me for a bit while I set this up.
For many years, back in the 50s, 60s, and I believe into the 70s, famous WI bowhunter Art LaHa , at his "The Bear Bar", restaurant, and lodge in Winchester in Vilas Co., kept a pet black bear in a double cyclone fence cage out back, behind his business on the edge of the woods. He had a number of different bears over the years and his animals were well known as a tourist attraction that brought in customers. All the locals knew about the caged bear and most vacationers sooner or later heard about it. You could walk right up to the cage and be within, literally, two feet of an actual, live WI black bear! You could not touch the bear because of the double fence, but you were very close to it. Some visitors found a way to feed the bear through the fence. But it was safe, the bear was in a secure cage. No problem, right?
One day around noon Art was tending bar for the local lunch crowd when a lady came in with her two kids and complained about the bear. She raised quite a fuss and was disappointed her kids couldn't feed or pet it. They had heard about the bear and brought a bag of donuts to feed him. It seems when she pulled into the lot and parked, one kid opened the car door with the donuts in hand. Right away, a bear approached, looked mean, growled, and snatched away the bag of donuts, and then took off. Disappointed, the kids were scared and crying. They never got to pet the bear.
Art and the locals all looked at each other, puzzled. How could this be? Art asked a friend to check out back and see if all was OK. In a couple seconds he was back and said everything was fine. Art and everyone knew what happened. Art apologized, of course, and said he'd train the bear to be friendlier. As the locals snickered & chuckled, Art apologized again and tried to be nice to the lady, all the while trying to restrain his laughter.
After a bit the lady and her kids drove off, never to be seen again at "The Bear Bar". She never knew she and her kids had had a close encounter with a real, wild, free ranging WI black bear.
Art and all the locals had a good laugh over this situation. And he told the story for years at his place in Vilas Co.,...another part of the legend that was Art LaHa!
It's a true story. I first heard it in the late eighties at his place. I just hope I did not enter it too late on this thread and no guys visit here any longer. Some might get a chuckle out of it, seems better than some of the negativity being bandied about.
Case - I love those types of stories. I don't know if you knew Bill Tutt, but he had plenty of stories too.
Gordy Bentley, the owner of the Archery Center of Madison, introduced me to Bill Tutt many years ago. I certainly know the name Bill Tutt, but I doubt if he (if he's still around) would ever remember me. I met him only once or twice, very briefly, many years ago. I recall the name much more than the man.
Case - I'm sure he passed away some time back. He was quite an archer.
I was told by some friends that yet another bear got hit up here on 53 either last night or this morning. It was within a few miles if that of the one that got hit Monday.