Black bears get creative with their winter dens. You could walk right by one and not even know!
Each winter, our biologists use radio telemetry to find collared bears and monitor the population. Without collars, we’d never find them! Here’s where we found bears this winter:Blowdowns 37%Stumps 21%Brush piles 11%Ground nests 11%Excavations 5%Tree dens 5%Rock dens 5%Other 5%It won’t be long before bears sense spring and start meandering away from their excellent hiding spots. Most black bears in Maine are active from April 1 to November 1, but some emerge as early as March.
It’s not too early to remove, store, secure, and clean up common bear attractants in your yard such as bird feeders, garbage cans, and pet food.
I have mentioned bear dens before and how they are a limiting factor on bear populations. I knew they used brush but I was surprised by the one in the open. I am thinking that is very suboptimal. All the hurricane blowdown likely helped them a lot here in the last few years.