170 North Main Street, PO Box 231, Albion, New York 14411 ||| Phone 585-589-5641 ||| Fax 585-589-1239

Local News

Black Bears II
By Douglas H. Domedion

Male black bear on the lookout for a mate.
Male black bear on the lookout for a mate.

The black bear is a relatively new large mammal that has been missing from our area for a long time, and it has some unique habits and interesting life cycles.

The reproduction cycle is a very interesting part of their lives. Females, called sows, can successfully mate at the age of 2 ½ years, but most don’t until 3 ½ or 4 ½, with poor habitat causing a delay to 6 ½ or 7 ½ years. In most cases she will produce cubs every other year, although again poor habitat (food) may cause them to skip a year or two beyond the normal.

Males, called boars, are sexually mature at 2 ½ years, but again habitat or poor food production years may delay this until 3 ½ to 5 ½ . These delayed mating ages are nature’s way of saving energy and keeping bears relatively healthy.
Mating season takes place about a month after the dormant (hibernation) stage in the winter is broken, and the male is the one who does the traveling around looking for a mate.

Another of nature’s reproduction survival techniques is delayed implantation. The female is actually pregnant for seven months, but the cubs don’t begin developing until the winter hibernation period. Then the development progresses quickly over the next six to eight weeks. This process coordinates with the mother’s peak condition and by the time they emerge from their winter nap things have also improved dramatically for the cub’s survival. The birth and nursing takes place while the mother is taking her winter nap.

When the cubs are born, usually around January and February, they weigh about 12 ounces and there may be one to five little guys however two or three is the norm. They are void of fur, but it grows quickly and their eyes open at about six weeks. By late March, just before the sow awakes and leaves the den, a cub will weigh around seven pounds.

These winter dens are not as large as most would think. Gary Alt, a well-known bear biologist from Pennsylvania, found that the average den entrance is 17 to 18 inches high and wide with the inside being around 5 ½ feet long, 32 inches wide and 23 inches high. Not much of a den for such a large animal.

After the den is abandoned the cubs will nurse until about August. The mother and cubs remain together until after the cub’s second winter, at which time they break up and the sow is ready for another mating season. The yearling males (second-winter bears) disperse great distances (80 to 100 miles), which prevents inbreeding. These are the bears that usually show up during the summer in our area, looking for their own territory. Once the bears reach the adult stage they usually become solitary animals except for the mating season and of course while the sow raises her cubs.

Bear tracks are not always conspicuous because their large soft foot pads only make impressions on soft, sandy ground and of course snow. The tracks consist of the imprints of the pads and sometimes the toes. The front foot pad on an average bear is around 3 ½ to 4 inches wide. The rear foot pad will be 5 to 6 inches in length and is similar to a print left by a barefoot person.

Another sign is the clawing or chewing marks left on trees. These markings are usually as high as the bear can reach while standing on his hind legs and seem to be territory markings made by males. Their function is similar to the scrapes made by whitetail deer bucks on the ground during the mating season. However some tree markings, with bark stripped off, are the result of bears feeding on the sapwood of the tree in the spring. Another tree sign occurs in the fall when they may break down limbs of apple, pear or cherry trees to get to the fruit. Other claw markings will be toe scraping grooves where a bear has climbed a tree in the spring looking for buds and catkins.

Bear feces is large and similar to a human’s. Its contents usually shows signs of what the bear has been eating (such as berries, acorn shells and etc.) and its size is usually an indication of the size of the bear.

Long black hair on the lower strands of a barbwire fence or on a tree where the bear has rubbed or clawed a tree is another sure sign a bear was there. Circular beds in grass or at the base of a tree may also tip you off of a bear being in the area (deer beds are more elongated).

If you see a bear consider yourself lucky, as they are seldom seen as they prefer to avoid people, but remember to keep your distance. Don’t try to feed them and avoid any groups of bears as it is probably a sow with her cubs and you don’t want to see the bad side of a mother bear!

My contact information is 585-798-4022 or www.woodduck2020@yahoo.com.

View more local news in Lake Country