Black Bears

Black bears(scientific name: Ursus americanus) are an important and impressive part of Wisconsin's dwindling wild landscape. They are our largest omnivore and one of the largest native animals you will see in the great Northwoods.

Looks are Everything

Adult male bears, called boars, average 4.5 to 6 feet in length and weigh 250-500 pounds, with the average being 300-400 pounds. The smaller females, or sows, weigh 225-450 pounds and measure 4 to 4.5 feet long. Infant bears, called cubs, are born quite tiny but by the time they are two months old, they weigh about 6 pounds. When standing on all four paws, adult bears measure 2 to 3 feet tall at their shoulders. The largest bear ever recorded in Wisconsin was documented in 1963 at an astounding 700 pounds! But that's the exception to the rule.

The black bear is covered with dense, coarse black fur. About 25 percent of Wisconsin's bears have white markings of various shapes and sizes on their chests. Brown and cinnamon color phases occur in Wisconsin, but are not common. The bear's rounded, black head tapers to a long, slightly curved nose, or muzzle, that is usually tan in color. Its head has prominent round ears, small black eyes and a short, stubby, inconspicuous four-inch tail usually concealed by its body fur. Bears lumber about on short, sturdy legs in a methodical, pigeon-toed manner, with head and body swinging from side to side. This behavior, together with the thick layer of fat under the skin, gives black bears a bulky, massive yet roly-poly appearance.

Despite their unassuming appearance, bears are very strong, especially in their legs and shoulders. When they need to, they can gallop over 30 miles per hour. Black bears can stand erect on their hind legs and walk in this position for a few steps. They are also very good at climbing trees. In fact, black bears are the only North American bears that can climb trees. They seem to enjoy water and are good swimmers. They drink frequently and often wallow and bathe in shallow pools.

Tracks and Trails

Black bears are timid, very wary and solitary by nature. So, consider yourself fortunate if you chance to see one. They are most active at twilight though they sometimes are out and about anytime, day or night. Black bears are most often sighted between mid-May and late-September. Bears are generally afraid of people. They will usually be the first to flee when they sense a person is near. Even if you don't get the opportunity to see a black bear in the wild, you may happen upon one of their tell-tale signs:

Tracks: You may see a bear's paw prints in early or late snows, in wet sandy areas near a lake shore, or in muddy areas along a riverbank or at the edge of a swamp. A bear has furry feet, so its tracks are often indistinct, particularly in grasslands or forests. Even if you can't find the individual tracks, you may be able to find the well-worn, linear trails that bears make through grassy areas at the edge of forests and swamps. On good tracking ground, like mud or snow, the tracks are more defined.

The bear's hind foot track is about 3.5 to 4 inches wide and about 7 inches long with five toes and a long, slightly kidney-shaped foot pad. Its front track is about 3 to 4 inches across, and about 4 inches long. The front print also has five toes but it has a short oval foot pad. Unlike a person's toes, a bear's toes are equipped with long, curved, non-retractable 1.25 inch claws that aid it in hunting, climbing trees, and tearing open logs to search for insects. Its claws are about as long as each toe, though you may only see the tip of the claw in the track.

Bear Trees: Look for smooth-barked trees, such as aspen or birch, that have distinct slashes made by the bear's claws as it climbed a tree. Sometimes, bears will chew on pine, spruce and fir trees, vigorously ripping and tearing off strips of bark near the base of the tree. They seem to enjoy eating the juicy, sticky pitch inside the bark and will scrape this off with their front teeth, leaving vertical tooth marks. Bears also intentionally mark trees to identify their territory and breeding status. They will repeatedly rub themselves on specific trees, grasping and clawing the tree as high as they can reach. Look for these prominent trees along well-worn trails.



Other Signs: Look for torn up stumps and logs where bears have searched for insect grubs. The forest floor is often swept clean of all plants and litter around these bear logs. A mauled berry patch is a good indication that a hungry bear has feasted on the ripening fruit. Their droppings, called feces or scat by biologists, are large, dark brown, and soft, often filled with fruit skins and seeds.

Vocalizations: Listen for loud growls during June and early July when breeding boars fight over a sow. Sows "woof-woof" when they warn their cubs of danger and whimper to call their cubs. Bears bellow when in pain or when they feel threatened by other bears or people. When handled by researchers studying the animal, or when they are in danger, cubs will bawl.

Ways of the Wild

Black bears have an excellent sense of smell, but only moderate hearing, and rather poor eyesight. A bear downwind of you would have a difficult time spotting you, if you stood completely still.

Black bears tend to be loners. Boars and sows may stay together for a few days during the breeding season; and sows stay with their cubs, but otherwise, bears travel alone. Boars wander through a territory of up to 27 square miles whereas sows generally wander only about 5 miles from her den.

Black bear personalities are quite varied. In general, black bears have very calm dispositions, going about their daily foraging and lounging activities in a passive manner. Immature bears can be particularly quiet and shy. Cubs are especially playful, not only on their own, but with their siblings and mother.

As passive as they behave when alone, however, bears become quite unsociable toward other bears during the breeding season. Boars become rough and aggressive and fight fiercely with each other while competing for a sow. Females, especially those with cubs, become very defensive, assertive and even aggressive. A sow may engage in combat with other females in her territory. If you happen to come between a sow bear and her cubs while hiking in the wilds of Wisconsin's northwoods, the sow is likely to act aggressively toward you, since you pose a potential threat to her cubs.

Black bears communicate with each other through scent as well as through vocalizations. Often, a bear signals its presence in an area by marking a "bear tree" by repeatedly clawing, biting and rubbing scent on the tree. Because bears want to communicate with other bears in their territory, they generally select trees along major game trails or other prominent trees where they spend a lot of time.

Black bears are most active between April and November. By late November bears ready themselves for the long winter ahead. They spend the entire winter in a small den. Most commonly, bears dig out dens under the roots of an overturned tree or in a hillside, but sometimes they may select a sheltered rock cave, a hollow tree, hollow stump or a nook in a dense thicket, brushpile or conifer stand. Near urban areas, they may make their den in road culverts or foundations of abandoned buildings. The dens are usually just big enough to accommodate the bear itself, or a sow and her cubs. Typically, the dens are only about 4 feet wide and lined with leaves, moss and bark. Sometimes, part of the bear is exposed to the outside and becomes covered with snow.

Once snug in their dens, bears fall into torpor, or a deep sleep, and live off the body fat they, hopefully, accumulated during their autumn eating binge. This deep winter sleep, is not a state of true hibernation, because their body temperature, heartbeat, respiration and metabolism do not drop to the near-death state that occurs in true hibernating mammals, such as chipmunks, ground squirrels or woodchucks. Dormant bears can be easily awakened from their winter sleep. At times, bears walk around in winter. This may be due to a warm spell, or because they are under stress because they did not have an adequate supply of fat before they entered their winter dens.

Once bears emerge from their dens in mid-March, they wander considerable distances in search of food. Boars range the farthest. They make their home in a 15 to 27-square mile area. Sows generally restrict their home boundaries to a 5-square mile radius. They may not eat much for the first few days out of the den since they are just waking up. When they first emerge, their coats look healthy and shiny, but soon they begin to shed their winter coat and then their fur looks dull, worn and patchy.

If a sow gives birth during January or early February, her cubs will crawl out of the den with her when she awakens from her long winter's nap. She communicates with her cubs by voice signals including loud "woof-woof" and whimpering sounds.

Bears mate in June and early July when the sows become reproductively responsive for a few days. As these sows wander around their territory, they lay down scent trails for boars to follow. Black bears are able to breed when they are 2 1/2 years old. Since it takes young black bears 2 years to be on their own, sows do not breed every year. They come into breeding status every other year.

Once a boar finds a sow, he will chase her until they successfully mate. They stay together for only a brief time. Both males and females will breed with several mates. The boar does not stay with the sow after he's finished with breeding, so he never knows his own cubs.

During the 225-day (7 1/2 months) gestation period, the fertilized egg floats free in the uterus of the sow for the first 5 to 6 months. Then, in late November or early December, the egg implants itself into the uterine wall and begins to grow. This phenomenon is called delayed implantation. The eggs grow in the female until January or early February when the cubs are born. Their mother is still in her winter sleep when they are born. Sometimes the mother gives birth to a single cub or triplets, but the norm is two cubs.

At birth, cubs are tiny: only 6 to 8 inches long, weighing only 7 to 12 ounces! Their eyes are closed and their fur is sparse. They grow slowly for the first few days but then develop more rapidly. They open their eyes in about 25 to 30 days. The cubs eventually leave their den in late March with the female. The sow is a very attentive, protective teacher, feeding her cubs and gallantly protecting them from other adult bears, especially boars who would kill the cubs. If a sow and her cubs are disturbed by people, she usually moves her family to a new location, carrying the cubs cat-like by the nape of their neck.

Although cubs are able to take care of themselves by the time they are 6 months old, they remain with the sow for the next 2 years. During this time, the sow does not breed again because she must tend to the needs of her cubs for the next full year.

The cubs usually sleep with the sow in the den the following winter, which is their second winter with her. This extended time spent with the sow increases the cubs' chances of survival. During their second spring, the cubs are encouraged to live on their own. As the sow comes into breeding status again, she chases her cubs away. The cubs reach full size in 4 to 6 years.

During the long days of late spring and summer the bears eat to replenish their lost fat. Occasionally, they will use summer shelters in concealed places such as dense shrubbery by a log, tree or rock. Come autumn, they really focus on putting on the thick layer of fat they need to get them through the long winter ahead. By October, they have a brand new fur coat that is glossy black.

A Bear of a Diet

Black bears locate their food by relying on their keen sense of smell. They feed mostly at twilight and through the night until sunrise. They spend the daylight hours loafing in dense cover near their feeding areas. If food is scarce in a particular year, bears will wander much farther from their home territory in search of food. During these years, bears can be seen more frequently during daylight hours.

Black bears have large canine teeth, but their molars are flattened for grinding and chewing tough plant food, rather than slicing through flesh. Plants make up a large portion of their diet. However, they will eat just about anything: fruits, berries, green leaves, tubers, acorns, nuts, ants, beetles, bees, insect larvae, honey, fish, mice, squirrels, eggs, dead animals, grease on camping grills, garbage, you name it. Scientists call this type of diet omnivorous, which translates into "eats all."

Bears change their diet from one season to the next, depending on what's available. When bears first emerge from their den in mid-March they are very hungry. Because plants are still dormant at this time of year, the bears must rely on small mammals of the forest as their food source. They will even devour winter-killed carcasses, called carrion.

As plants begin to sprout in spring, bears switch to mostly green leaves. With their powerful forelimbs and strong claws, they rip open rotten logs and anthills to feed on the insects, eggs, and larvae hiding inside. Black bears will also tear open beehives in trees to feast on the sweet, rich honey.

During the warm months, bears often go fishing. They will sit on the bank of a stream, watch for a fish to swim by and then clumsily jump in the water after it. Unlike grizzlies in Alaska's salmon streams, black bears don't swat at the fish with their paws.

In early summer bears gorge on wild strawberries and Juneberries, then turn their attention to raspberries, gooseberries, blackberries, blueberries and elderberries as each berry ripens in its own season. Sometimes the bears eat the berries, leaves, stems and all. Other times, they appear more finicky and use their lips and tongue to delicately harvest only the berries. Being so big and brutish, they can wreak havoc on a berry patch as they trample an area while feasting on the fruit.

During late summer and fall, bears switch their diet to apples, wild grapes, acorns, beechnuts and hazelnuts that are ripening throughout the forest. The nuts are high in fat and help the bears put on the weight they need in anticipation of their long winter's sleep.

If natural food sources are scarce, bears may switch to sources of food supplied by people. They may attack domestic livestock, particularly lambs, piglets and calves. They will also raid beehives, orchards, cornfields, or the backyard birdfeeder. They can cause damage at northwoods' cabins and campgrounds when they rummage through garbage cans or tear apart greasy grills left out overnight. In such cases, bears become nuisances to people.

Survival of the Fittest

Healthy black bears can live long lives, compared to most animals. They may live to be 20 or 25 years old, with a potential to live to be 30 years old. Vehicle-bear collisions claim a few bears each year. But the number one cause of death for Wisconsin black bears is hunting by people. Hunting is the primary method wildlife biologists use to help control the black bear population from becoming too large for society to tolerate.

Diseases and parasites rarely seriously infect black bears. Ticks and fleas are typical external parasites. Internal roundworms sometimes cause trichinosis in bears. Since trichinosis can be transmitted to people, all bear meat must be thoroughly cooked before eaten.

Where in Wisconsin?

Bears prefer to live in forests near forest edges where the ground cover is thick and lush with abundant nuts and berries. They are most common in the extensive forests of northern Wisconsin where people and houses are few and far between. However, because people are rapidly invading native habitats in the great northwoods for their second homes and holiday pleasure, bears have been forced further into areas where people don't like to live: swampy areas and floodplain forests.

Because of the increasing human activity in the north, bears are being pushed into some of the wilder parts of central Wisconsin, including Buffalo, Eau Claire, and Jackson counties. Occasionally, a sighting will occur as far south as Portage, Spring Green or other areas near major rivers that act as travel lanes for wandering bears.

History of Bears in Wisconsin

At the time of Wisconsin statehood, black bears were found in every county in the state, though less frequently in the southern prairies and oak savannahs. Early Native Americans honored the bear as a supernatural being and treated the bear hunt with great ceremony and respect. They prized bear hides for robes and the meat and oil for cooking, fuel and medicines. The Native Nations in Wisconsin today still cherish and honor the black bear. The earliest white settlers, too, placed great value on bear meat and especially sought the bearskins with which they made clothing and bedding.

As more white settlers flooded into the state, however, conflict increased among bears and people. Settlers in the outskirts of cities or on farmsteads began considering bears as "noxious pests." In an attempt to deliberately reduce the bear population in areas with greater density of human settlement, people put a price tag on the bear's head, a bounty, to encourage people to kill as many bears as possible. The fact that fur traders of that era were paying high prices for bearskins also increased the hunting pressure on bears. This large-scale killing resulted in a substantial reduction in the state's black bear population. Black bears were exterminated from Wisconsin's southeastern counties by 1860. They maintained a dwindling population in the central and western counties of southern Wisconsin until the 1890s. In the wilder, hill country portions of Sauk and Richland counties bears maintained a population until well after 1900. Black bears vanished from areas near the Green Bay fur posts around 1899 and disappeared from Door County in 1900.

The large-scale logging operations of the late 1800s plus additional encroachment of people into the bear's native habitat, created even more pressure on bears. During this time period, bear numbers continued to decline until they reached their lowest point in our state's history in 1915. The old Wisconsin Conservation Department (the forerunner of today's DNR) felt that the downward trend in the black bear population was not an acceptable fate for this magnificent animal. They wanted to help the bear population flourish again. So in 1942, the Department released black bear cubs back into the wilds of Door County. Between 1937 and 1942 the Department released black bears in Adams, Jackson and Wood counties.

How's it Goin', Today?

Wisconsin has a thriving black bear population. The primary range for black bears is in the northern 1/3 of the state, but bears are being sited more frequently in the central and southern counties of Wisconsin as farm fields have been abandoned and become more brushy. Although Wisconsin's black bears are doing extremely well now, this was not always the case. Prior to 1985, unlimited and increasing harvests were causing the bear population to rapidly decline. Following a closed bear season in 1985, and with the cooperation of major hunter organizations and the passage of authorizing legislation, a new system of bear hunting and harvest control was initiated with the 1986 season. Since then, the bear population in Wisconsin has almost tripled!

Black Bear Management

Wisconsin's wildlife biologists and researchers manage the state's black bear population to ensure that the population stays healthy and within the range of tolerance of people. On the one hand, wildlife biologists work with Wisconsin's foresters and forest landowners to promote and maintain critical bear habitat. On the other hand, they use a tightly regulated hunting season to reduce the number of bears in the state. Without hunters, who are the bear's primary predator, Wisconsin's black bear population would increase to the point of becoming a nuisance to people. More livestock would be killed, more apiaries and orchards would be damaged, more cabins, backyard bird feeders, garbage cans and campgrounds would be raided by bears. Biologists carefully monitor the number of bears killed each hunting season to make sure that this number doesn't go too high.

Wildlife researchers live trap black bears in barrel traps so they can examine the bears. The researchers record such vital statistics as age, weight and sex. The trapped bears are marked with ear tags. All hunters who kill a bear having ear tags are asked to contact the DNR with information about the bear. During the hunting season, wildlife staff record the sex and age of the bears killed. The age of black bears, by the way, is determined by microscopic examination of the tooth which reveals a number of concentric rings in the root, each ring representing one year in the bear's life. By comparing the number of bears with ear tags that are killed each year with the total number of bears killed, the researchers can estimate the total bear population of Wisconsin. Researchers sometimes fit live trapped bears with radio collars that allow researchers to follow the daily and seasonal movements of the bear.

Except for a limited bear hunting season in 1917 and 1918 (November 10-December 1), black bears were unprotected in Wisconsin prior to 1930. Gun hunting for bear began in 1934 and bow hunting began in 1942. A spring trapping season was established in 1945, but has been prohibited since 1956. Gun bear hunting continued throughout the 1950's and 1960's concurrent with the November gun deer season until 1974. September gun hunting using bait and dogs was introduced experimentally in 1963, but gradually developed into an annual, 16-day framework effective through 1984.

The total number of bears killed during hunting seasons increased from 460 in the fall of 1956 to 2,798 in 2003. As mentioned above, the bear season was closed in 1985 due to high bear kills in the 1981-1984 seasons. In 1986, DNR received the needed authority to carefully and scientifically control the kill. The result was a 28-day bear hunting season using permits to control the number of bear killed. This hunting season framework has been extremely successful, resulting in a healthy bear population that is managed using a tightly regulated hunting season.

This past year, 2003, marked the thirteenth year that wildlife biologists working for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services program assisted Wisconsin DNR with bear damage and nuisance complaints. A nuisance bear is defined as any bear causing problems at bird feeders, garbage cans, dumpsters, or campgrounds. A damage bear is defined as any bear causing problems to agricultural crops, beehives, livestock, or property. Wildlife Services staff received 1,370 complaints about bears in 2003. This was up by 5% from 2002 (1,298 complaints) and 5% less than the record number of complaints (1,439) received in 1995. The majority of the complaints (80%) were nuisance complaints, 9% involved property damage, and 11% involved damage to agriculture.

In 2003, Wildlife Services staff trapped and translocated 546 problem bears. Staff provided information to people calling in with complaints. Most problems can be prevented through proper animal waste and garbage disposal, electric fencing in fields and animal corrals, and use of scare devices such as cannons, gunfire, lights and dogs. Landowners with bears causing damage can apply for technical and monetary assistance from their local governments. This program, called the Wisconsin Wildlife Abatement and Damage program, attempts to reduce bear damage to a tolerable level through the use of fences, scare devices, trapping or shooting permits.

On occasion, a bear can turn dangerous. They get used to being around people and are no longer naturally afraid of people or their scare tactics. At this point, a nuisance bear must be removed by live trapping and relocation or shooting. As a last resort, the DNR can issue a shooting permit to kill a nuisance beer out of season. Landowners can apply for shooting permits at their local DNR offices.

Although some black bears can become a nuisance, on the whole bears are a very important and beneficial part of Wisconsin's wild northwoods. With proper management, the black bear will continue to provide future hunting opportunities, as well as to make thrilling subjects for observation, photography and study. Of course, these activities are beneficial only when they are carried out safely, with respect for both bears and people.