Every Spring juvenile boar bears are forced out on their own. As they search for a new home range they often wander through territory that is traditionally not bear country such was the case this weekend in Raleigh and parts of Durham. Much of the news is around town is the bear or bears depending on who you talk to. Today many people had to ask me about the bears and my thoughts on where they came from and how they got here.
For the most part if the bears are left alone they’ll just travel through the area and get to a place more suited for bears then the urban areas around Raleigh. That is the approach that the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission takes and they’ll not respond unless a bear gets stuck. How does a bear get stuck? Often being chased by people or forced to start running in urban areas. They often will find a tree and climb up it. Sometimes people can back off and it will come down and continue on its way. Putting the bear under stress or cornering it will only encourage an altercation.
One of the news reports from this weekend reported that one citizen went and got a shotgun but by the time he returned the bear was gone. I would not suggest that anyone shoot a bear in an urban area, or out of season without good cause. Walking through your yard is not enough provocation to kill a bear. Additionally a wounded bear in the wild makes us with experience pucker never mind having it in a urban area where it could easily encounter a person or multiple people.
Finally one of the hardest things to do is to judge how big a bear is. Reports of a hundred pound bear and a two hundred pound bear are more then likely the same bear. If I’ve learned anything from being in hunt camps the average person can not accurately judge the size of a bear. The fear factor associated with seeing a bear tends to take away the ability to judge the size of the bear. Reports that this is a sow (200lb) bear with a cub (100lb) is highly unlikely. Cubs born this winter will not weigh more then 50lbs, even during the fall hunting season cubs don’t often hit 100lbs.
My advice if you encounter a bear on your way out of your subdivision tomorrow give him space.
Story by Dan McLaughlin AKA Moose
