Abundant natural food may make bear hunting tougher

Posted by Wayne G.Barber
Maine’s bear season began Monday, and hunters who are heading afield won’t just be matching wits with the animals this year. They’ll also be dueling with Mother Nature as they try to fill their tags.

Matt Knox Sept. 12, 2012 699 pounds and a new Maine State Record

According to a state bear biologist, luring bears into bait will likely be more difficult this fall for a simple reason: There’s so much natural food in the woods, bears will have plenty of choices as they make their way through the buffet line.
“This year is, perhaps, the strongest natural food year for bears that we have seen for quite a while,” biologist Randy Cross of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife said in a recent email.
That’s bad news for hunters.
Cross leads the field crew on the state’s long-term bear research project, and spends the spring and early summer capturing bears to “recruit” new animals for the project. Female bears are fitted with radio collars that allow biologists to visit their dens during the winter months, check their health and see how many cubs they’ve produced.
“After we have weighed the yearlings in their dens next winter, we will be able to compare [this year] more accurately to other superfood years like 1996 and 2006,” Cross wrote. “But just from looking around at nature’s bounty, it looks pretty outstanding to me.”
Cross explained that when bears can find the natural foods they crave in abundance, they are less likely to visit bait sites, which despite a hunter’s best efforts, are recognized as non-natural and associated with humans by the bears.
So, what are the bears eating this summer?
“Hazelnuts and beechnuts are both going to influence bear behavior and movement this fall,” Cross wrote. “Apples are also super-abundant in the portions of the state that have apple trees. Of the dozen or so foods that most profoundly impact bears from late summer through fall, most are either abundant or moderately abundant.”
There is a silver lining for hunters though, Cross wrote.
With so much food on the landscape, the animals will not be eager to head to their dens for the winter. During years when food is not available, bears will den early and be unavailable for late-season hunters.
“This year, bears should be active through October for dog hunters and trappers to pursue, as well as in November for deer hunters,” Cross wrote.
According to the DIF&W, a year ago 11,345 hunters purchased a permit that allowed them to hunt bears. Of those, about 30 percent of bear hunters successfully fill their tags, the department said.
Bear season consist of three segments in Maine. Hunters are allowed to use bait from Aug. 31 until Sept. 26, with dogs from Sept. 14 to Oct. 30 and still-hunting or stalking bears is allowed from Aug. 31 to Nov. 28.
The state estimates Maine’s bear population at more than 31,000.Source; John Holyoke BDN Outdoors