Watch Out For Black Bears!

Did you know that the State of Maine has the highest population of black bears in the contiguous U.S. and this is the time of year when they are very active mostly due to that rumbly in the tumbly. They will be active all summer into to fall but right now in the early spring the natural foods bears love to eat are scarce.

Keep in mind that black bears really don't want anything to do with you but that can't be said for the many things that bears find attractive, and many of those are in our control to take care of. Bird seeds, garbage, grills, and even live stock and pet food are all things that bears are drawn to, especially this time of year in the early spring when much of the bears food sources haven't developed yet.

Bear encounters are quite rare, personally, I think I have only seen a bear twice in the wild and I spend quite a bit of time in the outdoors, attacks are even more rare, but trust me they are out there, I see bear sign quite regularly, marking, droppings, and tracks are about if you look closely and often in more urban type environments than you may realize, they are just really good at staying out of sight.

The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife has put together several PDFs that are free to aid you in avoiding bear encounters in the woods, or backyard and also some ways that you can identify potential conflicts with bears.

CLICK HERE to learn more and access more information from the DIFW.

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