Spring, wildlife & safety in bear country

Spring is here. The flowers are blooming, birds are chirping, and bears are waking up from their long, cozy hibernations. As we begin planting our gardens, venturing into the woods, and exploring with our favorite canine friends, let’s take a moment for an educational refresh on the safety measures to consider when interacting with bears in the wild.

“As the population in the panhandle grows we're overlapping more and more with bear wildlife habitat. A lot of people value having a hobby farm, which is great, but living in grizzly bear country there are specific steps that we advise people to take,” said T.J. Ross, regional communications manager for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game in the Panhandle region.

In 2022, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game reported an increased amount of human and grizzly encounters in the Panhandle region. While this might sound scary right off the bat, none of the incidents resulted in human injury. Many of the recorded incidents occurred on private property and resulted in the loss of livestock.

“We didn’t see any outdoor recreationist have a negative encounter with a grizzly bear; it was all centered around homeowners down in the valleys who reported bears coming out of the mountains and getting into livestock,” Ross said.

Ross said that because of this, the department is putting a huge emphasis on helping educate landowners on how to protect their property. So far, they insist that the first line of defense should be putting up an electric fence as this is the most effective step for keeping bears off of your property and out of your gardens.

Though protecting livestock is a big focus for Ross and the department in 2023, this article will focus more on how we can best prepare and interact with wildlife on trails and in the outdoors. It will cover some educational insights about bears and their activity as well as safety precautions you can take if coming in contact with a bear.

For starters, bear attacks are rare. According to the National Park Service, there’s a 1 in 1.2 million chance of being attacked — that’s 0.02%. While bears are known to be aggressive wild animals, they’re not known for proactively hunting humans. The primary cause of bear attacks in North America is that the bears are protecting their food or cubs.

According to the USDA Forest Service, about 35-40 grizzly bears reside in the Selkirk Mountains with another 30-40 occupying the Cabinet-Yaak ecosystem of Idaho and Montana. It’s well known that bears come out of hibernation in the spring but with recent wild weather patterns, it’s hard to put a finger on when each season starts and ends. First sightings of brown and black bears vary from year to year and depend on the snowpack and winter conditions, according to Ross.

“Our officers are out and about every spring and typically start seeing tracks in the snow or start getting reports of bear sightings in late March and early April,” Ross said. “[Bears] are out and about now. We’ve gotten those reports already.”

The panhandle region is home to both black and brown bears, which hibernate similarly. They eat for three seasons and venture off to find a cozy spot where they can lay low and preserve energy for the entire winter.

“A lot of people think, because of what they see in the movies, that bears like going into caves which is usually not the case,” Ross said. “They like a root wad from an upended tree that they can hunker down under or a little notch in the mountainside. [They like] the idea of a cubby hole, they like to feel tucked in somewhere.”

Female bears give birth to their offspring while in hibernation which is why it can be extra problematic when running into a mama and her cubs. They’ve been nursing all winter long and when springtime rolls around, the cubs come out wanting to explore while the mothers are eager to teach them how to survive in the wild.

“When running into a female bear with its cubs, the threat becomes much higher for both human and bear because of the main priority to protect their young at all costs,” Ross said. “They’re willing to stand their ground to do that and neutralize the threat if they have to.”

Ross used the term “neutralize” frequently while talking on the subject. He made it clear that neutralizing the threat, potentially a human, isn’t always the main goal for the animal. How a bear responds to an encounter depends on a handful of factors.

The most threatening factor for a bear is surprise. Quite simply, any time a bear is surprised it will elicit one of two responses: It runs away or stands its ground. If you happen to cross paths with one of these furry giants, you should start slowly backing away, calmly alert the bear that you’re there, and grab your bear spray.

“If you’re walking through an area and see bear signs, yell, be loud, make it known that you’re a human so that if you do come up on a bear it knows that you’re there and it’s surprised by the fact that you’re there,” Ross said.”

Prior to this point, it’s advised that you check the expiration date on your bear spray and know how to use it. Not sure how? Here’s a quick lesson: Start with a few short bursts so that you don’t waste it all at once. Because it only travels up to 25 feet, you’ll need to try and stay as calm as possible then aim at the bear's feet if it starts charging at you.

“What you’re trying to do is create a cloud of bear spray that the bear is going to run through,” Ross said. “You’re not trying to hit it in the face with it—That’s a really fast-moving, small target when you’re in the moment.”

Fortunately and unfortunately, bear spray works best when the animal is closest. Ross reiterated, multiple times, you don’t want to waste your bear spray all at once or when it’s too far away from you.

“Bear spray isn’t a preventative deterrent. It’s not like mosquito repellent,” Ross said. “It’s meant for the moment when a bear is charging you.”

Interestingly, not all black bears are black and not all grizzlies are brown. While grizzlies are typically brown with a grayish appearance at the end of their fir, Ross noted the many videos the department has of jet-black grizzly bears. The same goes for black bears. While many of them are descriptors of their name, black bears also exist in many colors, including brown.

“They can be a light brown, yellowish color, they can be a solid brown, a cinnamon color. There are many different color phases of black bears and we have them all here in the Panhandle,” Ross said. “The best way to identify the difference between a brown bear and a black bear is to take note the neck and profile of the face.”

Grizzlies have hump over the top of their shoulders and a dish-shaped profile where as black bears have a straight side profile to their face and no hump on their shoulders. When looking at a grizzly, you can see the concave, cable dish-like feature from the top of its forehead down to its nose.

“Another clear difference is claw length,” Ross said. “But if you’re identifying a bear based on its claw length you’re probably too close already. Grizzly bears have longer claws whereas black bears have much shorter claws.”

In general, grizzly bears are more dangerous. They’re stronger, more powerful, and have more of a territorial defense response than black bears.

“If a grizzly feels threatened, they know how big and strong they are so they’re much more inclined to neutralize the threat rather than run from it,” Ross said. “A black bear will typically run from a threat to get away from it. They don’t have that same desire to neutralize it.”

When coming out of hibernation, bears have one thing on their mind: Food.

"They come out of hibernation and they’re ready to eat,” Ross said. “Their goal all spring, summer, and fall is to pack on enough weight to get through the next hibernation season.”

Bears feast on the highest calorie-dense foods they can find. Luckily for us, wild bears typically start looking for grass shoots in the early season and transition to berries and other greens as the season moves from spring to summer and into fall. Bears that are found in residential areas, however, have a pattern of seeking out bird feeders, trash, and livestock.

“Like most animals, bears come out right at sunrise and at sunset,” Ross said. “The caveat is that when bears come out of their dens they’re actively feeding and will alternate between feeding and napping all day long.”

As touched on earlier, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game saw an increased number of grizzlies honing in on livestock in the Panhandle region.

“Down in southeastern Idaho near Yellowstone, most of their grizzly bear problems revolve around food conditioning like bears coming in to get into dog food, grills, garbage, or whatever it is,” Ross said.

Speaking of dogs, when hiking trails in a wild area, the recommendation is to always have your pet on a leash.

“Any pet owner has probably experienced this: If your dog is running off leash and encounters something that scares it or piques its curiosity, they typically poke and prod at it, get the other animal fired up, then they get scared and come running back to you,” Ross said.

For those of us who ignore the leash recommendation, placing a bear bell on your pet can help eliminate the element of surprise. According to research conducted by the University of Calgary, out of 92 studied attacks, 49 of them involved dogs. That’s more than half of all attacks. Ross reiterated that the best precaution is to keep your dog on a leash.

If you’ve ever questioned whether you need to be cautious about taking snacks into the woods while hiking, you’re not alone.

“If you’re camping overnight and you’re in bear country then you need to think about not bringing food into the tent, not getting it on your clothes, and making sure that you hang your food from a tree when speeding the night,” Ross said. “But for day hikes it’s not a concern. It’s not typical bear behavior to smell something in your backpack while you’re walking and follow you to get it.”

Ross mentioned that bears tend to hone into the high mountain meadow areas in early spring. They also like old logging roads where the trees have been cleared out above them and grass is growing where snow has melted off.

Although the panhandle of Idaho and other areas nearby are known as bear country, the likeliness of crossing paths with a grizzly or black bear is extremely minimal. In the unlikely instance when it does happen, a high majority of the time that a bear will see you as a threat and run away like most other animals.

For more education regarding all things bear safety, go online to idfg.idaho.gov or follow them on Instagram or Facebook @idahofishandgame.

Landowners who are looking for assistance or more educational materials for “living in bear country” can contact the Panhandle Regional Office at 208-769-1414.