While some outdoors man and women eagerly look to see a bear when they are on a nature trail, others are apprehensive about what could be quite an aggressive encounter. If you are an old pro at understanding bear etiquette, it usually steers you clear of possible trouble. However do remember that encounters are always a possibility. In general, a hiker will want to be aware of common bear signs, avoid high use areas, declare that you are human, and by all means make sure your camp is always clean.
Looking for Bear Clues
Looking for evidence of basic bear signs does not require any high degree of tracking expertise, but rather a simple awareness of what is on-and off-the trail. There are several tremendous tracking books that you can buy on the market today. “A Field Guide to Animal Tracks” by Olaus Murie is a classic and highly recommended. Another great book for bear tracking is the book entitled “A Field Guide to Mammal Tracking in North America” by James Halfpenny. Both of these books offer great tutorials and are compact enough to easily fit into your backpack.
Bears usually leave four primary signs: tracks, waste, scratches on trees, and food.
How to Locate Bear Tracks
The first sign to look for are bear tracks. These tracks are very distinctive and usually can be identified with an impression that leaves all five toes and claw marks. (You can easily distinguish the spoor of grizzly bears and black bears by the distance between a claw toe marks.); surprisingly, the hind bear prints look almost human.
Bear Waste
Waste varies greatly in the shape and consistency, but one thing is definitely certain, it’s of humongous proportions. The bear’s droppings are typically larger than any of the other carnivores and at times can be very easy to distinguish.
Tree Marks
The scratches on trees from black and brown bears are frequent traits of both . One thing that is hard to determine is the time frame upon when the tree was scratched. Some of these scratches you encounter could be decades old. Some other details to look for in determining the time frame of the scratch are: oozing sap, exposing greenwood, or edged dangling ribbon may indicate a more recent occurrence.
Feeding
Looking for feeding signs can take many different forms. For example, a shattered log is sometimes are clues that a bear has recently been around looking for grubs in decaying wood. Look for mountainsides that have been heavily excavated possibly from grizzly bears chasing ground squirrels and marmots; half eaten fish parts that are littered next to a stream could be a sure sign. All of these possibilities should always be cross referenced with other clues such as the bear’s tracks and other signs. The most dangerous sign is if you locate an animal carcass that is partially bury: when bears are scavenging for food, they tend to be very territorial, and it’s possible the are resting in a nearby day bed somewhere in close proximity of the carcass, looking for any unwelcome guest. If you find any such evidence like this, leave the area immediately.
Heavy use areas
By doing a little research before you set out on your journey, you can easily avoid areas that are commonly known to be regular trails of these mighty bruins. Check online forums that have people who may have recently traveled the area you are thinking. Either contact them directly or take a look at the strings to see if anybody has any suggestions on areas that should be avoided. It could be possible that during certain seasons, Food Resources are in high abundance as well as landscapes. If it’s the spawning season for fish such as trout or salmon, then you can be sure it will attract both black and grizzly bears. Spawning streams are definite places where hikers will want to avoid.
Another thing to be mindful of is the fact that bears at times will start to make human trails their primary route. If you are hiking during dusk or dawn, it’s highly probable you may encounter one taking the same path that you are on. To minimize this possible risk, (Follow these suggestions to help you mitigate this risk) never camp along the trails, make sure you situate your campsite-if you’re not using a preset one-away from paths that have ridge lines and valley bottoms. Avoid areas that provide dense thicket or tree Groves as they are commonly used by bears for daybeds.
Human Aspect
Aside from habitual expectations to expect food which is very uncommon in North America, or in extreme rare instances of being predatory, bears have no interest interacting with humans. To get a better experience, some hikers will travel quietly through the landscape to get a better appreciation of the wildlife, but where bears are known to be frequent; a much louder approach would be suggested. By talking at normal levels or even slightly higher volumes which are companions is always much safer with bears-you’ll definitely want to alert them of your approach. The human voice tends to carry better than bear balls and it makes it easier to identify you.
If you find yourself in areas of limited visibility or with a sound to be muffled, such as near streams be sure to shout and Clap your hands. A popular-and polite-approach that is often used is a loud firm announcement: “Hey, bear! Hey, bear!”
Clean Camp A Must
Make sure that never leave any trash are food anywhere around. A very dangerous thing to occur while out in bear country is if you have a dirty camp that attracts one to your vicinity do too the scent of foods they carry odors. Be sure to keep these types of supplies in bear proof containers or attached high to a tree (away from the trunk) when these items are not in use. Any one was around grizzlies, should highly ponder separating where you eat to where you sleep. You might even want to go as far as changing close after cooking and eating as these could potentially tracked unwelcome guests.
In conclusion, it’s always nice to get as close as we can to the outdoors, but safety should be always at the top especially when dealing with bear country.
Sources:
1. Olaus J. Murie, Mark Elbroch. “Peterson Field Guide to Animal Tracks.” 2005.
2. James Halfpenny. “A Field Guide to Mammal Tracking in North America.” 1986.