Bear Population Soars In Mountains So Does Conflicts

The Southern Appalachian Bear Study Group reports a record year for bears in Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.

Frank Van Manen, research ecologist with the University of Tennessee and chairman of the study group, said one indication of the expanding population is that bears have moved out of the mountains into areas like Piedmont in North Carolina and northern Alabama that haven’t traditionally been identified as bear habitat.
“Wildlife agencies have been incredibly successful in their bear recovery efforts,” Van Manen said. “Now, perhaps we’re dealing with the aftermath of that, with black bears moving into areas they’ve never been, or haven’t been in decades.”

KnoxNews

Conflicts with bears have also increased which is not surprising. Reports of bears killing livestock like the sow with cubs that killed a flock of chickens this past summer or the bear this week that killed a llama that was guarding a flock of sheep are somewhat unusual.

Marian Sigmon said she was taking her cat out about 6:45 a.m. when she heard the llama scream in the pasture, where the 6-foot-tall animal was stationed as a guard animal for Shetland sheep.
Sigmon and her husband, Robert, were able to chase the bear away to the edge of the pasture on Jones Cove Road. The llama was euthanized because its injuries were so severe.

Citizens Times

Conflicts with humans will naturally increase as bears move into new areas or areas with higher concentrations of humans. While with some species carrying capacity of the land is important with bears it seems that the cultural capacity is paramount.

Van Manen said that while the region may be biologically capable of supporting even more bears, it’s clear that in some areas, the population has reached its cultural capacity as determined by people’s willingness to tolerate bears visiting their bird feeders or breaking into their homes.

North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission will have to make some decisions as bear human conflicts increase.
I assume that part of tomorrow’s free lecture at NC Wildlife on Centennial Campus will cover that aspect of bear management. Educating humans about living in bear territory and those who now find themselves in bear territory can help but how much they’ll tolerate bears is just as important. Bears for the most part will avoid confrontations with humans but they are predators and will make the most of any opportunities they have. Fatal attacks on humans are rare but not unheard of.
I like bears and hope to see them continue to increase however in the more populated areas of the Piedmont and the Triangle I’m not sure it’s too good of an idea to see them in those parts of the state.

North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission biologist Colleen Offenbuttel will be presenting a free lecture on Black Bear Research and Management in North Carolina this month. The lecture will be held on Wednesday the 14th of October at the Centennial Campus at 4pm.

Tree Full of Bears In Rockingham County A Publicity Stunt?

What some might think for a second as a publicity stunt was probably just a bit of lucky timing as a sow and three cubs showed up only days after NCWRC announced the next free wildlife lecture. “Black Bear Research and Management in North Carolina: 1970s Through the Present”. Bears are expanding their range in the state and how is North Carolina going to deal with the increase bear human conflicts that will certainly rise as well?

 

This video from Fox 8 certainly will give you a taste of the conflict as people remain in the area keeping the bears treed.

Part of me thinks NCWRC bigger job will be managing people not so much the bears.

Want to Learn About Bears & Bear Management in North Carolina?

North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission biologist Colleen Offenbuttel will be presenting a free lecture on Black Bear Research and Management in North Carolina this month. The lecture will be held on Wednesday the 14th of October at the Centennial Campus at 4pm.

“Black Bear Research and Management in North Carolina: 1970s Through the Present” will examine the modern era of black bear management. Olfenbuttel will discuss projects and cooperative agreements with various universities, including N.C. State University; research on the demographics of the bear population and how monitoring efforts provide a basis for making sound management decisions; and adopting regulations to benefit bear populations and habitats.

North Carolina has bears mostly concentrated in the west and the eastern part of the state but bears are apt to pop up almost anywhere in the state as the population expands. The bears in eastern North Carolina can grow to some massive sizes as you can see by the photo I posted. Earlier this summer I talked with Mike Noles of Conman’s Guide Service and as far as he knows this bear Maximus is still walking around. Mike offers stand hunts for bears but the most common method for hunting bears down east is with hounds.
As the human population expands and the bear population does as well what will NCWRC response be to deal with the conflicts that will arise. We’ve already seen some issues in the mountains, the Piedmont, and right here in the triangle.

The Centennial Campus Center for Wildlife Education is located at 1751 Varsity Drive, Raleigh.

Today’s Big Game Committee Meeting

Well I took the morning off to attend the Big Game Committee Meeting where a lot of the hunting regulations we debate get their legs so to speak. Long before they end up in the proposal booklet at the public meetings chances are pretty good some if not all the Commissioners have kicked them around a bit.

I’ll try to give you the readers digest version of the meeting and add a bit more flesh in future posts. If anyone has a specific question post it up and I’ll try my best to review my notes and recall my memory to give you the best answer about what was said.
They started the meeting off with reminding everyone that a number of hunting proposals were delayed from implementation for at least a year. At the meeting they reiterated that the 10 letter rule delayed all the deer rules and that there was no way the NCWRC could of sidestepped this with the use of temporary rules. I also asked about separating the rules so opposition to one or two does not sink the entire slate which they also said was not an option. From where I sit it would appear to me that we better just plan a two year cycle for getting new rules. Getting 10 letters of opposition is such a low threshold I can see some folks having fun with that process.

The first agenda item was a presentation on a proposal to establish a captive cervid herd certification program. (Deer Farming)

This would be for the current farms and will not allow any additional farms. Chronic Wasting Disease is the reason that tight control by state and federal agencies was implemented a few years ago. Presently there is no known cases of CWD in captive or wild deer in North Carolina. The closest cases of CWD is in West Virginia in both captive and wild deer. Under current laws captive deer in North Carolina are highly regulated with each farm receiving two inspections a year to verify compliance.

They are looking at establishing strict guidelines under which deer could be transferred / transported between two licensed farms. Operations would have to be clean record for 5 years before they could reach this status. This is in the early process and will go to public meetings if the NCWRC as a whole decides to go forward with it. Under this plan there is no plan to issue any new licenses this only for existing operations.

Bear

Proposal to look at a harvested bear needing to weigh 100 lbs or more was shot down.

Proposal to alter bear season in the NE part of the state so it didn’t fall the week of Christmas. Shot down

Both of those proposals were asked for by a number of bear hunters at the last meeting

Baiting of bear was again discussed. Under current law still hunters can not bait bear however hound hunters can strike dogs off a bait pile. This has led to some places where hound hunters are baiting and either drawing bears off others lands or limiting hunting opportunities on others land.

Baiting 3 proposals sent out of committee to the Commissioners Meeting.

(side note all of these are a ways off because they’ll require legislative action for any of them. They are being floated to see if the NCWRC wants to hear from folks on any of these potential proposals)

1. Outlaw all bear baiting outright.
2. Keep the law as it currently is and add a 3 day pre dog hunt still hunt over baits. This would be a limited draw hunt and NCWRC would set the number of permits it would issue for this hunt. (Private land only)
3. Establish a 3 day still hunt prior to the opening of dog season but no bait Rest of the current laws would stay in place

1&2 passed with only one vote each in opposition
3 passed unanimously from the committee.

Deer

Talking about QDM and possible inviting Mr. Hamilton to address the committee in the future. Early stages of this idea so it may nor may not happen. Several of the commissioners voiced concerns over internal politics within the QDM movement.

Beginning to look at the possibility that some deer rules maybe by county if the majority of hunters want a particular rule. IE. Some folks are wanting a one buck limit the big game committee is going to explore that topic of special rules for a county.
Well that is a brief overview of the meeting and some of these I’ll elaborate a bit more in future posts.

Nuisance Critters And NCWRC

Most people like wildlife until it becomes a nuisance or a threat to them or their property. A couple of stories in the news today with foxes terrorizing Wake County and a bear with cubs in the mountains doing the same thing.

Nancy Nau has felt like a hostage for the last six weeks, threatened by a fox that appears around her Quail Hollow home and barks at her and her two cocker spaniels.
On Saturday, she watched as the fox squeezed through fence posts to get into her backyard. She and her neighbors have spotted it with what they believe are its two babies. She can’t grill outdoors and has to let her dogs relieve themselves in her garage. She drives a few minutes to Eastgate Park so they can get some exercise and fresh air.
“I’m a prisoner in my own home,” she said.

N&O

NCWRC does not control trapping of foxes that is set by the counties. Wake county does not have a fox trapping season despite what appears to be an increase in the population. Whether it is an actual increase or just more encounters with humans due to habitat loss is up for debate. Homeowners have few options because NCWRC will not intervene unless the animal is sick or a significant threat.

Joe Folta, the commission’s wildlife biologist for District 3, which includes Wake County, said state law gives residents two options.
If an animal causes at least $50 of property damage or poses an imminent threat, homeowners can shoot it as long as local laws allow it. If an animal is killed, the death must be reported to the commission within 24 hours.
If shooting an animal isn’t an option, residents can apply for a permit, which would allow them, a family member, a neighbor or a wildlife damage-control agent to trap the fox.

Then in the mountains a bear with cubs have been stealing chickens from a family.

Cindy Woody feels as if she is running a fast-food restaurant.
A 400-pound black bear and her three cubs have stolen all of Woody’s 30 chickens out of her family’s chicken house over the past month, ripping through the chicken wire and wooden walls, leaving behind only feathers and body parts.
A flattened dog pen and mangled cage in the Woody’s backyard are all that remain of the bears’ latest foray into her coop Monday night. The family has three chickens left in a small coop in the backyard, but Woody says she thinks it is only a matter of time before the bear eats them, too.
“It’s a Chick-fil-A down there,” Woody said.

Citizens Times

Some want NCWRC to move the bears but studies show that bears once moved will almost always return to the area so it’s not a viable option.

As for killing a nuisance bear, the commission will not consider it unless the bear is endangering a person, but Carraway said residents can check with the commission to determine if they would be justified in killing the bear themselves. People who kill a bear without justification can face a fine.
Woody said she would kill the bear herself but said her neighbors would “pitch a fit.”

The property owner should be able to protect her livestock and property just like the people having fox problems.
NCWRC offers education and plans on how people should avoid negative interactions with a variety of wildlife. Common Sense is to avoid if possible access to food sources. They will not remove the nuisance critter and in many cases if they can’t be encouraged to move on killing the animal is the only option. Large landowners may consider controlling critters before they become a problem through hunting and trapping as set out by NCWRC .

Bear Hunting In North Carolina

The biological staff at NCWRC split the NC bear population in to two geographical groups; the mountains, and the coast. Make no mistake that there are bears in many other parts of the state as bears from Virginia expand into the Piedmont and the bears in the mountains and those at the coast expand towards each other.
The black bear was not so very widespread not all that long ago. Populations were declining and without an effort by hunters, biologists and landowners the bear population would not be as good as it is now. In 1980 the bear population in the mountain was 843 bears and the coast had 737 bears currently (2009) those numbers are 4544 in the mountains and 9306 on the coast. North Carolina developed a number of bear sanctuaries in prime bear habitat areas that really helped the bear bounce back.
We now have the benefit of a growing and expanding bear population that if properly managed will allow for good hunting opportunities for many years to come. NCWRC is currently working on a comprehensive plan on how to manage bears especially as the now move into more populated areas and bear human conflicts continue to rise.
Hunter success rate with the use of baits would increase but would it be as drastic as the biological staff predict? I’m not sure the states they looked at were states that allowed other items besides just natural baits to be used. The main reasons for not allowing baiting according to the biological staff are;
Overharvest concerns due to increase hunter efficiency
Increase nuisance activity in areas that were baited by hunters
Litter and trash issues
Concerns about nutritional impacts and disease transmission on bear populations
Concerns about changes in bear behavior
Ethical and philosophical concerns about using bait

Under the current rules all of these concerns are currently in play because hound hunters are allowed to run their dogs off of baits. The over harvest may not be but that is only because the current season is based on the success rate of bear hunters and while there is no statistics on the success rate of particular hunting methods I think it is safe to assume that 70% of the bears are taken with the aid of hounds.
The problem is where someone is attempting to still hunt bear legally on one property and neighboring lands are being hunted by hound hunters that establish baits to draw bears off the property the still hunter is on.
All hunters in the state deserve to be treated equally by the NCWRC and I don’t think allowing hound hunters to utilize bait while outlawing it for stand hunters is unfair treatment. Either allow it for all or outlaw it for all.

Bear Baiting In North Carolina Discussed At Big Game Committee

Currently in North Carolina those hunters who hunt bears with hounds can legally bait bear with natural baits ie. Corn or grain but those that stand hunt bears cannot use bait at all. The non hound hunters are complaining that this is unfair and want the NCWRC to either allow all bear hunters to utilize natural bait or let no one use natural baits.

The current rules were set up I believe not to really allow the baiting of bears by anyone but to give some leeway to hound hunters around the issue when it came to bait sites for deer. Baiting of deer is legal and has a long tradition in North Carolina and the deer and bear seasons overlap. Under some of the earlier rules you had a number of bear hunters cited for hunting over baits when the dogs trailed a bear through a bait site set up by a deer hunter. This scenario played out a number of times making illegal hunters out of guys that really were trying to do the right thing. So that is how the current law got adopted to really give a loophole of sorts otherwise it would be nearly impossible to pursue a bear in this state without it crossing a natural bait site for deer.

At the Big Game Committee Meeting some of the Commissioners pointed out that their intent was not to allow houndsmen the opportunity to bait but that is what has happened.
Tuesday’s meeting the subcommittee looked at basically three options to address the bear baiting issue;

A. Prohibit any take of bears with the use or aid of natural bait.
B. Allow the take of bears with the use of natural bait by all hunters.
C. Make no change to current statue

There was nobody that seemed to be in favor of option A option B was favored by most of the observers in the room that self identified as “non hound hunters” and option C was favored by the North Carolina Bear Hunters Association / houndsmen.

The biological staff presented that if option B was the option that was selected that in all likelihood some additional methods would have to be put in place to prevent an overharvest of bears. That would mean a limit on tags or a shortening of the season. There is no doubt that option B would lead to more hunters pursuing bear whether they purposely go after them or it’s an incidentally take while deer hunting. I’m not sure that it would lead to a drastic increase in the bear harvest over time, initially it might, but bears seem to adapt to pressure more readily then most big game animals.
On the next post I’ll present an overview of the Black Bear in North Carolina as presented by the biological staff at this meeting as well as talk a little more about the concerns over selecting option B from those present at the meeting.

NCWRC Big Game Committee Meeting

I suspect like many of you other then the family time the rest of my vacation time I save to use during hunting season. Yesterday I used some of that time to attend the Commissioners meeting on Big Game because that seems to be where much of the stuff that affects our hunting comes from that committee.
Over the next few days I’ll go into depth on what was discussed at this 3 + hour meeting because there was a lot. The three main topics for yesterday’s meeting were; Bear hunting and baiting, Dog hunting in general, and should the state adopt a formal Quality Deer Management program.

I will say this that the average Joe hunter (which I consider myself one)needs to pay attention to what is going on because by far only the special interest groups seem to be represented at the meeting. Yesterday’s meeting there was about 20 to 25 people observing most of them were from the Bear Hunters Association and then a few from the Bow Hunters Association. There were only a handful of folks that was not associated with either of those two groups.

Don’t get me wrong these groups do a lot to preserve and advocate for our sport and I’m glad we have them. However their views are often one sided and may not represent the general view of the hunting community but rather their smaller group they represent. We saw that earlier in the crossbow fight.
Every year I attend the public hearings and give input on what is proposed and feel for the most part I’m pretty involved in the shaping of our sport here in North Carolina but maybe there is more that I can do. The meetings that are happening throughout the year are the ones I’m beginning to believe really shape the future of our sport. Voting and commenting on the proposals at a public hearing is good but can we have better impact by influencing what may get on the annual proposals in the first place? I think so or at least I’m going to check it out and see. I can’t make all the meetings but I’m certainly going to try to make a number of them. I may miss a day or two sitting in a treestand or a blind but maybe it will be worth it to see what takes place at the commissioners meeting and the future of our sport.

So now I’ll try to formulate some posts around what happened at yesterday’s meeting so stand by.

North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission Issues Warning About Bears

With this past weekend’s excitement in Durham about the bear and the bear (probably the same one) getting struck on I 85 NCWRC issued some advice today.

Residents can prevent conflicts with black bears by:
• Not approaching or following a bear when one is sighted. Instead, tell your neighbors and keep a adequate distance away from the animal. Unless fed, the bear will leave the area.
• Securing bags of trash inside cans stored in a garage, basement or other secure area, and placing outside as late as possible on trash pick-up days – not the night before.
• Purchasing bear-proof garbage cans or bear-proof your existing garbage container by outfitting it with a secure latching system.
• Discontinuing feeding wild birds during spring and summer, even with feeders advertised as “bear proof.” Bears can still be attracted to seed that spills on the ground.
• Avoiding “free-feeding” pets outdoors. If you must feed pets outdoors, make sure all food is consumed and empty bowls are removed.
• Cleaning all food and grease from barbecue grills after each use. Bears are attracted to the food odors and may investigate.

NCWRC

Some good advice for all of us to keep in mind.

Black Bear Struck and Killed On I 85 In Orange County

A bear was struck and killed on I 85 in Orange County which is a bit unusual but not unheard of. What has become almost an annual event with a black bear moving through the triangle in the spring and summer appears to have happened again. Juvenile bears especially boar bears are often forced out of their home range and wander looking for a new area to set up residency.
With bear populations in North Carolina concentrated in the eastern part of the state and in the western part of the state as they expand we see more showing up in the central of the state. Most just move through the area and thus the reason NCWRC just urge people to leave them alone.
This particular bear was spotted a number of times in the Durham area this past weekend and unfortunately it was struck and killed. WRAL has some video of the bear from this weekend as it traveled around Durham and it is pretty obvious this is a young bear.

Woman Slapped by Bear In Western North Carolina

North Carolina wildlife officials are not calling it an attack but an “incident” that sent a Black Mountain woman to the hospital for treatment.

Gaynell Lumsden was in her garage near the Asheville watershed when the bear and cubs entered her yard about 8:30 p.m. Sunday.
Lumsden’s Maltese – weighing about 15 pounds – went after the bears, and she was struck trying to get the dog out of the way. Lumsden was treated at Mission Hospital and released late Sunday.
She could not be reached Monday. Her dog, also slapped by the bear, did not suffer major injuries.

Citizens Times

A very similar encounter between a bear and North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue and the first dogs happened earlier this year but no one was injured.
Bear populations across the country is on the rise especially on the east coast according to Canadian bear researcher Hank Hristienko.

The U.S. bear population more than doubled between 1989 and 2006, rising from 165,000 to over 350,000, according to The International Association of Bear Research and Management, a bear conservation nonprofit that takes a periodic census of the animals. The Eastern states alone now have about 163,000 bears, according to findings Hristienko released in May.

AP

As bear populations increase and the bear habitat shrinks encounters will become even more prevalent. Some of these encounters will be deadly for not only bears but for humans as well. Bears are a predator they’ll kill and eat what they can find and they’ll kill to protect their young or themselves if necessary.

Frank van Manen, a U.S. Geological Survey research ecologist and president of the International Association for Bear Research and Management, said it’s not that the bears are becoming more aggressive. Instead, he said, bear populations are skyrocketing under state bans or limits on bear hunting.
“What we have seen throughout the eastern United States is quite a phenomenal range expansion of the black bear,” van Manen said. “With the range expansion, the likelihood of the encounters is increasing.”

Neighboring state Tennessee has had 2 fatal bear attacks in recent years and there has been a number of non fatal attacks in both North Carolina and Tennessee. Other states up the east coast have also seen their share. While it is great to see the bear making such a strong comeback the population needs to be held in check in many areas and the fear of man needs to be maintained to keep both humans and bears safe. The easiest and safest way to do that is to allow the hunting of the black bear and in states like North Carolina where it is allowed the wildlife authorities need to annually review the areas open to hunting.

While controversial to some I think baiting of bear for hunting needs to be looked at as an alternative method of hunting to keep bear populations in check. Currently the method for bear hunting in North Carolina is with the use of the hound but as the human population expands the access to large enough tracts of land to run hounds becomes harder and harder. Baiting would allow a selective harvest protecting sows with cubs while hunting on smaller tracts of land.

No matter what as the population of bears in the eastern United States continues to grow our problem encounters will too.

Governor Bev Perdue Has Close Encounter With A Bear

Zipper & Dosie NC First Dogs

North Carolina’s new Governor Bev Purdue last week had a close encounter with a black bear while visiting the Asheville area. The Governor was outside the western residence with her two dogs when the encounter happened.

“He was not more than 15, 20 feet away from me,” Perdue said Friday. “I almost killed myself. I turned around and ran. I almost left the dogs. I said, ‘That is a b-b-b-bear!’”
Perdue said she had scoffed at warnings of bears frequenting Patton Mountain until Wednesday night.
Settling in for her first night in Asheville, she got a call from a Highway Patrol trooper telling her a bear had been sighted.
Eaves and Perdue couldn’t figure out how to turn on their outside lights to check the backyard.
“We finally peeked out with a flashlight. There was this big ol’ critter. He was 200 or 300 pounds,” she said.
Dosie and Zipper, the first couple’s Tibetan terriers, were outside doing their business, so Perdue ventured out to the front yard.
“So there I am in my bathrobe with my leash. I didn’t even have the sense to put on good shoes,” Perdue said. That’s when she saw the bear up close.

Citizen Times
Bear encounters are on the rise and not unusual this time of the year when bears are hungry and looking for food.

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