Bears - Wildlife Management Pro

More Bears Means an Increase in Encounters

A Black Bear in Del Rio, Texas

With the number of black bears in Val Verde County, Texas, on the rise, expect more interactions between bears and people, one state biologist says. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Wildlife Biologist Sylvestre Sorola earlier this week helped capture and relocate a young male black bear that wandered into a residential neighborhood in south Del Rio.

Sorola said encounters like the one earlier this week are possible now because black bears are re-colonizing traditional ranges in south and west Texas, areas from which black bears were extirpated in the mid-20th century.

The biologist said that sightings in Val Verde County began to rise in the 1980s and said those bears probably came to the area from thriving black bear populations in the Sierras del Carmen and the Sierras del Burro, the mountains in northern Coahuila that contain the distinctive “Sleeping Lady” formation west of Del Rio. Sorola said the bears from northern Mexico first established breeding populations in Big Bend National Park in far west Texas and have also returned to the Trans-Pecos, including Val Verde County. Continue reading More Bears Means an Increase in Encounters

Black Bear Captured in Del Rio

A black bear was darted in Del Rio, Texas

A wild black bear was captured alive in a south Del Rio, Texas, neighborhood Tuesday. The Del Rio police, city animal control officers and state wildlife officials converged on the 300 block of Plaza Avenue in the city’s San Felipe neighborhood about 10:30 a.m. Tuesday.

The black bear, which had been sighted in the area since Monday afternoon, climbed a pecan tree on a vacant lot adjacent to Don’s Funeral Chapels, 307 Plaza Ave. Police armed with shotguns and rifles cleared a two-block area around the pecan tree into which the bear had climbed, ordering persons living in the neighborhood to stay inside their homes.

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Wildlife Biologist Sylvestre Sorola, an experienced outdoorsman and veteran hunter, shot the bear with a tranquilizer dart shortly after noon Tuesday. Instead of leaving the tree, the darted bear scrambled about 10 feet higher,
forcing wildlife officials and Del Rio firefighters to use the fire department’s ladder truck to haul the unconscious bruin to the ground.

Black Bears on the Move in Texas!

Black bear are moving across the border and into Texas

In the dim light before dawn, it’s hard to tell what that dark shape is under the feeder 100 yards from your hunting blind. It’s probably a feral hog stealing corn you bought for deer to supplement native forage. But make a positive identification before you pull the trigger; that hog-like shape could be a black bear.

Black bears were almost gone in Texas by the end of World War II because of unregulated hunting and habitat loss. However, a small resident and reproducing black bear population now exists in Texas and it is slowly expanding its range. Continue reading Black Bears on the Move in Texas!

Black Bear at West Texas Deer Feeder

Black Bear in Texas? Yes! Texas actually has a fair number of black bear in the western part of the state, especially the area of Big Bend National Park and westward. Northern Mexico has numerous black bears that travel back and forth across the Rio Grande River into Texas. In addition, New Mexico has a healthy populatin of black bears that move in and out of far west Texas.

Add the northern Mexico bears to the New Mexico bears and Texas functions as the crossroads for black bear traffic. Although Texas has many bears that move into and out of the state, most of the black bears found in Texas are residents.

Bear Permits and Harvest to Increase in Utah

On January 8, the Utah Wildlife Board increased the number of permits to hunt bears in Utah this spring and fall. Board members raised the total number of permits from 248 last year to 299 for 2008.

Based on past success rates, about 15 more bears should be taken by hunters in Utah this year.

Bear management plan

Bear management in Utah is guided by the state’s Black Bear Management Plan. The three major goals of the plan—keep the percentage of female bears taken by hunters below 40 percent; keep the average age of bears taken by hunters above 5 years old; and keep the adult survival rate above 78 percent—were all met in 2007. Continue reading Bear Permits and Harvest to Increase in Utah

Five Year-Old Davy Crockett Relative Kills Bear

Davy Crockett killed a bear when he was three according to legend. More recently, a distant relative of the 19th-century frontiersman has done the same thing at the age of five. Tre Merritt, a 5-year-old boy from Arkansas, killed a black bear Sunday, according to his grandfather.

“(The bear) came in about 40 to 50 yards,” Mike Merritt, Tre’s grandfather, told KATV of Little Rock, Ark, “and when he got in the open, I whistled at him and he stopped and I said, ‘Shoot Tre.’ “

And that’s what his grandson did, killing the 400-pound animal.

“I was up in the stand and I seen the bear,” Tre Merritt told TV reporters. “It came from the thicket and it was beside the road and I shot it.”

According to the report, Tre’s father said his son began shooting when he was 2 1/2 and killed three deer last year. What else would you expect from a decendant of the “King of the Wild Frontier?”

“His 10th great-grandfather was Davy Crockett,” Mike Merritt said. “And Davy supposedly killed him a bear when he was three. And Tre is five and really killed a bear. I really doubt if Davy killed one when he was three.”

Preventing a Grizzly Bear Attack

Grizzly (brown) bears must be respected first and foremost. They have great strength and agility, and will defend themselves, their young, and their territories if they feel threatened.Â Grizzly bears, like any wildl animal,Â are unpredictable and can inflict serious injury.Â Remember, neverÂ feed or approach a bear. Continue reading Preventing a Grizzly Bear Attack