Black Bear - Wildlife Management Pro

Bear Management Plan: Population and Habitat

Black bear are big omnivores that are socially and economically important. Other than bear hunters and those that have nuisance bears in their area, many people in the state of Michigan probably pay the native black bears little attention. But not the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) , as they recently developed a Statewide Bear Management Plan. The plan was finalized last year to address the long term management of Michigan’s black bear population.

The mission of the DNR’s black bear management program is to maintain a healthy black bear population, but also one that provides a balance of recreational opportunities for residents and at the same time minimizes conflicts with the growing human population within the state. To fulfill this mission, the Michigan DNR has established 6 strategic bear management goals: Continue reading Bear Management Plan: Population and Habitat

Black Bear Shot in Menard County, Texas

According to experts, black bear were eradicated from Texas by the 1950s. However, bears would occassionally show up from time to time as they traveled into the Lone Star State—primarily from Mexico. Because there was no game law prohibiting them from being killed, the State of Texas formally made bear hunting illegal in 1983. Shortly thereafter, bears that moved north and into Texas were protected, begin to reproduce, and have been expanding their range north and eastward since.

Black bear have had a stronghold in the mountainous areas of the Trans-Pecos, but the animals have been moving into the Edwards Plateau more recently. They are showing up on game cameras placed out by hunters to track white-tailed deer. In fact, just last year one had to be chemically immobilized and moved out of the city of Del Rio, and another big bear was road-killed near Alpine. Then there was the shooting of a black bear in Menard County earlier this year:

“Ray Hernandez was checking for oil at a pump jack this summer on a vast stretch of ranchland in Menard County when his cell phone rang. It was a well worker at a pipe yard on the property, insisting that he’d seen a bear.

The June 23 sighting escalated swiftly into a bear hunt that ended with the crack of a rifle, a felled beast and a criminal charge against Hernandez, who decapitated the state-protected creature with a hacksaw and ferried home its head and paws.

The black bear that wandered onto the Central Texas cattle ranch that day is the first ever confirmed in that part of the state, according to Capt. Alan Teague, a game warden with Texas Parks and Wildlife. For Teague and others at the agency, it’s further proof that the stamped-out species is reclaiming lost territory.”

Continue reading Black Bear Shot in Menard County, Texas

Big Black Bear Killed Near Alpine, Texas

Black Bear Killed Near Alpine

Texas Parks and Wildife Department (TPWD) has reported that a huge black bear weighing at least 406 pounds has been killed near Alpine, Texas. The facts indicate that the big bear was struck by a vehicle and road-killed after it’s pelvis was broken. Initial coverage of the bear’s death made front page news across west Texas and has even been featured on the Midland area TV news several times. TPWD has taken possession of the large bear.

The animal is an extremely large black bear, even by Texass standards, but male black bear do occasionally get this big in the southern parts of black bear range. What makes this bear unique is that there was virtually no damage to the hide and skull. Because of this opportunity, TPWD has coordinated with several individuals and organizations in order to use this specimen as an educational opportunity. Donated funds from conservation partners have flooded in to have a full body mount of the bear completed and placed in the Museum of the Big Bend at Sul Ross State University. The museum will host an educational display titled “Bears in West Texas”.

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.

Woman Blames Herself for Bear Attack

Woman attacked by bear in Lycoming County

Denise Haldeman doesn’t blame the bear that attacked her in the darkness outside her Lycoming County, PA, home May 12, injuring her and killing her dog.

“It wasn’t her fault,” Haldeman, 44, said Wednesday. “It was the mistakes I made. She was just being a mother.”

Officials say they believe the bear that injured Haldeman is the one they trapped outside Haldeman’s home last week. The bear and three cubs had been seen in the area in the days before the encounter. Haldeman said she should not have gone out after dark to bring in three bird feeders, and she should have had Panda, her 12-year-old half Labrador retriever-half Australian herd dog, on a leash.

Haldeman said she went outside shortly after 9 p.m. to get the feeders, and Panda “tore into the yard.” She thought he was chasing a neighbor’s dog that at times runs loose. The next thing Haldeman knew, a bear was standing on its hind legs clicking its teeth at her. She turned to flee into the house, and the bear hit her from behind, knocking her face down on the patio. Continue reading Woman Blames Herself for Bear Attack

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!