Category: black bears

Every year, in the early spring, scientists from the state’s Department of Natural Resources visit a selection of bear dens across western Maryland. The researchers venture under brush, around trees, and occasionally, under a porch, to check the health of hibernating mama bears they’ve been monitoring with radio collars. The idea is to get an idea of the bears’ health and growth.

Maryland ‘s bear population lives mainly in Garrett, Allegany, Washington, and Frederick Counties. Harry Spiker, Maryland’s Principal Bear Biologist, has been spending time going to lairs in western Maryland. Here, he talks about the survey with Sheilah Kast.

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Buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland? Call Jay Ferguson of Railey Realty for all of your real estate needs! I take great pride in referrals, and I assure you, I will take great care of your friends, family & colleagues!

Michael A. Sawyers Cumberland Times-News

MOUNT NEBO — Harry Spiker and his Maryland Wildlife & Heritage Service crews are preparing for an intense couple of weeks in March when they will visit as many as eight bear dens stretched across Garrett, Allegany and Washington counties.

The annual scientific ritual is hard, physical work that allows agency biologists to monitor the health, growth and location of sow bears and to check on cubs born during the winter.

“We have collars on eight sows and have confirmed that six of those had cubs,” Spiker said Tuesday.

During the bear hunt in October, hunters legally killed three collared sows, and a fourth sow somehow got out of a collar, reducing the number of bears that can be located via telemetry equipment.

“Every once in a while, a sow will just slip a collar. Usually it gets snagged on a branch. We put the collars on loosely, because the bear’s neck can grow rapidly when it feeds heavily before denning,” Spiker said.

There are four Garrett County dens to be visited: Monroe Run, Poplar Lick, Dry Run and a location between Westernport and Savage River.

In Allegany County, collared sows are denned near Rocky Gap, Georges Creek and in Green Ridge State Forest.

The lone Washington County bear is near Indian Springs.

“We actually worked a bear three weeks ago on the Green Ridge State Forest because the batteries were about to run out on her collar,” Spiker said.

That bear and her three yearling cubs were dislodged and then chased by the dogs of Calvin and Andrew Schrock.

“We ran for about 30 minutes, probably a mile and half before she went up a tree and we could dart her (with sedatives),” Spiker said.

The sow was in great physical condition, according to Spiker, who said the yearling cubs, which stayed nearby, appeared to be healthy as well.

“When I started doing this in the mid 1990s, if we had four collared bears that was a lot,” Spiker said.

Since then the agency has had as many as 17 bruins collared in a single year. The females give birth every other year.

Although there are no collared bears denned under porches or high in trees this year, that wasn’t true in December.

“We got a call from a resident in the Beckman’s area of Deep Creek Lake who had a sow and three yearlings staying under a porch. We had to go run them out of there,” Spiker said.

Once bear den surveys begin, crews work seven days a week, according to Spiker.

“After we work the bears in a den, we go back at least twice to make sure the sow hasn’t abandoned the cubs.”

Clarissa Harris is an agency biologist who has been on her share of bear den visits.

“Sometimes the hard part is just getting to the den if it is in rough terrain,” Harris said.

“Also, there are times when a sow will run before she goes to sleep from the drugs and then you have to find her and get her back to the den. That can be tough, physical work.”

Harris said there have been a few times when it was easier to carry three 6-pound cubs to the tranquilized mother bear.

“When that happens we build a makeshift den, maybe pull her up against a log and cover her with brush.”

Contact Michael A. Sawyers at msawyers@times-news.com.

More here.

Buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland? Call Jay Ferguson of Railey Realty for all of your real estate needs! I take great pride in referrals, and I assure you, I will take great care of your friends, family & colleagues!

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“Come back again soon!” might be what this young black bear was thinking when he spotted Michaela Moore – and she spotted him – in her back yard along Cranesville Road on Independence Day. Michaela was able to take this photo from a safe distance, catching this particular pose as the bruin seemed to be waving to her. Michaela’s mom Sandra submitted it for publication.

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If you or someone you know is considering buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Railey Realty for all of your real estate needs! I take great pride in referrals, and I assure you, I will take great care of your friends, family & colleagues! As member of the Garrett County Board of Realtors, I can assist you with ANY listed property, regardless of the listing broker.

>Michael A. Sawyers
Cumberland Times-News The Cumberland Times-News Sat Jul 02, 2011, 06:33 PM EDT

There is no doubt about it.

I have received more phone calls and emails this summer than at any previous time about bears.

Harry Spiker, bear biologist for the Maryland Wildlife & Heritage Service, said recently that Allegany County has the fastest growing bruin population in the state and that is certainly reflected in the number of contacts I am getting.

People are often excited when they call. A number of those calls have been from people who have been around for seven or eight decades and they report that the bear they just saw was their first.

It pains me to tell them that there are so many bear sightings that we don’t report them in Bear Watch, our regular feature about bears, both dead and alive. To make Bear Watch, the bruin has to eat your cocker spaniel or enter your kitchen seeking an apple pie or something like that. Of course, bears that get whacked and stacked on a Maryland highway make Bear Watch for sure.

If someone decides to pick up a cub and take it home, that gets even greater attention, say Page One. That also gets the attention of the Maryland Natural Resources Police and eventually a judge.

When I hear about a sighting in Allegany County, I pass it along to the state wildlife agency. Sightings of Yogi and Boo Boo or Smokey in Garrett County are so commonplace that they are no longer counted by the wildlife people.

In the photos or emails that I receive, it is often evident that the bear has come to that location because of a food source, especially birdseed.

A black bear will walk past a dead deer and a garbage can to reach birdseed. You will not get much sympathy from the wildlife staff if your French doors get broken by a bear who slipped trying to get to the birdseed you had hanging nearby.

Don’t get angry with me. I didn’t make the policy. I’m just telling you about it.

The carcass of the second gobbler I got this spring was in a garbage bag and the bag was in a garbage can behind our house in Rawlings. When I went to bed that night, I thought, “You know. I should probably bring that can into the garage.”

Too late. Overnight, a bear got the whole bag, stepped on and smashed the lid and moved off. I eventually found the bag and some feathers 100 yards into the woods, but what was left of the turkey was already inside a bear’s belly somewhere else.

Living with bears around is a challenge and, in my mind, a danger. Bears don’t know their own strength and are equipped to kill.

Here is a link to the DNR’s advice about living with bears: www.dnr.state.md.us/wildlife/Hunt_Trap/blackbear/bblivingwith.asp

It is, you know, illegal for you to feed bears in Maryland even if you are not hunting them. People have been convicted of that violation.

I get the feeling that we are going to see and hear a lot more about bears in Allegany County this summer. I have contended for years that one will show up on the bricks of Cumberland’s Town Centre on a Thursday morning when the Farmers’ Market is in progress… especially when corn on the cob is available.

I hope we have a photographer on duty when that happens.

Contact Outdoor Editor Mike Sawyers at msawyers@times-news.com

If you or someone you know is considering buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Railey Realty for all of your real estate needs! I take great pride in referrals, and I assure you, I will take great care of your friends, family & colleagues! As member of the Garrett County Board of Realtors, I can assist you with ANY listed property, regardless of the listing broker.