Caution can help avoid an unbearable confrontation

PALMER — When can you stop being afraid of that rustling sound behind you?

Curious early winter recreationalists ponder this question, wanting to know when bears den up for the winter so they can shed the pounds of the pepper spray or .44 magnum.

“That depends on what the weather is doing,” said Tim Peltier, a wildlife biologist for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. “The black bears should definitely be denning up by now, but you can still find the occasional brown bear.”

The first determining factor is latitude, Peltier said. In Florida, bears understandably den up later and for a shorter period of time. At this latitude, it usually occurs between mid-October and mid- to late-November.

After latitude, weather plays a big role with regards to both snowfall and temperature. There is no rule about what temperature or what depth causes the bears to head in, Peltier said. But he said bears typically wait until the first big dump after the temperatures cool down.

With the winter weather comes the dwindling food supply. The berries are gone from the branches and the streams start to freeze. Bears den up to conserve their fat stores instead of wasting energy looking for something that’s not there.

“However, in some places where there is a descent late salmon run, you can still find those bears showing up until now,” Peltier said.

When bears finally do hibernate, it’s typically not in the stone cave most people think bears call home, he said. Most are very modest affairs, something as simple as an exposed root complex, and most are made by the digging bear itself. Brown bears typically den further up the hillside, while black bears are more likely in a forested area, Peltier said.

Peltier said research crews have found bears in their dens, some native communities up north hunt bears in their dens, and he has heard of survey crews stumbling upon a sleeping bear.

However, he said, “it’s a pretty rare thing. You should be able to avoid them if you are paying reasonable attention.”

Contact Todd L. Disher at todd.disher@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.