when do bear start to hibernate?
- Thread starter fogducker
- Start date
- Location
- The Conservative part of Ontario
Bear on a normal year usually go down for the count early in November, or so it seems. But, if there is a poor berry crop, and little food, they may be on the prowl occassionaly.
Some bears up our way come out of hibernation to feed on guts.
Recent thinking on hibernation is that bears go in and out of hibernation for the first bit, with sleep periods getting longer until they sleep for the winter.
Some bears up our way come out of hibernation to feed on guts.
Recent thinking on hibernation is that bears go in and out of hibernation for the first bit, with sleep periods getting longer until they sleep for the winter.
well maybe a bow trip then for deer eh......i dont bow hunt........YET......but it would be nice to get up there and let a few other,s have fun while i get some maintence work done on the place.. that has been neglected thisyear
BC Bigbore
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- BC's Peace Country
While deer hunting last year, I saw a very big blackie in an oat field in mid-November. About 6" of snow on the ground and temp was -15C in the mornings. I watched a large boar grizzly feeding in a grain pile on the last day of deer season (November 20) several years back. About a foot of snow and temps down in the -20C's at night. The larger male bears seem to stay out later than sows & cubs, especially if they have a food source close to their den sites...KF
- Location
- The Conservative part of Ontario
grouseman said:
Not quite:
I found one in his den during the deer hunt one year. (On the north slope of a hill no less) This would have been around November 12th. He wasnt asleep but he was pretty slow reacting. From the tracks and so on you could see he had been out and about the days previous.
- Location
- WMU247 near Edmonton
well since your all from ontario you really dont care about alberta bear, but I've seen them still wandering around in early november, and it can be cold
I've heard that bears (blacks) are not as hibernational as we think, plus I have some proof. Although they get comfy condos when it gets cold, they have been known to come out in the middle of winter if they decide they've caught a scent of something tasty and the weather's nice...
The concept of hibernation is not as cut and dried as we've been taught.
What's my point? You could be trudging through the woods in snow shoes in early February on a slightly warm day (around zero) (as I did when I was a kid, armed with my Crosman .22 pellet gun) and might see a black wandering about (which I did that day, [at a great distance] and everbody told me I was just seeing a big dog. No. Sorry. It was a black.) Generally speaking, it's rare, but it does happen.
The concept of hibernation is not as cut and dried as we've been taught.
What's my point? You could be trudging through the woods in snow shoes in early February on a slightly warm day (around zero) (as I did when I was a kid, armed with my Crosman .22 pellet gun) and might see a black wandering about (which I did that day, [at a great distance] and everbody told me I was just seeing a big dog. No. Sorry. It was a black.) Generally speaking, it's rare, but it does happen.
Terrence said:
That os no great mystery...
Bears don't hibernate the way other species do. They go to sleep for long periods, but a number of things can trigger them to awake. (Like hungry)
In warmer climates, like SW BC, they often don't den up for very long, or it may be a in/out thing.
Bears CAN and DO get out in the middle of wintersometimes. But they are often really groggy,loke they just woke up after a week long booze jag... :wink:
