Vermont bears are awake, on the move, and hungry
March 16, 2024 | By Waterbury Roundabout MONTPELIER – The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department has begun to receive reports of bears coming out of their dens and is urging Vermonters to take steps now to prevent conflicts with bears over the spring and summer.
“Vermonters need to act to prevent bear conflicts now, even if they have never had a bear visit their property before,” said Jaclyn Comeau, the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department’s bear biologist. “Do not wait to take down your birdfeeders and bearproof your yard until a bear comes to visit.”
Fresh bear tracks on a porch photographed in the first week of March 2024. Photo courtesy of Tovar Cerulli and shared by Vermont Fish & Wildlife
Recent social media posts from Vermont Fish & Wildlife include a photo of wet bear tracks, “from a bear who trudged through our slushy March snow to check for food on a Vermont porch earlier this week,” the post says.
Another features a video from a Rutland resident where a bear visits a deck in mid-February with considerable snow still on the ground.
The video of the active bear gave department staff an opportunity to share some details about early-spring bear behavior: “The first thing to know is that some bears will come out of their dens during winter warm snaps and then go back in if it's early enough in the season. Individuals may be active on the landscape early if they've been disturbed from their den. Male bears also tend to be active earlier than females with cubs. The latter usually stay denned up through March even if the weather is warm. Once we hit March and consistent warm weather, we tend to see that the bears who come out of their dens stay out of their dens. That's usually true even after a late-season snowstorm or freeze.”
Screenshot from a video shared by Vermont Fish & Wildlife of a black bear visiting a Vermont deck in mid-February.
Bear incidents have been on the rise over the past several years. Officials believe this trend is a result of Vermont’s healthy black bear population learning to associate people and food over multiple generations.
Shorter winters also mean that bears are emerging from their dens earlier in the spring. In recent years bear activity has begun in mid-March, roughly two weeks earlier than what is typically thought of as the start of bear-aware season in northern New England.
“Mid-March is the time for Vermonters to take down our birdfeeders, make sure our garbage is secure, and protect our backyard chickens and bees with an electric fence,” Comeau said. “This helps teach bears that our yards and neighborhoods are not good places to search for food. But, it will only work if everyone does their part.”
Wildlife experts offer these tips for coexisting with bears. These are steps to take now:
Take down birdfeeders between mid-March and December.
Store garbage in bear-resistant containers or structures; trash cans alone are not enough. If you have a pick-up service, wait until the morning of collection to put garbage out.
Request a bear-resistant dumpster from your waste hauler.
Follow the steps on the department website for composting in bear country. Compost needs to be three parts brown/decomposed material for every one part of fresh kitchen scraps and turned often to avoid attracting bears.
Use electric fences to keep chickens and honeybees safe.
Feed pets indoors.
Clean your grill after every use and store it somewhere secure between uses.
Never feed bears, deliberately or accidentally.
Scare bears away from your yard by yelling, banging pots, or using other noise makers from safely inside your house. Never shoot a bear to scare it. Even BBs can seriously injure a bear.
Following these steps can save bears' lives, and help protect you, your neighbors, your pets and property, the experts say.
“Preventing bears from having access to human-related foods is key to successful coexistence with these long-lived and intelligent animals,” Comeau said.
“At the end of the day, purposely feeding a bear is not just bad for the bear,” Comeau continued. “It is also dangerous for you, it causes problems for your neighbors, and it is illegal. If bears are finding food on your property, it is your responsibility to remove that attractant and report a problem before the situation escalates.”
Vermont Fish and Wildlife asks Vermonters to submit reports of bears engaging in potentially dangerous behavior like targeting birdfeeders and garbage, feeding on crops or livestock, or investigating campgrounds. A bear passing through your backyard at a respectful distance from buildings is not a risky behavior, the department experts note. But a bear who comes by regularly, sniffs at vehicles and dumpsters, approaches buildings, or shows up in more developed neighborhoods, is risky.
Reports of bear activity may be submitted on the department’s Living with Black Bears web page. The data help biologists keep track of bear incidents and provide early interventions to head off conflicts.
Contact Vermont Fish & Wildlife with questions at 802-828-1000 or fwinformation@vermont.gov.
This report was compiled from several Vermont Department of Fish & Wildlife news releases.