The chances of seeing a black bear in the wild are rare, but encounters are more likely this time of year. That’s not necessarily a good thing. Bear pictures and bear-related stories are fun and enjoyable to experience . . . bear confrontations are not. You are more apt to have a positive viewing experience if you are well-armed with information.
The reason that bear sightings are more common in fall is that the bruins are on the move, massing a last ditch effort to prepare for winter. Black bears go into torpor during winter months when food sources are low. Seventy-five percent of their diet consists of berries and other fruits, nuts of all sorts, flowers, leaves, roots, and other vegetation. These are sparse during the cold winter months.
During torpor, bears can go for as long as six months without eating or drinking. Their heart rate and metabolism drops to use less energy. Their bodies use stored fat as a food source—fat that they are developing now. They are gorging carbohydrate-rich berries and other foods to put on weight. Feasting from now until mid-November, they can gain as much as 30 pounds per week—layering about four inches of fat over their bodies!
As bears search for food, they travel great distances. In Colorado, heavy backcountry recreation and increasing human development in bear habitat increase the odds that bears and people will be in close proximity. It is important to understand the types of bears that you may come across and how to keep yourself and others safe. Bears can become habituated to human food sources if they find it often enough and have access to it. Habituated bears lose their wildness and become a threat to people, property and themselves.
Bears normally avoid humans. If a bear regularly encounters quite a few people, but doesn’t get food from them and isn’t harmed, it simply gets used to people. It will tolerate them at closer distances than before and usually ignores them. This bear is habituated to people. If this bear then has the opportunity to eat people’s food and garbage, it begins to associate humans with food. A "food-conditioned" bear behaves differently than a bear that is only habituated. It has the potential to be especially dangerous because it is not only willing to be in close proximity to people, but may become bold in its attempts to secure human food.
So, how can you stay safe and avoid a negative bear-encounter? Food odors attract bears, so don't be careless. At home or when staying in a vacation rental property, leave garbage stored indoors or in bear resistant garbage cans. Don't leave pet food outside, and when barbecuing, do not leave the grill unattended. Clean food residue off of the grates in the grill. Take down bird feeders and use proper compost containers.
When hiking, be aware of bear signs such as tracks, overturned rocks, ripped up logs, or recent feeding activity in berry patches and nut-bearing trees. This is your signal to be on alert. Bears sense of smell is greater than dogs. A wild bear will most likely know you're around before you see it, and it will avoid you if it has the chance. Just to be certain, make a moderate amount of noise to let a bear know you are in the neighborhood.
If you see bears at a distance and they are feeding, don't think you can sneak in for a closer look or a rare photo; bears will become aggressive when they feel threatened. Use binoculars or a telephoto lens. If your distance has not changed the bears’ behavior in any way, you are at a safe distance.
If you suddenly come upon a bear while hiking, don’t panic. First, stand still and then slowly back away while facing the bear, increasing your distance moderately. Talk in a low voice and raise your arms slowly to make yourself look bigger. Do not run, scream, or try to climb a tree. If the bear stands, continue your slow retreat. Standing bears are not preparing to charge, they're trying to identify scents and sight. It is possible that a bear will charge. Usually a false charge or verbal groans are telling you to move on. What is more disturbing is a bear that appears calm in your presence or tries to approach you. That’s a dangerous bear.
While we recommend taking the utmost caution around bears, we do not want to instill excessive fear. Your chances of seeing a bear are small, and your chance of being harmed even less. According to data from the National Center for Health Statistics, for every person killed by a black bear in North America, 60 are killed by domestic dogs, 180 by bees, and 350 by lightning. We hope you do have the opportunity to see one of these wonderful animals—at a safe distance.