When you think about a bear den, what comes to mind? A hollow tree? A cozy cave? How about a pile of abandoned tires? Or under your porch? Bears can den up in all those places and many more. Bears are flexible, creative and opportunistic; they will crawl into dens just about anywhere they feel safe and out of sight. The stereotypical hollow tree makes a favorite den site as ...

Black bears live in at least 40 states and are seen in several more. If you’re heading out to get away from it all, chances are good you’re heading into bear country. Teaching bears to associate cars, trails, campsites and ...

There are lots of simple steps you can take to discourage bears from getting into your stuff and avoid bear encounters. Teaching bears to associate cars, trails, campsites and people with food doesn’t just put a damper on your outdoor ...

If you own a dog and live in or travel to bear country, eventually your dog may encounter a bear. Understanding why some dog-bear encounters end peacefully and others end with dogs and people being injured or killed can help ...

Lock It or Lose It. Have you seen news stories or videos featuring bears “breaking in” to homes and cars looking for food? What many stories don’t mention is that much of the time the bear isn’t breaking in. It’s ...

A bear would need to forage all day to find as much food as it can harvest in an hour or two in a kitchen garden. No wonder bears are attracted to the nicely organized plots of nutritious, ready-to-eat produce ...

More than 70 million people – one in four households – use bird feeders to attract birds. People buy more than four billion pounds of birdseed every year, according to a 2021 analysis from the Wild Bird-Feeding Institute. At about ...

August at a Glance: Bears have many ways to stay cool during hot summer days. By August, most cubs are weaned. Cubs can often survive on their own if they have to. Bears feast on ripening berries and may travel ...

July at a Glance: By July, cubs born this year have grown to the size of a raccoon or a small dog with big ears. Yearling bears now on their own can be the size of medium dogs. Bears of ...

June at a Glance: Yearlings leave mom and search for food, shelter and a place of their own. Adult males travel far and wide looking for mates. Nursing moms venture farther from home base searching for food. Cubs keep growing and ...