Bear Activity Has Slowed Significantly

 

It’s been a good year camera trapping and learning about Massachusetts bears. Trail cameras captured more than six hundred videos over an eight-month period. Highlights:

-         Located a forth well-travelled bear corridor early last Spring,

-         Finding a bear nest https://youtu.be/OmizDVF7SI4 , two Baby Sitting trees along with a Whammy Tree

-         Cameras captured Sow’s with one, two and three COY, and  Sows with one two and three yearlings, for a minimum of six sows videoed this year with cubs.. No combination of four cubs were videoed like in 2022.

-         Twenty-six different bears were identified using  physical characteristics like scars , white chest patches , mange ( large bald spots) bent ears and physical size.

-         No loss of trail cameras – more people seen on TC’s than in any previous year. All cameras are located off the beaten path.

Its now mid-November and most bears have denned. Bear activity on TC’s has just about stopped with the exception of several bears. A sow with two yearlings has been on the move foraging on Winterberries. The nights are getting cold, won’t be long before that family of three den for the winter.

The mast crop in central Massachusetts was good this year. The attached video shows several bulked up bears. Any guesses on the weight of the single BIG Bear ? My gosh the bear waddles instead of walks. https://youtu.be/TuG0chOtJ8g

Jim