Through the Seasons
Spring
Bears come out of hibernation fairly lean and hungry. They can spend 8 hours a day eating willow and cottonwood catkins, the early shoots of skunk cabbage, grasses, horsetail, clover, and dandelions. They don’t gain much weight on this diet and can continue to lose weight well into June and even into July. Bears will stay low in the valley bottoms during this time and will eventually follow the snowmelt up the mountainside in search of summer and fall berries. Let’s keep them moving up the mountains by not attracting them into our yards.
Summer
The search for food continues and with the summer comes ants and grubs which bears are able to access by ripping apart rotten stumps and logs; these insects provide important protein. The breeding season begins late May and ends in early July and these normally solitary creatures can be seen together during these few months.
Fall
Berries, berries, and more berries! In preparation for hibernation a bears appetite will increase over the fall where they will feed for 20 hours a day in order to pack on enough pounds to survive the winter. They can consume up to 20,000 calories/day, which is equal to a human eating 50 hamburgers/day.
If you want to feed birds, keep in mind that a source of non-natural food for bears is birdseed; a typical seven-pound feeder contains a whopping 12,000 calories making this food just too tempting to walk by.
Salmon is an important fall food as is fruit from domestic fruit trees so pick your fruit, collect all windfall and be Bear Aware.
Winter
Bears will den in the bottom of dead trees in small caves or rock cavities. They don’t hibernate because it’s cold but because their natural food supply has run out. This is why it’s essential to keep all non-natural food secure, even over the winter. If there is food available, bears will not hibernate.
