I don’t have to tell anyone living in the Northwoods, but for those who just moved to the Northwoods or don’t know much about bears, your best time to encounter a bear is now. After hibernation, males will leave their den first, but females stay in their den until her cubs (1 to 3) are strong enough and weigh around 5 pounds.

Black bears generally avoid humans, but because they haven’t eaten in months, once their metabolism is back to normal, the first thing on their minds is replacing the 30 to 40 percent of their body weight they lost over winter. Bears are very intelligent, and not only can they remember where they found food. Depending on wind direction, bears can smell a source of food over 15 miles away.

This time of year, even though bears try to avoid humans, their natural food supplies are limited. So where will bears find available food? Everywhere they can and now, the best place is around homes and cabins. I’m not saying you won’t see bears close to your home/cabin, but here are a few tips that could make bears pass by and not look for dinner.

• STORE TRASH CANS INSIDE UNTIL THE MORNING ITS PICKED UP.
• TAKE IN BIRD FEEDERS AT NIGHT, WITH HUMMINGBIRD FEEDERS BEING #1 ATTRACTION.
• AFTER GRILLING, CLEAN AND PLACE GRILL INSIDE IF POSSIBLE.
• DO NOT LEAVE ANY PET FOOD OR CORN OUT FOR WILDLIFE.

Here are a few examples I personally know of spring bear encounters.

1. On two different occasions a friend’s dog chased a bear out of his back yard.
2. Other friends woke to find the lid of their dumpster open with garbage/food spread around the container.
3. Yet another friend saw a bear eating from her bird feeder and that night while letting her dog out, a bear was only 15 feet from her door.
4. Last night a bear got into a friends bear proof dumpster. AND THE LAST ONE IN MINE.  I know better, but I forgot to bring in our bird feeders two nights ago and woke up yesterday to find our bird feeders destroyed. Picture shown. I guess that was a reminder to bring in our feeders.