Black bear sightings in Missouri have increased, experts say

An American Black Bear. --Photo courtesy the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

It was a nasty afternoon; light drizzle and intermittent sleet pelted me occasionally as I sat in the blind. That magical hour just before dark that hunters anticipate was at hand and I knew something was either going to happen soon or not at all.

I wasn't prepared for a huffing or woofing sound just a few yards behind me. It was so close it made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I raised up and looked out the rear of the blind, but I was too late to see the bear that had smelled me and left the area in a big hurry.

I could see where he had crossed some dirty snow left over from the harsh Idaho winter, but there was no indication of the size of the bruin. He disappeared into the spruce forest of the Sawtooth Mountains unseen, however, another one appeared in front of me a few moments later.

Aside from the weather and terrain those bears could have been right here in Missouri, however, seeing two in the span of a half an hour is very unlikely even in the most heavily populated area of the state unless you spot a sow and her cub. Yes, we do have bears in Missouri. The black bear, Ursus americanus, is the smallest of the North American bears and also the most widely distributed.

Bears are actually native to our state, but like many species they were all but extirpated during the 19th and early 20th centuries to make way for an expanding human population. Large predators just aren't welcome around livestock and bears need a large piece of territory in which to ply their trade. When you shoot every predator on sight plus remove the small game, deer and elk from areas that are then heavily logged, it doesn't leave much room for animals that are by nature shy, secretive and omnivorous. The bears were thought to be gone for good.

After a few Ozark sightings in the 1950s, there was some speculation that perhaps a few bears had remained in the more rugged regions of the state. Then the state of Arkansas implemented a program of re-introducing the black bear to the Ozark and Ouachita mountain ranges of that state. A 10-year program beginning in 1959 released about 250 bears and has culminated in an estimated population of 3,000 to 3,500 bears in Arkansas today.

According to the Missouri Department of Conservation, some of the bears of Arkansas have been making their way into Missouri. With an increasing bear population, researchers in Missouri have noted that the population is dominated by young males. Males of many mammalian species compete for the attention of the females and one way to avoid constant conflict with bigger, more aggressive males is for the young males to strike out and establish their own home territory.

White-tailed deer do the same thing. When a young buck grows his first set of antlers, he tries to find a place to call his own. It may be a short distance away or it may be several miles. This wanderlust is one reason the young males make up a good percentage of the buck harvest each year. Part of it is due to inexperience in dealing with people and the dangers they pose and part of it is due to an unfamiliarity with the new range they have moved into.

Anyway, the bears are here, and there is no doubt about that. Where, one might ask? That's a fairly easy question to answer, but the answer isn't static, because of the increasing nature of the bear population. And though the bears are mostly present in the southern counties, those below Interstate 44, there have been reported sightings in the past 10 years in more than 90 of Missouri's 114 counties. There have been two reported sightings in Vernon County, one in Bates County and one in Barton County.

The past 10 years have seen an increase in reported sightings in all of Missouri. The MDC receives about 200 reports per year from different parts of the state, but the majority of them still come from the southern portion of the state with a few counties making up the core of the population area. Sow with cub sightings have increased at a fairly steady pace giving evidence to the fact that there may be a breeding population of black bears in Missouri.

Having a sustainable population of bears in Missouri is a complex subject which is just beginning to be understood, and there is more research needed before it will be decided how to proceed with the management of this iconic species from this point forward.

With an estimated population of 300 animals, there are a number of factors to consider.

The Missouri Depart-ment of Conservation's Management Plan for the Black Bear in Missouri, dated October 2008, lists several state and federal organizations taking part in the formation of the plan which will guide how the bear population in our state will be managed in the future. The plan lists the following black bear program goals commensurate with the goal statement, "To encourage black bear population expansion within their natural range in Missouri, and to manage black bears consistent with the available habitat and within the limits of human tolerance." To accomplish this goal it is necessary to:

* Increase knowledge needed to maintain and conserve black bear populations. * Increase knowledge of black bear ecology in Missouri , identify populations, how they move, disperse and travel on a landscape level.

* Develop black bear conservation and management strategies based on information gathered through research monitoring and surveys.

* Educate the public, media and other resource professionals in Missouri and the Midwest about black bears and their management.

The MDC has been keeping data on bears for several years. They have conducted bait station surveys in conjunction with "hair snare" sampling in order to determine distribution, origin and interrelatedness of the bears in the state. More research has defined the best areas of bear habitat, dangers to the human population of those areas and the dangers to the bears that live in those regions. They have identified 42 counties as having the most suitable habitat and lowest human population levels. Some of those counties are close to Vernon County and includes counties such as Cedar, St. Clair, and Dade.

Most of the present and recent sightings have been in a fairly small area of the Central Ozark Highlands. The Current River watershed is high on the sightings list as are the counties of Ozark, Iron, Carter, Christian, Stone and Taney. Reported sightings are either "confirmed/probable bear sightings and confirmed sign such as tracks and scat."

Since bears have been reported in at least 90 counties, it is possible to sight one almost anywhere in the state, however, I have hunted and fished in all parts of the state, including those mentioned above, for more than 45 years and I have never even seen a track. And since we are not in a high sighting area we need not take special precautions here in Vernon County like they should in other areas.

If you are in some of those areas during your travels, perhaps to a piece of public land, then you need to keep the wildlife manager's axiom in mind, "a fed bear is a dead bear." Bears will take ready advantage of any easy food source. With this in mind, the bear management plan promotes public education and safe storage of all foodstuffs and refuse that could attract bears, thereby minimizing negative encounters. Ideally, according to the MDC, an encounter with a bear should be pleasant for the human and unpleasant for the bear; that would lead the bear to avoid human contact as much as possible. Nuisance bears can often be dealt with without having to trap and relocate or kill the bear.

Some of the ways to be bear wise when in bear country include never cooking or storing food in tents or sleeping areas and keeping food locked inside vehicles when not in use. If a bear enters your camp site, get inside your vehicle and stay there.

If a bear wanders into your yard while you are outside, make your presence known by making lots of noise and get inside as quickly as possible. Try to be noisy while hiking in bear country, and if you meet a bear on the trail, avoid eye contact, continue making noise or talk to the bear in a normal tone of voice as you slowly exit the area. Be especially careful not to get between a sow and her cub.

Many people consider bears a threat, but most enjoy knowing that they are out there. They are part of our heritage. They are considered endangered and enjoy full protection under the Wildlife Code of Missouri. Section 3CSR10 - 4.130 of the wildlife code states, "Black bears and endangered species that are causing damage may be killed only with the permission of an agent of the department and by methods authorized by him/her." Those are the only conditions under which a bear may be killed in the state.

Bears are killed by cars occasionally, and they occasionally find a beehive to raid, but so far nuisance bears have not been a problem. Bear attacks on people do happen, but there has not been a bear attack on a human in our state in modern times.

A few bears have been shot, but not because they were any threat. A mature, female black bear was killed in Webster County in September, and according to the November issue of the Missouri Conservationist, there has been a reward offered in the case which means that people value having bears in our forests.

And even though it is not very likely, if you see a bear in Vernon County or any other part of the state, for that matter, contact the nearest conservation agent or Department of Conservation Office. There is quite a lot of bear information and a bear sighting report form on their Web site at www.mdc.mo.gov that can be filled out and sent to the proper biologist.

In Vernon County, contact conservation agents Shawn Pennington at (417) 667-2671 or Justin Fogle at (417) 465-2858, or contact the El Dorado Springs Department of Conservation Office at (417) 876-5226. Bear sightings can also be reported to the Kansas City Region wildlife damage biologist Todd Meese at (816) 759-7300 ext. 2229.