Jewel is in a den
September 30, 2010 – 9:07 PM CDT
Lily’s younger half sister Jewel (1 ½ ) is in a den. She either dug it herself or enlarged an old den. Monday morning we’ll visit her with the landowner to see if this is a den he recognizes or if it’s a new one. If Jewel is comfortable with the visit, we’ll make any adjustments needed to her collar so she can comfortably curl up in her den this winter.
Braveheart, Jo (pictured), Juliet and cubs, and Lily and Hope are still rambling around with no discernable decisions about where they will settle. After all the work Lily put into digging the den we saw, she and Hope are still traveling. This evening they were less than a quarter mile from the den Lily dug when they veered off and headed south. They are now 1.18 miles from the den and still moving.
Same for Braveheart. After repeatedly visiting a known den, she is off to other areas. GPS locations showed she stayed in one area until about 4 PM and then moved nearly 2 miles to reach a logging road where there is abundant clover. There her GPS locations came at regular intervals and were fairly close and evenly spaced. We watched as she moved along the logging road and could visualize her feeding on the clover.
Jo left her deer carcass yesterday, as we said last night. By morning, she was 1.8 miles away and settled in one spot. Sue checked midmorning and found her in a den. This den is very different from the rock den she had trouble getting out of. It is open to the sky—just a depression on the ground in a jumble of downed trees that provide little protection from wind or snow (pictured). Maybe this den is not right for her either. About 4 PM, she moved a mile east, then 0.3 miles north—crossing Hwy 169 twice. She is now 3.65 miles from the den she could hardly wiggle out of a few days ago.
Meanwhile, Sue checked Jo’s deer carcass. All that remained were a few bones and scattered hair. It is unlikely that Jo finished it off so completely. The bones and hair were spread over a large area which is more like we expect from wolves or coyotes. They likely moved in overnight after Jo abandoned the remains.
Sue also checked on the area where Jo had been before moving 0.2 miles to the deer carcass. The GPS readings we get from the bears are so accurate Sue was able to walk right to a deep well-used bed (pictured) on a high spot in a wetland. A nice bear trail led to the bed and a large vegetation scat was nearby.
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—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center