Today was the opening of small game hunting, so we heard lot of shots, but the GPSed bears are fine. We visited Lily and family, June, Ursula, and Shirley. Sharon is in a safe place. Glenn located Star, Colleen, and Cookie. Un-collared Donna is the only question after shots were heard in her territory yesterday. However, we remain optimistic.
Could yearling Shirley be called a tomboy? She is very comfortable with yearlings Jim and Bill and 2-year-old Ty. The males play more with each other than with Shirley, but Shirley, the smallest of the 4, is right among them. That’s what we saw when we visited her today.
Ursula (above) is a sweetheart. When we caught up to her to change her GPS unit this evening, she was alert and nervous, constantly scanning the woods around her but paying no attention to us as we tugged at her collar and then a stuck zipper to get the GPS unit out and a new one in. To her, that’s normal. She just wanted to make sure no danger was approaching in the woods as she looked around us, ducking her head to avoid hitting our legs with her head as she pivoted. Then we left her with her cubs (one pictured at left) and disappeared into the nearly dark forest and headed back to the road.
We’re starting to relax and believe that bears like Ursula, June (right), Lily, and the other trusting bears will make it another year. We’re still crossing our fingers for Donna, though. The 4 shots last evening have us worried, but we’re hoping a hunter would spare a mother with 3 cubs.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported today that only 1 radio-collared bear is known to have been shot so far this season. That 1 was in northwestern Minnesota and was part of the DNR’s study. DNR bear biologist Dave Garshelis was quoted that he won’t really know how many of his radio-collared bears were shot until he checks them at their dens because hunters have shot radio-collared bears and tossed the collars aside in the past. The article said only 1,581 bears have been killed so far this year. The article is at http://www.startribune.com/sports/outdoors/130030953.html.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center