Crackle by pondCrackle (9) gave us a glimpse in the woods today, confirming that he made it through last fall and winter. He is not a bear we can approach. He had places to go and paused for only a couple seconds. Crackle is not part of Shadow’s Clan. He is a bear we saw as a cub and then occasionally as he matured.
Bow (7) put in an appearance with her 2 cubs, showing that the cub that appeared so sickly on June 30th is fine now. We’re still trying to see the cubs well enough to determine their sexes. Scats from Bow and a cub showed they had been eating mostly wild sarsaparilla berries and about 10% juneberries—no ants and no blueberries. When bears find a patch of wild sarsaparilla berries, they give up blueberries.
Cal Larson at Bear CenterA very nice call today was from retired Representative Cal Larson who Lynn worked with back in 1971 to elevate bears from varmint status (to be killed in any manner, in any number, at any time) to big game status. Lynn joined Cal and his family at the Bear Center where Cal’s name is part of the Bear Management Exhibit. Accomplishing big game status for bears was one of his achievements in his over 20 years as a State Representative in the Legislature.
The exhibit says: “In 1971, Dick Anderson, president of the Minnesota State Archery Association, and Lynn Rogers, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Minnesota, worked with Representative Cal Larson and Senator Cliff Ukkelberg to pass legislation elevating black bears to big game status in Minnesota. Dave Vesal and Roger Holmes of the Minnesota Dept. of Natural Resources Fish and Game Division said the legislation was sorely needed.”
As a result of the legislation, the bear season was cut from 52 weeks to 6 and the limit was reduced to one. The bear population quadrupled to around 25,000. Overhunting in the last few years reduced the population to around 15,000, but hunting licenses have now been reduced to allow the population to expand again.
It was great to see Cal and his family and reminisce.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
All photos taken today unless otherwise noted.