Lily Except for wounded Aster, the 8 bears with GPS units continue to move and appear to be okay on this 10th day of bear hunting.
Mike and Lorie changed batteries or GPS units today for Lily, Juliet, and Jewel, but our thoughts were mostly with Aster. According to her GPS locations on Google Earth, she moved 200 yards at dawn to a stand of tall pines where she spent the day in an area less than 50 yards diameter. As darkness fell this evening, she moved 267 yards to another stand of tall pines. She can’t be doing much foraging in the small areas she is using.
JulietAre wounded bears a danger? Not in our experience. They are actually shyer. There can be exceptions to every rule, but Aster has been typically shy. She expressed no defensive bluster when we saw her.
Our plan is to monitor her GPS locations until the GPS batteries need replacing and then see how she is doing.
FlaggingAster perhaps is fat enough to hibernate now, but she will lose considerable weight over the next several weeks in her condition. We believe that any chance of her giving birth this winter is being eliminated by her fasting and using body stores to heal.
In a previous study, we found that 28 of 30 females that weighed 176 or more on October 1st went on to produce viable cubs in January. Of the 2 exceptions, one had a broken leg and the other had other problems. The 28 that reproduced were healthy.
Bait siteWith the media beginning to call for information about Aster, we sought more information about her. We checked the area where she was shot—the area she used immediately before spending each day and night mostly inactive in very small areas. Up until that time (between 5:30 and 6:30 PM on September 5), she had been covering a lot of ground each day.
Climbing marksWe looked for sign of human activity. A well-used trail marked with pink ribbons led us to a hunter’s bait site. The site had a pit with bait remains and the logs that had covered the bait. Next to the pit were bear droppings. The sign identifying the hunter or guide had been removed and the site is no longer being used. Most of the bait had been removed before the recent rain, but enough smelly bait remained in the bottom of the pit to confirm that the site had been used this fall. Some 15 yards away, the lower branches had been removed from a red pine showing that it was the tree that held the hunter’s tree stand. Fresh gouges in the tree trunk showed where the hunter had climbed 15-20 feet up. Everything points to a hunter shooting this clearly marked radio-collared half-sister of Lily and daughter of June.
We saw that you put the legal fund over $60,000 and the Hope Learning Center over $685,000. Thank you!
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.