Bear tracks through forestOn this last day of the deer hunt rifle season, Sue tracked the mystery bear that’s been visiting a feeding station. She donned her blaze orange vest and headed out—hoping to learn more about this bear. Where does it spend the day? In a bed? In a den? Is it male or female? We hoped for details. We suspect this skittish bear skedaddled from a shallow, surface den somewhere as hunters passed by. This is not uncommon and it’s the reason we check whether bears are in the same locations after deer season as they were before.
Bear bed in deep mossSue tracked the bear to a mossy bed 0.55 miles from the feeding station. No sign of a den and the bed was solidly frozen—indicating it had not been used recently. A set of tracks led away from the bed and meandered northward. Sue followed for a ways, but they were heading further away from roads and light was fading. Is the bear going to head back to its den or to a new one? 
Bear tracks on iceBears know of many den possibilities because they investigate potential den sites and visit old dens all through the active part of their year. We’ll learn overnight whether the bear returns to the feeding station or if its tracks heading away from the frozen bed were the last we see of it this year.
Next year, we’ll have an eye out for a bear with the distinguishing white streak on the left front of its chest.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
All images taken today unless otherwise noted.