Sharon Herrell’s words and the interns’ pictures from yesterday bear repeating:
Holly and Lucky
Bear News June 26, 2017
Sometimes, just sometimes, there are no words for what we see our bears do. I am referencing the photo of Lucky and Holly. If she were human, would she be asking Lucky to rub her paw? Both bears look totally wiped out. Maybe it was the sun, which we rarely see or maybe they were just enjoying each other.
Ted is back preaching to his pond audience. He looks so handsome with the sun rays helping the shine on his coat. If he could speak would he want his followers to clap for him or just throw grapes and kisses. Ted has been doing long walkabouts. He still likes Tasha.
Tasha has been busy during her daily travels. She is very photogenic and often stops to get her picture taken.
We have had volumes of rain this past week. The foods for the wild bears should be plentiful.
The flowers around and near the pond are also in bloom. Lucky must have been tasting some because he had a flower petal attached to his nose. We unfortunately didn't get a picture before he went off into the forest. The lupine, wild roses, miniature wild carnations, daisies, and hawkweed are all spectacular around the pond.
Ted at his logBack to Lynn now.
The picture an intern captured of Lucky and Holly holding paws should be on a mug or something. It shows them together, relaxed and represents their long-term relationship.
On the second day of my bear research internship, my boss El Harger put me to a test. At a garbage dump, we watched bears ignore us as they pawed through garbage in a big trench. El filled a dart with tranquilizer, loaded it into a dart gun, and handed me a metal bar with a loop of chain on the end. Pointing to the edge of the woods, he said I should circle quietly around and wait where the trail from the trench entered the woods. He said the bear he darts should run for the woods on that trail. My job would be to head it off and not let it escape into the woods. If I could get it to run its head through the loop of chain and restrain it, so much the better. I didn’t know if he was serious or joking. People told me he had a dry sense of humor; but I had promised not to argue, so I went to the spot. I heard a pop, and the biggest male came running toward me with a dart in his shoulder. I stood perfectly still until he got close. Then I stepped out, holding the bar and choker in front of me, trying to picture the bear running its head through the loop of chain but feeling more like the bar and chain were my only protection. The bear veered. I tried to head him off, but he disappeared into the woods. I thought I’d failed. El came running, laughing, carrying equipment. “Good job! You’re going to be okay.” El found the bear lying a hundred yards down the trail, and we proceeded to ear-tag it, weigh it, and measure it.
Tasha foragingOver the next weeks, El taught me all his procedures and let me do them. As we drove back and forth across the Upper Peninsula, I pestered him with questions. In my off hours, I read everything I could about bears in the Station’s research library. Then came a major opportunity. El and his wife were taking a trip for the month of August and he wanted me to carry on catching bears on my own. Lou Verme wasn’t so sure. They had never turned a student intern loose on his own. Lou Verme and John Ozoga, another famous deer researcher there watched me tranquilize and process a bear. Lou looked thoughtful. He looked at John. Then he looked at me and said, “Okay, let’s see what you can do on your own. I’ll let Don (the other intern) know you might be calling on him for help from time to time.”
I appreciated Lou’s confidence. I didn’t want to let El down. Over the next month, I worked as long and hard as it took to show them they made the right decision.
Hairy woodpeckers treeThe confidence I had around bears with El faded when I was with Don. When we checked a patch of woods to see if a tranquilized bear had recovered and left, Don’s wary body language and worried tones brought back my old fears. My eyes began darting from shadow to shadow for the face of an angry bear. I was glad to get back in the pickup. Shortly, I realized once again what fear can do. I felt foolish yet even more fascinated with learning what black bears are really like.
Over the next weeks, I worked like a demon, catching and ear-tagging bears and moving nuisance bears. My confidence around bears grew. I caught as many bears in that month (26) as they had ever caught in a year.
Visiting male bearThe many stories are too long to tell here, but one lesson especially stuck with me about bears possibly being able to recognize good and bad treatment. A mature female that had been hit by a vehicle was lying beside a road. I was sent to investigate. I gently rolled her onto a tarp and, with help, laid her in the back of the pickup. As I drove back to the Station, she sat up. I stopped, went out, and put my hand gently on the top of her head. Without the wind and rumble of driving, she lay down. I covered her. Back at the Station, I gently carried her into a pen. As she lay resting, a keeper came in and said, “It must have a broken back.” “No,” I said, “She sat up on the way.” He nudged her with his foot. “No! Don’t,” I said. He kicked her. In a sudden blur, she leaped up, took 3 bounds after him, and buried her teeth in his calf as he was running out the door. She collapsed just inside the door. I wondered how I’d get out over the aroused bear. I wondered if she’d recognize that I was not the one who kicked her. As I stepped over her, she glanced up, our eyes met, and she relaxed. Her burst of energy gave us hope, but she died a couple days later.
Hairy woodpecker father feeding young
More later.
In the here and now, talk of another “Dinner With The Bears” at the Wildlife Research Institute on Friday, July 21, as part of the LilyPad Picnic reminded me that the LilyPad Picnic is coming up fast. For tickets, go to www.lilypadpicnic.com, and for questions, email
Out the window, a father hairy woodpecker fed a fledged baby that is as big as him, and a hungry mature male bear took a break from mating. I’m not sure who he is, but a wound to his nose will make him forever recognizable once we figure out who he is. It’s no wonder he acted hungry now as mating season is winding down. Males spend so much time mating that they hardly eat and can lose as much weight during mating season as they lost over winter.
Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center