By BROOKLYN BROWN
One Feather Reporter
CHEROKEE, N.C.- Caleb Hickman, fish and wildlife biologist and supervisor for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) Natural Resources department, shared some information and preparedness tips on black bears as the summer months increase bear sightings and activity.
“What every person that works with bears will say is, if you want to keep bears out of your area and out of your things, the best thing to do is to lock your trash up and be diligent about cleaning. They also can queue into things like bird feeders, and they tend to like anything you’re cooking on outside like your grill. Keep it clean or locked away if you can,” he said.
“Don’t be surprised if they do invade your grill area or your bird feeder, and if you suspect you have bear activity, I would keep those things away from anything else that you don’t want damaged. They have an incredible sense of smell. They can smell sometimes up to a mile away some of your food. If they’re up on some of our mountains and the hollers have some wind going through it, they can catch a whiff, and they will find your grill or any grease that’s been thrown out.”
Hickman said understanding bears is how we can prevent any negative interactions.
“We coexist, I believe, because we understand each other. And I think when it goes wrong is when people aren’t understanding the animal anymore. Bears are just going to be wild animals. That’s just who they are. And in our environment, we’re also right next to one of the largest bear refuge areas on the continent, especially in the eastern United States, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park,” he said.
“What we’re worried about is what’s called food conditioning or food habituation. When bears are associating people with food, they’re a lot more likely to come to you and even bite you. One elder here who has passed away, he was from up in Birdtown area, he gave me a piece of information that I thought made real sense as a biologist, too. He said that he feels like bears bite usually because they sense their environment with their mouth. He said he’d sit there and watch bears when he was hunting. He reminded me of a biologist. He was studying. He said he just watched the bears, and he would see that they go around and they’re curious, but instead of just smelling or feeling, they’ll go up to something and chew on it. They have to sense their environment. The way he said that made total sense to me. When these campers are in the park, and their tent gets bit, it’s just a bear checking it out. They’re not attacking. When you start to understand the bears and their intentions, you realize you’re not really on their menu. They predominantly eat insects.”
Hickman provided best practices for if you do encounter a bear at your home, campsite, or in the woods.
“Don’t approach it, first of all. Keep a distance. If they don’t see you, you should be making noise. You don’t want to startle a bear, especially with cubs. If it’s a sow, a sow is a female bear, and she’s got her cubs with her, steer clear. Do not walk towards, and if you can, stay in your vehicle. Also, you should lock up your vehicle if you’re at a campsite overnight. Hang your food or keep it in a locked vehicle. Don’t put food in a tent with you,”
“Slowly move away, don’t run, and speak loudly. Some people, actually hikers will wear noise makers when they’re hiking so they can make a little more noise because you can stumble on a bear. It’s good to make sure they’re well aware you’re on your way. Especially if a sow has cubs and you startle them, that’s when it becomes really dangerous,” he added.
Hickman said local bear hunters have made our area safer from bear encounters than others, and maybe even our local dogs, colloquially termed “rez dogs.”
“We know bear hunters can kind of change bear behavior. We’re pretty sure that they’re keeping these bears nice and fearful of people for the most part. We’re also studying right now possibly the effects of our rez dogs on bear behavior. We kind of think that anywhere there’s been rez dogs, dogs just roaming around, we’re not finding nearly as many bears. That’s something we’re not quite sure about, and I got to put statistics to it, but we suspect that,” he said.
“Bear hunters know quite a bit. They know bear behavior pretty well. They also know that these bears will run off if their dogs are chasing them into the park. And of course, the bear nor the dogs can read signs. So, they chase them into the park, but eventually these bears sometimes will turn around and come back. But they do learn. They can learn, and we don’t see the same number of incidents that Gatlinburg or Pigeon Forge or even Asheville has, and I attribute that largely to the hunting that we have and maybe even our rez dogs.”
Hickman said bears are not a major worry, but preparedness is key. “I don’t have a fear of bears when I’m in the woods. I worry about other animals before I worry about a bear, but it doesn’t mean you should be unprepared. If they’re food conditioned, they may come to you and they may not be fearful of you. But I do feel strongly that our bear hunters have kept these bears fearful of humans, and that keeps us a little safer than say our surrounding communities,” he said.
“Yona is a wonderful animal. They’re great and they’re very important to us and we want to make sure that we protect them but also value them as a resource.”
Hickman said to visit BearWise helps people live responsibly with bears to learn more about bear safety.
