Northern bear population growth echos thin beechnut crop

Because of last fall’s thin beechnut crop, wildlife biologists expected a thin crop of bears in northern Maine come springtime. They were right.

Last winter, state wildlife biologists Craig McLaughlin and Randy Cross dug into 46 bear dens and discovered 112 bears. They recorded 10 natal dens containing 24 newborn cubs – 14 females, 10 males – in litters ranging from one to four. Eighteen dens were occupied by adult females with yearlings, an additional 18 bears slumbered in separate dens.

In reporting the den surveys, the biologists said they were monitoring 60 female bears. Twenty-three of the animals were located at the Spectacle Pond study area near Ashland, 11 were denned around Stacyville, and 26 spent the winter within the boundaries of Bradford.

McLaughlin and Cross were more than surprised to discover a den containing a female bear with two newborn cubs and a pair of 2-year-old female offspring. “This is the first documented occurrence in North America of an adult female black bear permitting 2-year-old offspring to share a natal den,” they reported.

To facilitate future den surveys essential to the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife’s monitoring of bear populations, the biologists attached electronic collars to 18 female yearlings. The resulting information is used in setting annual hunting seasons and harvest quotas.

Because of the scarcity of beechnuts, some bears in northern Maine denned as early as mid-September with, apparently, low reserves of body fat. Accordingly, the biologists expect that about half of the yearling bears they discovered in the study area west of Spectacle Pond would die of malnutrition by late June.

Also, they predict: “Higher than average levels of nuisance and damage complaints can be expected this spring in northern Maine, due to most bears emerging from dens in poor physical condition. There are essentially no over-wintering beechnuts, a high-enegy food source, available for emerging bears this spring.” Considering the scant food supplies in Mother Nature’s spring cupboard, you can imagine how difficult it would be for a lean-and-mean bruin to scratch up a meal for itself and a cub or two.

In reference to the effects of low crop years on bears, the biologists noted that few adult females produced cubs in January-February when fall food crops were scarce. “Only 4 of 14 adult females in our northern study area were considered potential cub-producing female bears – over four years of age and not already accompanied by cubs – in 1994. Two of these females produced litters during the winter,” they reported.

The report continued: “We have documented an alternate year pattern of abundant beechnut crops and accompanying large production of cubs for the last 12 years in northern Maine. This synchronization of litter production at our northern study area has not been observed in more southerly study areas, where bears have access to agricultural areas that supply rather constant food supplies, or where few beech trees are found. Where fall food supplies show less year-to-year variation in abundance in these areas, cub production rates have remained fairly consistent over time.” There again is an example of the importance of agriculture to wildlife populations.

McLaughlin and Cross estimated this spring’s bear population to be 20,000-21,000, statewide. You may recall that in 1990, after annual bear kills were considered too high for maintaining population levels, the length of the bear-hunting season was reduced as a conservation measure. In recent years, bear-population growth has progressed toward the DIFW’s management objective of 21,000 animals.

If you intend to set a course for the fishing grounds early Sunday morning, plan to drop anchor at the Eddington Salmon Club for breakfast. Beginning at 5 a.m., the kitchen crew will begin serving ham and eggs, homefries, biscuits, and doughnuts and coffee at the clubhouse located at the intersection of Routes 9 and 178 at Eddington Bend. It’ll cost you $4 to loosen your belt, but if you have an angler under 12 in tow, he or she can do the same for $2.

Plan to be there before the clock strikes 9, though; thereafter, the kitchen crew will be serving flies to whatever salmon are occupying the Penobscot’s pools. From what I’ve seen and heard, I’d say there were few fish in the river. But this week’s full-moon tides could turn that around in a hurry. Keep fishin’.