Front grizzlies emerge early from winter slumber

More grizzly bears are emerging from their dens earlier this year on Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front, probably because of the mild winter, based on radio transmissions from collared bears and observations, according to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

FWP conducted a flight over the Front Friday to check on den emergence of bears fitted with radio collars for management or research purposes.

The goal of the annual flights is to pinpoint locations of dens and check whether bears have emerged.

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This year, all but one of the bears were long gone from their dens, said Mike Madel, an FWP grizzly bear management specialist.

“This is by far the earliest we’ve had as many transmitted grizzly bears outside of their dens,” Madel said.

Bears usually don’t leave dens until mid-April to May 1.

And they usually spend a week to 10 days hanging around dens before leaving because they are lethargic, alternating between sunny south-facing slopes near the den site during the day and dens at night.

The radio-collared bears checked Friday are representative of the behavior of overall grizzly bear population this year, Madel said.

Ranchers and recreationists also have reported more observations of grizzly bears and tracks than usual, Madel said.

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Signals from radio collars on nine grizzly bears — six females and three males — were picked up during Friday’s flight, and all of the bears, except one, were out of their dens. Several of the females had already traveled far down river drainages east of the mountains.

One female was east of U.S. Highway 89, almost to the Marias River on the open plains, based on radio signals.

“The way it’s going, it won’t surprise me if we don’t have more bears down the drainages earlier this year,” Madel said.

One depredation has been reported, with a grizzly killing a calf southwest of Augusta.

The grizzly bear population in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem is about 1,000 bears. Bears on the Rocky Mountain Front, which is east of the Divide, are part of that population.

The early den emergence by bears east of the Divide is likely resulting from less snow compared to areas west of the Divide, Madel said.

Bears hibernate for four to six months in dens at elevations of 6,000 to 7,000 feet depending on the sex and whether females are pregnant, with males usually emerging from dens earlier.

Increasing day length is the main environmental cue that prompts them to leave dens, and less snow can expose dens to more light, Madel said. At this time of year, dens usually are covered with a couple of feet of snow. This year, with very little snow cover east of the Continental Divide, bears have become active earlier, Madel said.

“I’m sure this is something we’ll be expecting more often with global climate change,” Madel said.

That’s noteworthy for the public, he said, because if bears emerge from dens earlier in the spring and enter them later in the fall they will be active for longer periods.

During annual flights over the Front, FWP personnel usually observe about 50 percent of the radio-collared bears. Radio signals locate the rest.

One bear observed this year was No. 626, known as Big Sis because she was captured with her sister several years ago. Big Sis was moving across a limber pine savanna with a yearling cub. Two years ago, her first litter of two cubs were lost, likely killed by a male grizzly bear, Madel said.

Be bear aware

With grizzly bears out, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks is advising residents living along the Teton, Sun and Dearborn rivers and Dupuyer and Birch creeks to consider taking down bird feeders and making livestock feed more bear resistant including closing up barns and garages at night and not leaving garbage out at night.