Welcome to CoveBear.com! - Black Bear News

"SEASON OF THE BEAR, VOLUME 3: TRUE BEAR STORIES" has won three awards at the 44th Annual WorldFest International Film FestivaL: Bronze for Children's Documentary, Silver for Ecology-Environment-Conservation Documentary and Gold for Nature and Wildlife Documentary. We here at Kate Marshall Graphics are thrilled and honored to have a multiple win for one program! We share this incredible win with all of the people who told and illustrated their bear stories. This DVD is now available at all official visitors centers in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, as well as at www.Amazon.com and here on the CoveBear website.

03-31-11 BEARS COMING OUT OF HIBERNATION!

Watch for bears coming out of hibernation along the Blue Ridge and in the Great Smoky Mountains. Mamas with their babies trailing behind will be out and about for the first time. They will be eating leaves and plants and grass and grubs and insects. Their favorite and bulkier foods are missing now, but they can get by with vegetation. It is time to pick up those bird feeders if you live and bear country, and have your pet food bowl outside only at meal time so that bears are not lured into your yard.

03-30-11 MONTANA'S SPRING BLACK BEAR HUNT SLATED FOR APRIL 15

Hunters must be able to distinguish between black bears and grizzly bears, and also aim for males, not females with cubs. It is illegal to kill grizzly bears, female adult black bears with cubs, and black bear cubs. In the state of Montana, as in other states, hunters must complete several courses before being allowed to hunt. Bear hunting is allowed only in legal designated areas, and never in a national or state park. Some areas of national wildlife refuges may be set aside for hunting bear. Some wildlife management areas are set aside for bear hunting. Bear hunting is allowed on private land, posted or not posted, only with written permission of landowners. Hunters must note that it is illegal to bait bears or use dogs to hunt bears, it is illegal to use scents to hunt bear, and no one may hunt bear from a vehicle, from an air-borne conveyance or from a highway. It is also against the law to use lights, salt licks, foods and/or baits (such as corn, wheat, grains, donuts, etc.), traps or snares. Airplane spotting of bear, two-way communications, and tracking devices, for the purposes of transmitting locations of bear to hunters is also prohibited. The use of night-vision equipment is not allowed. Montana has three bear hunts per year, one in spring and two in fall. Hunters may kill only one black bear per year.

03-29-11 HUGE BEARS RECORDED IN PENNSYLVANIA IN 2010

They grow very large bears in Pennsylvania! Black bear harvest numbers are in for 2010 - hunters killed 3,039 black bears, the largest one, in Monroe County, weighed 875 pounds.

03-26-11 ILLEGAL BLACK BEAR PELT FOUND IN CAR TRUNK

An Alabama man was discovered smuggling with no permits, a black bear hide and a coyote hide from Canada into Montana recently. This was a violation of the Lacey Act, resulting in a first time offense fine of $2,000 and forfeiture of the hides.

03-24-11 MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO FEEDING WILD BEARS

A man in British Columbia has pled guilty to feeding two dozen (once) wild black bears on his property for the past ten years. See this website for video reports about this from CBC News Canada.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2011/03/24/bc-bear-feeder-guilty-christina-lake.html

02-01-11 STATE OF NEW YORK INTRODUCES NEW BLACK BEAR LAWS

New York Department of Environmental Conservation has some new laws this year regarding black bears. All feeding of black bears, whether intentional or non-intentional is now prohibited, as well as making attractants such as garbage available to bears.

01-31-11 BEAR OFF THE MENU

A sports lounge in St. Paul, Minnesota roasted a 180-pound black bear last weekend to serve its customers during a television football game on Sunday. The health department requested that they not serve the bear meat, since it was not properly processed.

01-30-11 PRELIMINARY STATS FOR 2010 BEAR HARVESTS

NEW JERSEY - 591

NEW HAMPSHIRE - 706

PENNSYLVANIA - 3039

SOUTH CAROLINA - 1033

TENNESSEE - 301

WEST VIRGINIA - 2392

WISCONSIN - 4600