Grizzly Bear
Grizzly Bear
Grizzly bear description
GRIZZLY BEAR (ursus arctus horribilis)
Are generally brown in colour but can range in from very light brown to very dark brown; parts of their fur often turn silver as they age. Its face is dish shaped in profile, and it has a distinct hump at the shoulder, which is lacking in the Black Bear. Its front claws, which are longer than a Black Bear’s, are useful in digging up rodents and excavating dens. Eats meat, fruit, grasses, fish, and other foods.
Males can reach 7.5 feet(standing on hind legs) and weigh from 325 to 1500 pounds. They can live up to 30 years.
A mature female Grizzly Bear(sow) weighs between 150 and 800 pounds. The grizzly mother starts breeding around five years of age and have one to three cubs every three years or more during their 25-year life span.
Spring time is a wonderful viewing time as the bear have come out of hibernation and are hungry so they spend lots of time eating in open areas.Plus you get to see the new cubs staying very close to their mothers, that is until a large male (boar) comes along and wants to mate.
The bears may disappear inland When berries ripen but also continue to forage for food along the ocean side through out the season (May to October). Large numbers of bear are usually seen in a concentrated area when Salmon are spawning; late August onwards.
Life History
Grizzly bears usually have one to four cubs (average of two), which are born in the den in late January. At birth their eyes are closed, they have very little hair, and they weigh less than a pound. Grizzlies have cubs every three years on average, and cubs accompany their mother until she has another litter. Grizzly bear mothers are highly protective of their young and will risk death to protect them. Female grizzlies usually begin to breed at 5 to 6 years of age. Male bears do not participate in caring for the young. The average life span of a grizzly is 15 to 20 years. The oldest wild grizzly bear ever captured in North America was a female in the Cabinet Mountains of Montana, which was 34 years old.
Eating occupies much of a grizzly bear’s time during the spring, summer and fall, but they also engage in a wide range of other activities. Grizzly bears are extremely intelligent animals and each individual has a personality of its own. Adult bears are sometimes observed on the highest peaks. Entire family groups of mothers and cubs have been seen sliding down steep snow slopes on their rumps and then climbing back up to do it again. They also enjoy water, and on hot days can be seen splashing and diving in pools and streams. They will play with each other for hours, both as cubs and when older, and will sometimes amuse themselves by playing and wrestling with logs and sticks.
Grizzly bears generally den in October or November and emerge in mid-April. They often enter their dens during a snowstorm, but they may also den in the autumn before the onset of winter weather if they are very fat. They usually dig a den in a hillside or under the roots of a tree or use a natural cave. They’ve also been known to simply crawl into thick brush and let the snow cover them. They usually den at higher elevations where there is ample snow for insulation. A bear rarely uses the same den year after year. Dens dug in a hillside usually collapse by mid-summer.
During winter when bears are in the den, their heart and breathing rates and body temperatures are reduced. In this way they conserve energy so that they are able to survive on the fat they have stored during the summer. Bears can gain 50-100+ pounds during the 6 months they are active. Bears do not eat, drink, urinate, or defecate while they are in the den. Water is produced as their fat is metabolized, and this provides their body with necessary liquid. Incredibly, they often lose less than 2% of their muscle mass during winter sleep.
Habitat
Grizzly bears are found in a variety of habitats, from dense forests, to subalpine meadows and arctic tundra. In North America, grizzly bears are found in western Canada, Alaska, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, and Washington. Historically, they could be found from Alaska to Mexico, California to Ohio. The grizzly bear was once common on the Great Plains. However, human encroachment has forced the remaining brown bear populations to move to rugged mountains and remote forests that are undisturbed by humans.
States that allow Grizzly Hunting are for right now only Alaska though there are a few states that are possibly on the verge of opening seasons on the Grizzly pending litigation outcomes.
A well placed shot to the vital organs should do the trick but never go looking for a wounded bear without backup remember safety always comes first when hunting that which in turn could end up hunting you.
A good site to prepare for the possibility of a Grizzly encounter