The latest arrivals to these parts of the state like to feast on junk food, sleep all winter and maybe snag a pic-a-nic basket or two full of sundry victuals.
Ursus Americanus, or the American black bear, is coming down from the mountains and settling into the Piedmont in larger numbers, biologists say. They are also lumbering inland from their swampy lairs in the eastern part of the state.
In the coming year, just as Census workers fan out across the region to count people, wildlife biologists, hunters and others hope to get a better handle on another population in the state: the black bears. Males average 200 to 700 pounds and stand 5 to 6 feet tall, but they can weigh more than 800 pounds and stretch to 7 feet tall on their hind feet.
"They've been on the coast and in the mountains for years," said Colleen Offenbuttel, black bear and furbearer biologist with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission. "They're starting to disperse and establish themselves in the Piedmont."
At last count in 2008, according to Wildlife Resources Commission reports, about 11,000 bears lived on nearly 10 million acres in this state. That's more than double the 1971 count of 4,000 bears occupying 2.5 million acres.
In the coming year, biologists and technicians will go over observation records and amass data from bears killed by hunters and automobiles. Teeth and reproductive tracts can reveal a lot about migration patterns and population levels, biologists say. The rings of a bear's small, single-rooted premolar can, much like the rings of a tree trunk, show the age of the furry beast.
Even without those details, though, biologists, hunters and park rangers say there is no doubt that black bears, once rare sights in this region, not only are passing through the Piedmont more routinely but also are establishing themselves here.
"Ten years ago, it was a rarity to hear about a bear in Halifax County," said Ed Wilkerson, a ranger at Medoc Mountain State Park in Hollister, about 75 miles northeast of downtown Raleigh. "Now I get a report about one at least once a month, sometimes more."
There have been more sightings in the Triangle, too. In Durham this past summer, a wild black bear cub was seen wandering on the grounds of the N.C. Museum of Life and Science.
In the late spring of 2008, a bear, or possibly two, was seen rambling through a few backyards in the Brier Creek neighborhood in North Raleigh. Presumably the same animal was seen eight days later in nearby Umstead Park.
Several years before that, another bear was reported lumbering through northern Durham. There have been several bear sightings in Orange County, too.
Many of the bears seen wandering through urban areas, biologists say, are young ones on their own, in search of food, territory and mates. This is particularly true in years when there's a scarcity of acorns and berries, some of their favorite wild foods.
"A lot of the bears you see moving are the younger males looking for territory," Wilkerson said.
Unregulated hunting
In pre-colonial times, black bears had their run of the state. But early settlers were tough on black bears, the only one of the three bear species in North America whose range includes the Eastern United States.
For many years, there was unregulated killing of the animals. Then development forced them into secluded coastal and mountain areas.
With the species in decline, the state instituted a hunting season in 1927 and further restricted killing of the bears with a one-bag limit in 1947.
A sanctuary system was established in the 1970s to give black bears a chance to repopulate the state.
Now, with the comeback, some counties in the central part of the state are allowing hunting again to help manage the population.
Clay McPherson, who runs the Cutawhiskie Creek Outfitters hunt service in Ahoskie, about 140 miles northeast of Raleigh, said this week that he thought the state's Wildlife Resources Commission had overstepped its bounds two years ago when it put in rules to prohibit hunters from using processed food to bait bears.
Until then, McPherson said, he and other hunters would put out doughnuts and honey buns to lure the sweet-toothed animals into their sights. Now, he says, bears are turning their noses up at the peanuts, natural grains and corn being used for bait in the wild and are looking for better eats in more urban areas.
"They're moving around a whole lot more because people aren't allowed to hold them with doughnuts and honey buns," McPherson said.
Biologists theorize, though, that bears are settling in the Piedmont for reasons other than the processed sweets and junk food that are typical of suburban life.
The young males, which often travel 15 to 20 miles a day, are searching for new territory and mates, biologists say. The presence of bear sows and their cubs, biologists say, is one sign of establishment in this region.
The resurgence has increased interest among hunters and also created worries in neighborhoods on the edge of their new habitat.
Mark Jones, who ran the state's black bear project for years, said black bears typically are skittish around people.
In modern North Carolina history, Jones says, there has been no fatality related to a black bear attack, but there have been some minor attacks. Also more bears have wandered into roadways, creating hazards for motorists.
But with good wildlife management programs and people minimizing the potential for conflicted, Jones said, there can be coexistence with bears: "We can manage them."
