JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) – As temperatures rise and spring progresses, the bears of Northeast Tennessee are emerging from their hibernation.

“Typically, we’re going to see those bigger males out first out moving around, and we have already seen that this year so far in some areas,” said Janelle Musser, black bear support biologist for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA). “So they’ll usually be the first to come out.”

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Outdoors Appalachia

Musser said after the adult males start to emerge, females with yearling cubs and lone females will make their way out. Last to leave the den are females with cubs born recently.

“That’s usually not for a couple more weeks, but like I said, we’ve already seen some bear activity,” Musser said. “We’ve had a pretty warm spring. So those bears are getting up, moving around a little bit. I would say it’s a little bit earlier.”

Females who emerge from hibernation with cubs fall into two categories: new mothers and mothers with yearling cubs.

“Cubs are born in the den with that female bear somewhere, give or take Feb. 1, so a couple of weeks around that time before, after,” Musser said. “And they’re really small when they’re born. They are less than a pound when they’re born. By the time they come out of the den with her, they’re usually somewhere between seven and ten pounds, and they can usually climb because that’s going to be their escape is to climb.”

A cub remains with its mother for about a year and a half, according to Musser. It’ll spend the first year following and learning from her, hibernate with her the next winter and then will be sent off to find its own home range in the late spring or early summer.

While temperature plays a role in when bears get back to their usual activities, food availability is the main driver. Musser said when bears stop hibernating, their immediate thought is to start eating.

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At first, bears will look for vegetation, bugs or any other easily obtained food source near their den.

“They’re just going to start looking for food and sometimes they will go in and out,” Musser said. “So they may go back and still lay down for a little bit, do some of what we kind of call walkabouts, checking things out. Like I said, see if there’s food around, that kind of thing. Then eventually they will go back to their normal home range.”

Bears keep a smaller range after hibernating for a brief period to scope things out. Females with new cubs will keep to an even smaller area to ensure their safety.

Musser told News Channel 11 that bears are capable of surviving on bugs, vegetation and other light sources of food after hibernating, but they will not pass up a chance for an easy score left out by humans.

Bears pack on fat prior to hibernating and typically lose 40-60% of their body fat in the winter months. They don’t lose any muscle, however, Musser said. That still equates to a massive appetite and humans often leave out multiple avenues for a quick snack.

“Things like our bird feeders, our garbage, our pet food that’s outside,” Musser listed. “That is a really easy and high-calorie meal that they can get. It’s a lot better than eating grass this time of year. So that typically is what happens. They get up and the food that they find that’s available is somebody’s garbage, birdseed or pet food.”

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The TWRA advises anyone living in bear country to take precautions to prevent bears from becoming dependent on human food and regularly entering neighborhoods and urban areas.

“Securing your garbage and recycling, and that means keeping them in any way that a bear cannot access them. If you feed pets outside, make sure you do it for a short time period and then remove those bowls completely. It’s probably time to start taking in your bird feeders.”

Musser said anyone set on leaving their bird feeders out should at least bring them in at night. However, if a bear is spotted eating the seed during the day, the feeder will need to come in as the bear will likely return.

Residents who notice a bear are advised to alert their neighbors so they can also secure garbage and take preventative measures. Another bear attractor can be grills, which Musser said should be thoroughly cleaned after using and preferably stored inside a shed or garage after use.

“I typically say when you’re done grilling your food, let that heat stay on, let it burn off a little bit, and then scrub that down so that there’s not any remnants left on that grill for them,” she said. “Because they’ll come knock it over, and they’ll eat all those little pieces that are left and get the grease as well.”

Bears are omnivorous, Musser stressed, and they will go after small livestock if they are easy prey.

“Things like goats, chickens, rabbits, that small livestock,” Musser said. “So if you have that and you are in an area with bears, the best way to keep those animals safe and secure is to use electric fencing around those animals.”

Musser said BearWise.org has a great brochure and instructions on how to do that for bears.

She said dogs will often alert their owners to a bear on their property so listening for uncharacteristic barking can be a good way to detect them. Pets should be brought in if there is any indication of a bear, and owners should scan their yard area before allowing their pets out.

If Northeast Tennesseans do happen across a bear, the TWRA warns everyone to not feed or approach it. People who see a bear while indoors are advised to stay inside. Anyone who encounters one outside should alert the bear to their presence, raise their hands and appear bigger, then slowly back away.

“And you don’t want to try to climb a tree because oftentimes that’s what the bear will do,” Musser warned.

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Musser also clarified that the TWRA cannot always simply relocate a bear that has begun to frequent an inhabited space.

“A lot of times when bears show up in these more residential areas or more urban areas, the number one thing we get asked is ‘Can you just come move it? You know, just come move it, and that bear will live happily ever after if you go put it in the woods, they’ll put it somewhere in the woods.’

“But here in Tennessee, we really don’t have somewhere in the woods where there aren’t people. That’s kind of thing number one. Thing number two is that we have done some recent research and unfortunately, moving those bears is really not a great option for them. Most of them end up succumbing to some sort of mortality within just a few months because they try so hard to get back to that home range that they use.”

The TWRA has tracked the movements of relocated bears and found that they will often traverse huge distances across highways and urban areas to get back to their home range. Musser said an adult male’s range can encompass 50-60 square miles and a female’s range is typically 10-30 square miles. Those ranges often overlap with one another.

In March 2022, a 500-pound black bear that had grown accustomed to eating human food near Tusculum University had to be relocated. Musser told News Channel 11 the bear covered vast distances attempting to get back to its range in Greene County and was later harvested (killed by a hunter).

“When they move so much and stuff like that, that bear made some pretty large movements in order to get back to its home range, and it made it really close back to where it was originally living and inhabiting. Because of those large movements, it can make them more susceptible. Like I said, not only to roadkill but also to harvest.”

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