Bear Activity in Northern TN/ NC

[Ground Control]

I chatted with a game warden yesterday around the Moreland Gap shelter, ~6 miles south of Dennis Cove Rd. He explained to me that he was checking for bear activity in the area, using a sardine can method I was previously unfamiliar with:

What they do is attach (nail?) sardine cans, slightly opened, to tree trunks in several places along the trail. (He assured me that they are not really on the trail, but a safe distance away from foot traffic.) The sardine cans are marked with orange, and I believe he was wearing a GPS device to aid with retrieval. He then comes back after a certain number of days to check for claw and bite marks on and around the sardine cans.

Yesterday (4/24) he found 4 of 11 sardine cans in the Moreland Gap Shelter area had been hit by bears; a low number by his report. In contrast, the warden he was communicating with had 13 of 15 hit in the Iron Mountain area...

Interesting fellow, interesting data collection method. I enjoyed chatting with him.


The next two hikers I saw at the Mountaineer Shelter both had sardines in their food bag - government approved bear-bait.

[daddytwosticks]

What's the difference between this and careless hikers leaving food leftovers about the campsite? Seems like the bears are learning bad behaviors, even from the "government"?

[Rasty]

What's the difference between this and careless hikers leaving food leftovers about the campsite? Seems like the bears are learning bad behaviors, even from the "government"?

This is done in the Smokies also. I don't see any difference either.

[HikerMom58]

I think they should try hanging oranges or apples in a tree. I wonder if that's a better idea. Hikers don't usually carry oranges or apples or leave them around campsites. Seriously, that doesn't make any sense to me either.

[Tuckahoe]

Im no expert, but it seems that this is a technique that allows officials to guage where bears are active. I would also suspect that most other food iteams could be hit by other animals and not leave as many tell tale signs as a can of sardines tacked to a tree. They are probably a little more difficult for most other animals to get into, while they will cause a bear to really work the the can and tree over.

[Pedaling Fool]

I think I saw this method of hanging sardine cans in trees on TV a while ago; it seemed to me they were just training bears how to get food out of the tree. Another reason I'll keep my food safe with me in my tent

[The Ace]

Or, just hang bear bags from trees in the manner that most hikers do. Besides, I might stop and eat the sardines; they go good with eight-day old cheese.

[Pedaling Fool]

This link talks a little about various methods to determine population of bears, including what I saw on TV, where they hang sardine cans. Seems to me it's only good training for the bears


http://www.nps.gov/grsm/naturescienc...uspartner2.htm


Excerpt:

Bait station surveys—One of the initial goals of the bear research was to develop a population monitoring technique. In 1981, Great Smoky Mountains National Park adopted the bait station technique as the main monitoring method, one we still use today. Managers hang sardine cans every ½ mile along transects—mapped lines in the forest—and monitor which ones bears visit. The total number of sites “hit” (the number of cans chewed/licked clean) shows researchers where the bear population is distributed, and how this distribution changes from year to year. This method takes less time that others, can be done all over the Park, and doesn’t have a big impact on the habitat, bears, or humans involved. While not exact, the population information this technique gives can show large-scale population changes over time and space.

[Tennessee Viking]

I have walked and driven all over Whiterock Mountain, Buck Mountain and the Laurel Fork Valley area. Never once seen a bear. Though I have heard stories of bears at Pond Flats and on the old Pond Mtn Trail.

Iron Mtn is definitely prime bear habitat with Big Laurel Branch Wilderness.

Sounds like Tenn Wildlife is just taking estimates of how big the bear population is in the area

[kidchill]

Yah, I'd rather see baiting in such a way that they don't get rewarded...like a PCT hang with smelly food and one of those game cameras (takes still shots after a motion sensor trigger). At least that way it doesn't send the message, "Attack the can and you get food!"

[WingedMonkey]

Sardine and cat food cans are common bear baiting/hunting in North Carolina. I would assume it would be in Tennessee.

[Mr. Bumpy]

Never once seen a bear. Though I have heard stories of bears at Pond Flats and on the old Pond Mtn Trail.

I get up to Pond Flats about once or twice a year, and about every other time I am up there I see bear.

[Chair-man]

Don't cans have sharp edges? Seems like the bears would get their tongues cut from licking an open can.