Bears in Winter....?

mcphersonm80 · Post by **mcphersonm80** » Fri Feb 11, 2011 9:54 am

Forgive me if it's a silly question, but should our local bears be hibernating right now or might they be up and about?

The reason I ask is that we hiked up the Heaton Flat trail towards Iron Mt on Tuesday and along the way ran across a good amount of scat that looked an awful lot like the bear poo we saw up in Sequoia, though I'm far from an expert in that particular field. Then, on our way back (we made it up to the first flat area after the tough scramble out of Heaton/Allison/Coldwater Saddle), at around the 2nd or 3rd bump south of Bonita Peak, we encountered something in the bushes grunting in a very bear-like fashion (again, based on Sequoia experiences), clearly trying to let us know it was there.

I didn't run across any tracks, but I can't help but think it was our first bear encounter in the SGs, but is that even possible this time of year?

Post by **Hikin_Jim** » Fri Feb 11, 2011 10:01 am

Local bears do not hibernate. Winters here are comparatively mild, and essentially there is no incentive or need to hibernate. It's entirely possible that what you saw was bear related and that the grunting noises you heard were those of a bear.

HJ

mcphersonm80 · Post by **mcphersonm80** » Fri Feb 11, 2011 12:06 pm

Ah, cool. The only thing keeping me from being certain that it was a bear was that I thought they hibernated... good to know.

Johnny Bronson · Post by **Johnny Bronson** » Sat Feb 12, 2011 8:34 am

Jim are you 110% positive the do not hibernate?

cougarmagic · Post by **cougarmagic** » Sat Feb 12, 2011 9:01 am

Johnny Bronson wrote: ↑Jim are you 110% positive the do not hibernate?

Jim's right - they are physically capable of hibernating, and they do get sluggish and sleep more at higher altitudes in the winter. But in SoCal in general, they just go lower and hang out in the chaparral where there is still plenty to eat.

norma r · Post by **norma r** » Sat Feb 12, 2011 9:16 am

found this heading down the center of the Baldy bowl on 1/29/10 shortly after the 6-day mega storm last year. wish i could have seen him stretching his legs after being shut-in for a week. what a sight it would have been to see a black furry beast on the pristine white bowl.

Johnny Bronson · Post by **Johnny Bronson** » Sat Feb 12, 2011 9:27 am

Very interesting!

obie · Post by **obie** » Sat Feb 12, 2011 10:08 am

mcphersonm80 · Post by **mcphersonm80** » Sat Feb 12, 2011 11:33 am

obie wrote: ↑

Nice!

These guys in the SGs?

Post by **Hikin_Jim** » Sat Feb 12, 2011 4:32 pm

Johnny Bronson wrote: ↑Jim are you 110% positive the do not hibernate?

Now that our resident critter expert, CM, says it's true, I am 110% sure. Before that I was only 100% sure.

HJ

Johnny Bronson · Post by **Johnny Bronson** » Sat Feb 12, 2011 5:48 pm

Jim are you sure you are not 101% sure?

Post by **Taco** » Sat Feb 12, 2011 6:05 pm

I think he's 100.1% sure.

obie · Post by **obie** » Sat Feb 12, 2011 9:06 pm

mcphersonm80 wrote: ↑ These guys in the SGs?

Nope. Yosemite.

I found those guys on a Google search.