Minnesota bear baiters set to face off against natural foods. 
August 20, 2018 by Javier Serna
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Grand Rapids, Minn. — Certainly, conditions could change between now and the end of Minnesota’s bear-hunting season, but black bears will head into the baiting season, which opens Friday, Aug. 17, fairly well satiated from mostly above-average berry production throughout most of the bear range this summer.
The general line from most state wildlife managers across the northern tier of the state is that hunters likely will have difficulty
competing with an abundant crop of natural foods that could linger into the bear season, depending on how well hard mast production turns out.
Early spring rains that lingered into some warm weather in much of the bear range created the perfect conditions for blueberries, raspberries, and chokecherries.
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“Our blueberries were incredible this year,” said Tom Rusch, the Minnesota DNR’s Tower-area wildlife manager, recounting the sun and rain early on this season that set up “bumper” levels of blueberries.
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“I’m hearing reports of gallons and gallons of blueberries,” said Rusch, noting that on the flip side, the weather has been dry as of late, which certainly will parch many of the remaining berries.
But along the Gunflint Trail, in extreme northeastern Minnesota, substantial rains during the early days of August were expected to prolong the life of the abundant berry crop there.
An internal memo produced by the DNR’s Forest Wildlife and Populations Research Group noted that it had been a productive year for bear foods statewide, with soft mast consistently above-average and hard mast, which still is developing, appearing to be better than it had been in past years.
The report noted that most areas have reported a reduction in nuisance-bear complaints after the berries ripened, and that, if food conditions carry into the fall, a lower-than-average harvest would be expected. As fall foods such as hazelnuts and acorns dwindle later into fall, bears then would rely on bait a little bit more. But they can be choosy.
Mark Spoden, who recently was named the DNR’s Grand Rapids-area wildlife manager, said it was a productive year for all three of the aforementioned berries, as well as June berries, “and I heard about abundant blackberries, too, but I haven’t seen those myself.”
Since late July, nuisance complaints related to bear activity have pretty much stopped.
“It’s going to be hard for hunters to compete against that, at least early on,” Spoden said. “And if we get a heavy crop of acorns and hazel, it will continue.”
From what he’d seen, hard mast in Spoden’s area would be average to above-average in areas. But the ups and downs of hard mast production are notoriously hyper-local.
While the Tower area may not have much for oak trees, Grand Rapids has a bit of both burr and red oak. Bears prefer the burr oak acorns because they contain a bit less tannic acidity.
“Past radio-collar studies have shown bears will travel many miles to find ripe acorns, especially along streams where there is a lot of burr oak,” Spoden said, noting one tried-and-true method for determining the strength of an acorn mast crop.
“If you drive down forest roads and you start crunching them under your tires, it’s generally a good year,” he said. “We’ll be able to start doing that soon.”
Farther north, Larry Petersen, the DNR’s International Falls-area wildlife manager, noted that there isn’t much for oak in his area, but there is a bit of two species of hazel: beaked (a poor production year so far) and American hazel (pretty good so far).
That area has been dealing with quite a bit of heat, as well, meaning the above-average berry crop there is quickly on the way out.
“We’ve had years when there was a bumper blueberry crop and people were still picking on Labor Day, but the hot weather this year has shortened it,” Petersen said.
Dave Rave, the DNR’s Bemidji-area wildlife manager, said the main berry species in his area have been good, along with an “unbelievable” chokecherry crop, and dogwoods covered with berries, on top of solid apple production – both regular and crab apples.
Rave is still expecting a solid harvest rate in his area, which has seen an increase in bear numbers but has still kept its permits low.
“We should do well,” said Rave, although he cautioned that the hot weather needs to be gone by the time the bear season opens Sept. 1.
“They don’t move around when it’s this hot,” he said. “If it’s in the 90s on opening day, that will affect harvest as much as natural foods.”
Along those lines, he warned hunters to be careful when driving their four-wheelers over dried-out grass that could be quick to ignite from sparks.
Christine Reisz, the DNR’s Brainerd-area wildlife manager, said berry production was above-average in her area, and although blueberries and raspberries are tailing off, blackberries are just starting up.
“There was some good dogwood hanging on, though a lot of it was picked off already,” she said. “Something is eating them.”
In one spot, she was certain a bear had been gorging on chokecherries. “They were kind of mauled,” she said. “They had broken branches. You could tell it was a bear and not something else. Only a bear would bend everything this way and that.”
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