It’s Bear Pole Season

This month we constructed 11 bear poles at heavily-used camp or backcountry sites in two main areas of western Montana. We partnered with the US Forest Service on poles around Phillipsburg in the National Forest, and with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and MT Fish, Wildlife, & Parks for poles on TNC land near Greenough, MT. 

In the backcountry, hanging food or game carcasses out of reach of bears can help prevent them from becoming food-conditioned. It's also a good way to ensure your breakfast will be waiting for you when you wake up in the morning!

We’ve all heard the adage, “A fed bear is a dead bear.” Each year both grizzlies and black bears are euthanized after becoming food-conditioned because they got into unsecured garbage, backcountry foods, and bird seed and pet foods around homes. This also makes bears a greater risk to people, because it brings them in closer and they become less wary of people. Montana residents and hikers/hunters have the ability to keep themselves safe and bears wild by securing human foods at home, on the ranch/farm, and in the backcountry.