If you thought grizzly bears couldn't get more terrifying then you're wrong. They're super hungry this time of year as winter approaches. And they're not the only ones. All of the bears are gearing up for hibernation by chowing down. Just make sure you're not on the menu.
Experts are warning hikers and hunters alike that grizzly bears and other bears may be more aggressive during hyperphagia. It's an extreme appetite that hits high gear before hibernation.
"They can eat pretty much anything," said retired federal ecologist Chuck Neal. "It's not a question of what, but how much they get their jaws around." Grizzly bears on average will consume around 20,000 calories a day.
"They can actually consume more than that, depending on the food source," Neal told the Cowboy State Daily. "They can put on 200 to 300 pounds from July to November. It's their biology. It's what they evolved to do in preparation for the winter sleep."
The expert reveals that grizzly bears had to swap food sources. "The whitebark pine has been decimated, primarily by outbreaks of mountain pine beetles," Neal said. "But they're very adaptable, so they've had to switch to other foods."
Grizzly Bears Hungry
Bears will travel for food. The expert explains that they can be crafty as they look to pack on calories.
"That's when we often see bears in lower elevations," Neal said. "They may show up in a cornfield outside of Powell or the Shoshone River bottoms eating silver buffaloberries. They're searching for all the calories they can possibly pack on, and sometimes that takes them onto the periphery of their currently occupied range."
The expert warns that hunters should be wary of grizzly bears and other bears. Grizzlies will go after wounded or dead animals.
"Hunters have a special obligation to be vigilant because they're putting dinner on the ground," Neal said. "Bears are seeking out gut piles. That is highly nutritious food, but it also places bears in proximity to hunting groups and men with guns. The mortality rate for bears has gone up due to run-ins between man and beast over gut piles."
Grizzly bears will continue this behavior until November
"The point to remember is that Wyoming was always an occupied range for bears," Neal said. "The bears have been pushed back into the Yellowstone country over the last century or so due to the expansion of human populations, and they are simply trying to recolonize what they always occupied. The possibility of more confrontations between man and beast do exist as they're looking for more calories during hyperphagia."
