Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 6 · column 6 of 6 · from the scan, no model involved
is 28.4 percent of the total land in the state, are within the bear hunting counties. A 1957 VDGIF report estimated the bear population to be 1,102 animals, compared to the current estimate of between 3,500 and 4,500 bears statewide.
The home range of an adult male black bear is approximately 15 square miles. An adult female’s range is approximately 10 square miles. In areas where there is ample food, like SNP, multiple bears might occupy a single range. Atkinson believes that many of the bears killed during hunting season are bears that live most of the year in SNP. Like deer and other animals, bears often leave the park or their normal home ranges searching for food. “They don’t truly hibernate during part of the winter,” Atkinson said. “They will come out and wander around some on warmer days.”
Virginia Tech field technician Adam Vashon has been with the CAB Study since May 1993. “Though they are omnivorous, eating both plant and animal matter, bears commonly live strictly on vegetable matter for many months of the year,” he pointed out. “They are also ‘opportunistic.’, That is, they eat foods that are read-,, ily available to them. In years when mast crops, like berries and acorns, fail. it.is common for nuisance complaints of black bears to increase.”
According to Vashon. fall is the most critical feeding time for the bears because they must put on the extra weight that will carry them through the cold months of the denning season. VPI researchers have determined that female bears with little or no fat stored have trouble bringing their cubs to term or producing enough milk to successfully raise them.
84.7%