Recognizing Bear Signs

Know your bear signs: even if you don't see bears, they may still be around.

Bears are generally shy and not agressive. They could be in the area and you might not know it! Bears signs can be found year-round on trees, trails, and other soft walking surfaces. Learn to identify the different types of signs that bears leave behind!

Animal

Tracks and Prints

Hair

Scat

Tree markings

 

 

Always be alert and aware of your surroundings. If you see a bear:

  • 1. Stay calm and do not run!
  • 2. Avoid eye contact with bear.
  • 3. Make yourself known: yell, blow whistle, and wave your arms.
  • 4. Back away slowly, facing the bear.

 

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ANIMAL

BEAR

  • Black body with brown/tan muzzle
  • Occasional white patch of fur on chest
  • Adults ~100-500lbs, 3-6 ft from nose to tail
  • Short tail (3-5 inches)
  • Small and round ears

NOT BEAR

  • Variable body size
  • Variable body color
  • Variable tail length
  • Variable ear size and shape

TRACKS AND PRINTS

BEAR

  • Broad footprints ~4-7 inches long
  • All 5 toes and claw marks typically show
  • Triangular hind tracks
  • Largest toe on the outside
  • On trails, soft/wet soil, mud, or sand

NOT BEAR

  • Variable size
  • Canid and Felid tracks only have 4 toes
  • Human tracks are more oblong
  • Human tracks have largest toe on inside

SCAT

BEAR

Scat2 Scat3
  • Dark brown but varies by diet
  • Contains grass, seeds, fruit skins
  • ~1-2 inches in diameter
  • Usually tubular and sometimes coiled
  • Along trails, at base of trees and plants

NOT BEAR

  • Deer droppings, typically in pellets even when clumped, small, and uniform in texture
  • Canid and Feline scat are usually tapered
  • Scats of other animals are typically smaller and narrower

HAIR

BEAR

Hair2 Hair3
  • ~1-4 inches long
  • Coarse gaurd hairs are all black
  • Underfur may be dark brown
  • Sun exposure may lighten color
  • On tree trunks, thorns, telephone poles, wire fences

NOT BEAR

  • Fisher and weasel fur are fine and short
  • Raccoon, opposum, and deer fur have 1+ color on a strand (white, cream, black, etc)
  • Black hair from skunk is very long, usually 4+ inches long

TREE MARKINGS

BEAR

  • Parallel claw marks on tree trunk
  • Bark often peeled back to show inner cambium
  • Saplings broken partway up trunk
  • On tree trunks, telephone poles, downed logs

NOT BEAR

  • Woodpecker damage is circular, often into the heartwood
  • Claw marks from small mammals will be narrower and shallower
  • Deer scrapes are usually extensive

 

Photo credits:  John Adamski, DJ McNeil, Matt Merchant, John Van Niel, M. Colter Chitwood, Wikimedia.

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