In Maine, it is easy to brag about our bear biologists. I did some quick math and with conservative estimates, Maine's bear biologist Randy Cross has spent more than 72,000 hours studying and working with our black bears. That blows Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 hour rule out of the water. I was lucky enough to tag along with Randy and his bear crew, including Lisa Bates, as they started running their trap lines to check the health of our bears. I met Randy and two of his team mates, Preacher and Roach, as they headed out on day 3 of the 2016 trapping season. Their goal during the six week season is to collar as many females as possible while also getting the stats (weight, length, canine tooth size etc)...
So we made it to King's den. Now the fun starts. Once King was sedated and out, Jake and Mitch got ready to pull the cubs out. We stood closer to where they were in a semi-circle and watched. Lisa explained what was happening and the fact that this was more than likely, the first time the cubs had ever seen day light. Mitch taking the first cub out of the den. Mitch put the first cub against his chest and let go. The cub stuck to the wool jacket with it's claws, like Velcro. Jake handed him the second cub and Lisa stepped in to help. As Jake got King ready to come out of the den, Mitch tagged the cubs in each ear, weighed and measured them and described them for Lisa to write down. Lisa and...
Mount Katahdin from Route 11 in Maine. I had been awake for five hours when we pulled into the IFW office in Ashland at 8am. It was deceivingly beautiful out with the bright sun and deep blue sky but the wind kept the temperatures close to single digits. Still, we knew once we were in the woods, we wouldn't be thinking about the temps. Our group was fortunate enough to be going out with bear biologists Mitch Jackman, Jake Feener and one of the most well known biologists, Lisa Bates. It was a 17 mile truck ride into the woods from the office followed by a two mile bushwacking snowmobile ride to the den. This particular den had been marked in January when the biologists had shown up expecting to see mom and two...
