The wounded bear suddenly charged Wilcox from behind a tree. Along the way he discovered a large bear that he shot and wounded. Part of the reason may be simple demographics, hunters getting older and no longer interested or able to hunt bears. Amazingly, he recovered and lived for 47 more years to the age of 74. The bears prevailed. According to the most recent American Community Survey, the Black population in new hampshire is 18,335 - at 1.4% of the total population of new hampshire. This week New Hampshire will mark a grim anniversary: A full year of COVID-19 deaths.On March 23, 2020, the state’s first official death was... New Hampshire’s black bear population is at a record level, according to the state Fish and Game Department. Description. Up Next. That was enough bears, decided the department, which lengthened the hunting season with a plan to stabilize the number at 5,100. the coronavirus pandemic has quieted the normal bustle of Fish and Game’s headquarters, but Glenn Normandeau still comes in on a pretty regular basis, chuckling at the Dilbert cartoons taped to his door and employing a paperwork system that suits the never-ending triaging of tasks. As his eyes scanned the report, nothing about it screamed for his personal attention. “The exact same thing happened to bears,” Normandeau said. In 2018, with squirrel roadkills littering the state’s roads, the idea of a “squirrel-ageddon” captured the imagination of the public. In late June, Normandeau’s eyes fell on a new report, one more puzzling than the usual paperwork. There are approximately 6,000 bears in New Hampshire, and the population has been holding steady for the last three or four years, Timmins said. Normandeau, 63 years old and the son of a fisheries biologist, typically wears a crisp collared shirt to signify his position as executive director, balanced by a worn hunting cap that speaks to the outdoorsmen whose interests he identifies with. By 1990, with a healthy population of 3,500 bears, Fish and Game opened most of the state to bear hunting for the first time in decades, and sold tens of thousands of bear-hunting permits. When we started, we would receive one to five cubs a year. The gun that Wilcox had with him that day is still marked with the deep gouges made by the attacking bear. When the man shouted and turned to shove at the bear, it retreated into the blackness of the night. In addition to their geographical proximity, the recent bear attacks have something else in common — all three came in the midst of heat waves or droughts. The population of New Hampshire in 2020 was 1,366,275, a 0.4% increase from 2019. There’s a reason we say a fed bear is a dead bear,” he said, echoing one of the campaign’s taglines. Or it could codify all the best bear practices — force people to manage their garbage and birdfeeders more responsibly, adopt strict zoning that would shape development in ways that are less likely to attract bears, and stiffen penalties for those who actively feed wild bears. The campaign teaches people to manage their garbage, compost, livestock, barbecue grills and birdfeeders in ways that are less likely to attract bears. Andrew is a Wildlife Biologist and the State’s Bear Biologist. Edit. New Hampshire is definitely not out of the woods, despite increased vaccination. Grafton, the site of the first bear attack, also hosted the notorious “Free Town Project,” a no-holds-barred social experiment in which freedom-minded libertarians sought to assert their individual rights to all walks of life, including, in some cases, the right to feed bears on their property. John Lynch asked Normandeau to take the executive director position in 2008, the possibility New Hampshire’s black bear population is at a record level, according to the state Fish and Game Department. And so, without the political appetite for stricter laws, the responsibility falls on the shoulders of Normandeau’s underfunded staff. “It has become evident that the state’s robust bear population can withstand occasional periods of increased harvest,” an annual wildlife report noted. (“I don’t recall hearing that they did ever capture it,” Normandeau says). Normandeau’s staff was learning that bear populations were actually quite resilient to hunting pressure. The disconnect between Free Towners and the Fish and Game department demonstrates that some residents will never voluntarily comply with the “Something’s Bruin” campaign. Once aware of a food source — including bird feeders or trash bins — bears are likely to visit again. “The bottom line is, bears do three things. Fish and Game bear biologist Andy Timmins estimates the bear population in New Hampshire is around 4,500. Figure 1. Ursus americanus. ) The population of New Hampshire in 2019 was 1,360,783, a 0.42% increase from 2018. has disrupted the ability to hold needed public hearings. “They see that feeding bears is actually detrimental to bears in the long run. Late on a Friday night, a Canaan man was so hot that, despite the darkness, he’d gone outside to get an air conditioner from the back of his pickup truck. Mink’s body was discovered near the Mascoma River in Lebanon on August 25. Colburn, the Grafton woman who was attacked in 2012, said officials set a bear trap, but removed it, empty, a few days later. “They lose their fear of people, and then you get really downright dangerous situations, with bears going into houses,” Normandeau said. By 1990, with a healthy population of 3,500 bears, Fish and Game opened most of the state to bear hunting for the first time in decades, and sold tens of thousands of bear-hunting permits. Bartlett is a town in Carroll County, New Hampshire, United States. Estimated 5-year running mean New Hampshire statewide black bear population, 1990-2013. Though the department responds to each bear attack, it has not expended enough resources to capture the ursine offenders. In 2012, we received thirty … If the public will not fund more game wardens, and doesn’t want to simply accept the trade-off of bear attacks, there are options. The New Hampshire … If playback doesn't begin shortly, try restarting your device. From the Historical Society of Cheshire County. “I pile them up,” he says, “and if I don’t have to find them in a year or so, it’s time for them to go.”. 4 overall among U.S. states based on 71 metrics across eight categories. There are … Such measures have proven to be effective in tamping down bear complaints in National Parks, and Normandeau said municipalities with similar local ordinances have made “big strides in reducing bear conflicts.”, In 2013, New Hampshire lawmakers took a tiny step toward such mandates when it considered a bill to require owners of wildlife-attracting garbage “to store or dispose of such solid waste in a wildlife resistant manner (i.e., bear-proof dumpsters and garbage cans).”. New research shows the bear population in Massachusetts is expanding, even while the state’s human population is the third-most dense among U.S. states. In 1955, the bounty system was halted, and in 1956, lawmakers instead began funding crude bear census counts. In one sense, Grafton’s bears came from the woods. Normandeau is a good enough manager to know he’s not qualified to dictate a response to bear conflicts. Though hunters killed nearly 1,500 bears between 2003 and 2004 alone, bears outbred them, attaining an all-time population high of 4,830 bears in 2005. - Rick Bass (in "The Lost Grizzlies") Map of Current and Historic Range of Grizzly Bears in North America. The Concord Monitor reports the state could lengthen seasons for baiting, still hunting and hunting with hounds to help reach this goal. : As omnivores, black bears change their diets seasonally. Wildlife authorities immediately began searching for her latest set of cubs, hoping to bring them to a nearby bear sanctuary for the winter. Wilcox raised his gun, but it misfired. And unless lawmakers muster the political will for a legislative fix, the public may simply have to grin — and bear it. New Hampshire Public Radio kicked off a news series, The Balance, last week. The fall of 2018 has brought unusual circumstances for the New Hampshire bear population, a shortage of natural foods has lead to an unusual number of orphaned bears that will be unable to survive the winter. Why is yet another grocery store coming to Concord? Over 200 years, this tax-funded specicide created the intended effect —reports of bear attacks dried up in the 1800s, and most of the state was, by the mid-1900s, bear-free, with a few isolated survivors up in the mountains, where people rarely ventured. Normandeau’s efforts to extend the hunting season again this year hit a logistical snag in the coronavirus crisis, which In fall, bears consume large quantities of fatty nuts, such as beechnuts and acorns, as well as apples, cherries and mountain ash berries. Black bears have several color phases; most in … “If people simply protect their livestock and properly secure their garbage, things are fine.” Normandeau says the campaign has found a willing audience. *Estimate includes Brown/Grizzly Bear Population "The mountains have always been here, and in them, the bears." New Hampshire ranks No. But he didn’t understand the Canaan bear’s motivation either. But to many New Hampshirites, the 2013 bill stank of statism and taxes. But in 2012, the unthinkable happened — that June, a woman in Grafton named Tracey Colburn opened her front door to let her dog out and found that her porch was, in her words, “full of bear.” Two grown cubs fled, but Colburn says a third bear, the mother, would have killed her were it not for her dog drawing off the attack (as it was, Colburn suffered deep claw wounds and lost frightening amounts of blood). Bears can detect food from great distances and will travel many miles to take advantage of food sources. During the last bear hunting season, 418 bears were taken statewide. Mink, for example, wandered more than 1,000 miles to find her way back to Hanover. Resident and non-resident bear permit sales have declined from 10,964 in 2005 to 9,423 in 2016. Once aware of a food source — including bird feeders or trash bins — bears are likely to visit again. When it comes to de-escalating simmering bear tensions, the magic ingredient is an experienced game warden or biologist — through interviews and observation of physical evidence, the investigating staffer can devise and apply a corrective action, such as telling a neighbor to take in a bird feeder or killing the animal. In spring, they rely on hard mast from the previous fall, grasses, leaves and newly emerged succulent plants. They sleep, they eat, and they make more bears,” said Normandeau. According to license sales figures, there … In summer, bears focus on berries, fruits, roots and insects. By 2002, its permit-dependent funding formula was beginning to break down. But in another, equally true, sense, they came from the Commonwealth of New Hampshire. A seven-point deer head — the victim of an arrow Normandeau loosed a few years back — hangs over his computer. Wilcox was carried home on a litter and was found to have no less than 42 wounds upon his body. The population was 2,788 at the 2010 census. Singularly “bold,” they started hanging out in yards and on patios in broad daylight. The state is believed to have an estimated total Black Bear population of around 800 to 1,000 bears and growing with the most bears per square mile in the northwest part of the state. Bears can detect food from great distances and will travel many miles to take advantage of food sources. His primary role would be to field any concerns from the governor’s office or the press. The per capita income for the town was $29,557. Back in the 1970s, when a teenaged Normandeau hunted and fished the Beebe River Valley, this system worked well, even though there were only 50 wardens covering the state’s 9,300 square miles. In the wildlife management region that includes Grafton, Groton and Canaan, bears outpaced population targets by more than 50%. Food: As omnivores, black bears change their diets seasonally. A black bear incident in Canaan, where the Orange Brook helps drain rainfall from the bare granite heights of Cardigan Mountain. The percentage growth of Blacks in America is the third largest percentage change for any race according to the Census's race and ethnicity definition. As he hoisted the heavy unit in his arms, he was attacked from behind, steak-knife-size claws etching a set of deep, blood-lined furrows into the skin of his back. By the time former Gov. Wilcox seized the bear’s tongue and held on with all his strength. Red line represents the statewide bear popualtion goal stated in the Department’s Big Game Management Plan: 2006-2015. These days, the state’s bench of bear-savvy employees is smaller, just one of many systemic problems that increasingly imperil the safety of New Hampshire’s bears — and its humans. The Free Town Project, which began in 2004 and petered out around 2018, could explain why all three bear attacks happened in that region. New Hampshire has a total of 10 counties, and the majority of these counties have exhibited growth over the last five years.This is based on data from the 2010 Census compared to 2015 estimates taken by the US Census Bureau. Autoplay is paused. Population estimates were based on 5-year periods of age and sex mortality data and 3-year periods of deer hunter observation rates. The state's bear population is estimated at 5,000, a pretty stable number. Two months after taking it up, the committee voted 14-0 to kill the measure. New Hampshire hunters took 1,003 bears during the 2018 hunting season, an increase of 83 percent over the previous year, Fish and Game reports. “Never been 50 in my 12 and a half years here.”. Learn more about individual category rankings. Though hunters killed nearly 1,500 bears between 2003 and 2004 alone, bears outbred them, attaining an all-time population high of 4,830 bears in 2005. But Granite State bears had a slightly different plan: to make a thousand more bears. This year’s Canaan bear attack marks the third in eight years, Even stranger, the three attacks are clustered within about 10 miles of Cardigan Mountain, so near one another that they could conceivably have happened within the territory of a single bear (though the odds of a single bear perpetrator being behind the attacks are vanishingly small). [1] However, that doesn't mean they won't enter towns and neighborhoods. Chart and table of population level and growth rate for the state of New Hampshire from 1900 to 2020. The black bears in Grafton were not like other black bears. The state could dramatically reduce the number of problematic bear encounters by dramatically reducing the number of bears, at least in human-dense areas. New Hampshire’s bear hunters can take advantage of three seasons: stalking (“general”), dog season, and baiting season. Normandeau took the job in 2008 and is the second-longest-serving director of NH Fish and Game. In fall, bears consume large quantities of fatty nuts, such as beechnuts and acorns, as well as apples, cherries and mountain ash berries. The state is home to an estimated 5,700 black bears. New Hampshire (/ ˈ h æ m p ʃ ər /) is a state in the New England region of the United States.It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the north. As the staff shrank, New Hampshire’s population grew. of a bear attack in New Hampshire seemed as remote and mythic as a Bigfoot attack. What was less evident was that the same boom-and-bust of acorn mast behind the bumper crop of squirrels also created a bumper crop of bears, which may have played into the attack on Rogers. 8. Females average 130-180 pounds; males average 200-400 pounds. Though Fish and Game still has 47 wardens in theory, several of those positions go unfunded each year. But as he transitioned into successive careers as a commercial fisherman, and then a water quality consultant, the department was facing strain. Bears are found statewide, with the highest densities in central N.H. and the White Mountains. This trusted firearm has been passed down from generation to generation, and was undoubtedly used as evidence to convert nonbelievers of the tale of Eleazer Wilcox and the bear. The bear escaped, however, and Wilcox went to Joshua Osgood of Sullivan, who owned a hunting dog, for help in tracking down the wounded animal. The wounded bear suddenly charged Wilcox from behind a tree. In the 1700s, when bears posed a significant threat to public safety, lawmakers issued bounties for anyone that turned in a “bear’s head with both ears on,” and these were often supplemented by local town bounties. In 2018, when Rogers was attacked, Normandeau’s team responded with tracking dogs, but the bear was never caught. As Normandeau works through his last days as executive director, it’s unlikely that his successor will manage to fund a significant expansion of bear management resources. If they know of any easy food source they will use it, but they generally travel at night to avoid detection. In 2018, political pressure from some Hanover residents caused Normandeau to relocate a problem bear in Hanover, nicknamed “Mink.”. With taxpayers unwilling to make up for waning permit sales, the department was forced to cut staff, shut down facilities and defer equipment maintenance. Except for the largest developed areas and population centers nearly all of New Hampshire is considered bear habitat. Osgood soon arrived on the scene, care-fully took aim and shot the bear, whereupon it released its hold and ran into the woods where it was found dead the next day. Normandeau knew the state’s western region was suffering from the June drought and stifling heat. The legislative Fish and Game and Resources Committee heard a man testify, without evidence, that the heavier components of bear-proof garbage cans posed a threat, because children might get trapped inside, or beheaded by a slamming lid (or both trapped and beheaded). For the last several months, the coronavirus pandemic has quieted the normal bustle of Fish and Game’s headquarters, but Glenn Normandeau still comes in on a pretty regular basis, chuckling at the Dilbert cartoons taped to his door and employing a paperwork system that suits the never-ending triaging of tasks. Two New Hampshire State Routes and two Interstate Highways cross Bow. But in future drought years, that person can expect to see more bear conflicts, some of which are likely to result in human injuries, and even death. “We ended up with a record number of bears in rehab, because of sows getting hit on the road.”, In a perfect world, Fish and Game would be able to relocate bears that get too desensitized to humans, and that can happen. Such natural events, exacerbated by climate change, deplete the forests of acorn crops and other ready natural food sources for the bears, which then seek to supplement their calorie counts with human food. 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