Feeding Sign

Bear “nests” are clusters of broken branches from feeding and are not where bears rest.  They are made when a bear sits in a crotch of the tree and pulls branches closer to eat catkins, buds, leaves, fruit, or nuts.

Bear Feeding Sign:

	Broken branches beneath trees that produce bear foods. Bears climb up and bite branches off and drop them or carry them down. Look for claw and tooth marks on the branches and the tree trunks.
	Broken branches on small trees that produce bear foods. In northeastern Minnesota, look for places bears were eating willow catkins, mountain-ash berries, juneberries, cherries, and wild plums. Bears pull the branches down, and some of them break.
	Disheveled food producing bushes, often with bear paths winding among them. In northeastern Minnesota, check patches of hazelnut, dogwood, highbush cranberry, and wild plum bushes, among others.
	Rocks turned over to get ant pupae and larvae.
	Logs and stumps torn open to reach ant colonies or grubs.
	Torn up sod to find june beetle grubs.
	Leaves raked to get fallen nuts and acorns.Leaves raked to get fallen nuts and acorns.
	Clipped vegetation. In northeastern Minnesota, check grass beside forest roads or in ash swamps. Check roadside clover and dandelions and a variety of other plants bears eat in season.
	Torn up aquatic plants where bears ate cattails, water-parsnip roots, or wild calla.

Black Bear Sign (article list)