Hello Whitefish! This is your bear specialist, Justine, with Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks. We have many individual black bears that call Whitefish their home. We are nestled in the Whitefish range with the Whitefish River running through town. Rivers are bear highways and provide a lot of natural foods, like service berries and chokecherries. With great coverage from vegetation, rivers also make it easy for bears to travel without being seen.
As we are now in September, we will start to see the huckleberries drop. The bears will start to come back down from feeding on berries in the mountains and their hyperphagia will really kick in. They are opportunistic and look for any food source to pack on the calories. Due to the level of activity earlier this year, this fall will likely be very busy too. So, I am asking for your help. Now is the time to start thinking about whether your property is bear resistant.
The bear resistant garbage containers provided to all residential properties in Whitefish have been doing a great job keeping bears out of garbage as long as the lids are properly latched and garbage is not overflowing. We know the containers aren't perfect, and some find them to be an inconvenience, but just remember the bear resistant containers are helping to conserve our wildlife here in beautiful Montana. We had many reports of people watching bears attempting to access garbage within properly closed containers, but they were unsuccessful. While the majority of calls we received this spring were in Whitefish, most were about bears getting into birdfeeders and climbing on decks trying to reach birdfeeders. So, now is the time to take down your birdfeeders until December.
Please make sure you call us immediately after you have had a bear conflict incident. Even if you think it’s not a big deal, please call us. We need all the pieces of the puzzle to see the big picture. The sooner we know about the incident, the quicker we can respond, intervene, and prevent further damage and future conflicts. Once a bear has found a food source at your home it will most likely continue to return unless you take preventative measures. Just like us, bears remember their favorite restaurants and will continue to go back. If you wait to call us more damage will be done to your property and ultimately a positive outcome for the bear is lessened. We want to give the bear a chance to stay out of trouble!
This next part of the message is so important for you to understand. Euthanasia is an extreme last resort and the worst part of our job. Please know if you are NOT calling because you are worried about the bears outcome, YOU are ultimately doing it a disservice and will be contributing to its demise in the long run.
Here are some things you can do to make sure you're doing your part in protecting your property and keeping both people and bears safe and out of trouble:
- Install an electric fence around all bird coops and livestock. Check out our electric fence guide and Defenders of Wildlife cost share program:
- Secure garbage in a sturdy enclosure away from windows and doors. If you have a bear resistant garbage container, make sure the lid is securely latched and closed. For issues with the latching mechanism, please contact the City of Whitefish Utility Billing Department.
- Take down all bird feeders and suet cakes.
- Store all pet food and livestock feed within the house or a sturdy enclosure.
- Turn on radios at night to talk shows in barns, coops, and garages to give the idea of human presence.
- Invest in motion sensor alarms.
- After you use your grill, turn it up high to burn off any excess food and grease. Make sure to empty/clean the grease trap.
- Pick your fruit trees! Check out the Flathead Fruit Gleaning [facebook.com] Facebook group as a way to connect with people in the community that have trees they want picked or are looking to help pick someone's fruit trees!
- If a bear is on your property make it leave! Do not let it hang out, it needs to learn that being around homes and people is not safe or ok. Remember you may be tolerant, but your neighbor may not be so it's for the bears own good too. Bang pots and pans, yell, and use air horns or car alarms to scare the bear off. The human voice is often the best deterrent as most bears do not want to deal with people.
Thanks for living responsibly in bear country!!