bear status

[lauxier]

my friend dwayne,a regular visitor to pigeon forge,a more than regular visitor to dollywood,and a non visitor to the park,and a winnebago-addict--told me --his next trailor down,friend told him --the bear population in the park is the highest it has every been since becoming a national park---is this true?does anyone know what part of the park has the highest comcentration of bear populationIs it possible to make accurate estimates of bear numbers??

[Kevin_Thomas]

Link to the National Park Service on bears...

http://www.nps.gov/grsm/naturescience/black-bears.htm

[russ]

layxier, if you want to see some bears go to Monroe County in the Cherokee National Forest. When a bear becomes a problem n the GSMNP, if it doesn't get shot by the rangers, then it gets re-located to the National Forest where hunters are.

[Mark_Cathey]

Yes, it's possible to have a pretty accurate estimate of bear numbers in the park. *I have a friend who's a ranger on the NC side, and she says that, though the bear population is the highest it's been in a couple of decades (which is good, since they were running pretty scarce for a while, there) it's not as high as it was back in the day. *I don't know where the highest population is, but we've seen several when fishing on the upper ends of both Fish Camp Prong and Little River over the past year. *Just give them a wide berth, and they won't mess with you. *

Just be careful about leaving that open Snickers bar in the pocket of your vest.

[ttas67]

all I know about the population is what I have observed. I have been fishing the park for a little over 3 years now. the first season, I was in the park fishing an average of 4 days a week (by the way, that's not a good idea when you're trying to establish a career as a real estate agent). I saw one bear. the next year, I averaged 3 days a week, I saw about 5 bears, a pig, and a sasquatch (I'm joking). this past year, I have fished sparsely on the weekends and have seen well over 20 bears. now, I must admit that these were mostly seen from the safety of my veh, most of them in the cades cove area. there appears to be a bear explosion in the park. if the population got out of control, what would the park service do? is it out of the question to ever allow a hunt? I know a lot of people would go crazy over this, but it seems that they will eventually start terrorizing the nearby tourist areas, as there's only so much food in the park. last I heard there were 2 bears per square mile, or maybe its one bear per 2 square miles. either way that doesn't seem like enough food area per bear, but I'm no wildlife specialist

[buckeyetrouter]

hey Lauxier......if you are asking because you want to see bear, just take the rich mtn road turn off out of the loop.....this road (one way) leads back to townsend and I have seen bear on it every time I've traveled it.........

buckeyetrouter

[TroutDude]

Just wanted to say that I saw a mom and 2 cubs Wednesday just past the Laurel Falls parking area.

[Kytroutbum]

Saw them? in that area the first of the month. Must be denning in area and came out to enjoy the weather 8-).

[TroutDude]

They were about 75 yards off the road. We just happened to be coming through the park from Townsend at about 3:30 so it was a completely chance encounter. I was pretty surprised to see them. I think they were coming out for thanksgiving turkey.

[sammcdonald]

the bears in the laural falls area have been there all summer, fall, and still actively feeding before den up. there are appx 2+ bears per square mile. cucmber gap loop is also heavily populated, gregory bald area, madron bald area, marks cove....
several bears have been relocated and, on one saturday in october, 16 tourons were arrested for harrassment of bears (YEAH).
sam