Dec 8, 2018 3 min read

For most of my life, it was assumed that bears had little impact on deer populations in the state. It even seemed the black bear got little respect and was little more than the clown of the forest. The bear, in reality, is a shy reclusive animal and that is the secret to its survival. It lives in harmony with man.

Most bear problems involve some garden damage or the bear gets in someone’s apiary or beehive. Now, all of that has changed as I have discovered that black bears do indeed affect the deer population. They are a predator of fawns. I am not sure of the exact number of fawns taken each year but have been told it is higher than one would think.

The bear, being a large predator, makes perfect sense to me now that I think about it. Suddenly, that black bear is looked on in a different light. I never realized the high number of fawns black bears can take. The aggression I have always heard about involved injured bears or moms with cubs.

I recently saw some great footage of a black bear on a friend’s trail cam. He had strategically placed trail cams around his summer home in rural Virginia. On the camera, he captured a great show of a bear that didn’t like having his picture taken. First shot is the great big lumbering bear on the front porch. When the bear suddenly turns his head, he looks straight into the camera and for a second, he looks puzzled. This expression changed almost into what looked like resentment. Maybe it was the sound or that little tiny flashing light.

Suddenly, the bear looked angry. The next moment, all his hair stands up on end and you could see that big black nose and brown muzzle. He shuffled closer then you saw teeth as he opened his mouth. You could see all the way back to his tonsils as you saw his tongue taste the camera. Goodbye trail cam. The bear put a stop to that invasion of his privacy I guess. This is a battle where the aggressive species goes the way of the dodo but the shy and elusive species survive as bears are normally shy survivors.

I think the next time I am in good bear country, I might ask around about the fawn population. Come to think of it, they are good at keeping the trail cam population down, too.

Ted Hildebrand, the vice-president of the Dormont Mt. Lebanon Sportsman Club, had a great year deer hunting. First, he shot a nice 8-pointer during archery with his crossbow. Then, he topped it off by shooting the clone of this buck in the state of Illinois with his shotgun. When I say clone, I mean a nearly identical 8-point buck. Ted has always been known as an excellent target shooter with all three phases – handgun, shotgun and rifle. Now, he is proven as a great deer hunter.

George Block writes a weekly Outdoors column for the Observer-Reporter.