Things to remember about hungry bears that may be roaming through your property.



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DNR banner with link to website [ [link removed] ]A young black bear looks over its shoulder demurely as it stands next to a bird feeder in a resident's yard.



As bears push further south in Michigan, here’s how we can coexist

As bears continue expanding their ranges in Michigan’s northern Lower Peninsula, more residents and business owners may spot a hungry bear roaming through their property this spring.

Here are two important points to remember:


* Bird feed, including suet, is like fast food to a bear, which can smell the feed from a mile away and remember where it is year after year.
* A bear will likely keep on moving if there’s nothing tasty to eat, whether that’s bird seed, unsecured garbage or a food-splattered grill.

Living with bears has long been part of the fabric of the Upper Peninsula, which is home to about 10,000 bears. But bears have become a greater presence in the Lower Peninsula over the past two decades as they expand their footprint farther west and south, including into the Traverse City, Grand Rapids and Midland regions. About 2,000 bears now live in the Lower Peninsula.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources manages Michigan’s wildlife, including its only bear species, the American black bear. The DNR regulates bear hunting season [ [link removed] ] in the fall to help keep the bear population sustainable. Jared Duquette, a DNR wildlife biologist who specializes in human-wildlife interactions, noted that black bears are an important part of the state’s ecosystem.

“Bears eat a variety of fruits, berries and nuts, making them terrific seed dispersers,” Duquette said. “Their droppings help spread seeds across large areas, promoting plant growth and forest regeneration. As opportunistic omnivores, bears help control populations of small mammals and insects. They also scavenge on carrion, which helps recycle nutrients back into the ecosystem.”

*‘A fed bear is a dead bear’*

The DNR has received an average of about 285 bear complaints per year over the past 20 years, including 303 complaints in 2024. Counties with the most bear complaints in 2024 included Marquette (41 complaints), Houghton (29), Otsego (26), Chippewa (25), Delta (24), Charlevoix (19), Leelanau (16) and Grand Traverse (13).

About half the complaints to the DNR’s Traverse City Customer Service Center are from people who see a bear in their yard or neighborhood and expect the DNR to come take it away. But that’s not necessarily how it works, said Mike Kowalski, a wildlife expert for 25 years at the Traverse City office, which oversees Grand Traverse, Kalkaska, Benzie, Leelanau and Manistee counties.

A bear simply passing through someone’s property does not warrant action from the DNR. Remember that the bears live here too, Kowalski said, and if we take steps to keep food sources off our property, they’ll probably move right through. To scare a bear off, make loud noises such as banging two metal pots together or using an airhorn.

Say a bear tears down a bird feeder, helps itself to the contents and causes minor property damage in the process. The DNR will instruct the homeowner to remove the bird feeder (including seed spilled on the ground) and give the bear at least two weeks to quit coming around. Other tips include replacing bird feeders with bird baths, securing household trash in a garage or shed, using bear-resistant trash cans (and bear-resistant dumpsters for businesses), and protecting beehives with electric fence.

“We had a homeowner who wanted us to trap a bear because it was coming by their home every day,” said Stephen Griffith, a veteran DNR biologist for the Traverse City area. “But if a bear is coming by every day, there’s a problem. You need to fix the problem. Bears have a very, very good memory.”

Griffith said two other residents in the Traverse City area decided to leave food out for the bears every day and even named them. This is bad news, he said, as bears can become conditioned and risk getting shot by another resident or euthanized by animal control officers.

“As the saying goes,” Griffith said, “a fed bear is a dead bear.”

*Hazing, relocation and safety tips*

The DNR can haze a bear or trap and relocate a bear if the animal becomes problematic or poses a potential threat to public safety. Hazing includes scaring off the bear with rubber buckshot or pyrotechnics.

A captured bear can be relocated to a more suitable habitat in the woods of northern Michigan. But that habitat is becoming scarcer as more land is developed.

“You can take a problem bear somewhere else, but then you run the risk of it becoming someone else’s problem,” said Kowalski, whose office relocates about six bears a year.

The American black bear (Ursus americanus) comes in black, brown and cinnamon and generally weighs between 100 and 500 pounds. Black bears prefer to avoid people whenever possible, but they are wild animals and may defend themselves when surprised or feeling threatened, according to BearWise [ [link removed] ]. If a black bear approaches you, DO NOT RUN. Instead:


* Stand your ground.
* Back away only when the bear stops its approach.
* Make yourself look bigger by raising your arms and jacket, and/or standing on a rock or stump.
* Yell “HEY BEAR!” loudly.
* Always provide a clear, unobstructed escape route for the bear.

If a black bear makes contact with you:


* DO NOT play dead (that’s for a grizzly bear).
* FIGHT BACK with anything at hand (knife, sticks, rocks, binoculars, backpack or by kicking).

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