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Show Stan's -i Black I Bears In Utah, there is only one Specics of bear, the black bear i (Ursus amcricanus). Although all arc the specics black bear, many different colors of bear are found, deluding blonde, cinnamon, (iown.and black. Bears are omnivores and oppor-; oppor-; tunists. They will eat a great ! variety of materials. Over 50 per-j per-j cent of a bear's diet is plant mate-; mate-; rial, including green grass, a variety j of fruits and berries, as well as nuts such as acoms and pinyon nuts. i , Bears also feed heavily on items like insects (especially ants), deer, elk calves, and any sick or wounded v game animals they can easily access, ac-cess, or animal remains. i, Basically, bears are solitary ex- l ccpt for a few days during the i breeding season of May and June, or when a female is accompanied " by young. i . Bear sizes commonly tend to be ii' over exaggerated; typically an adult j, female will weigh in around 150 " pounds and the adult males average about 250 pounds. In Utah, there are several methods meth-ods which hunters are using to har- vest bears. "Baiting (which requires special permits and is for archery hunting only), using hound dogs to tree the bear, using binoculars to locale the bear, and calling bears. ''Jic last two methods arc quickly Vxoming the more popular meth-fods meth-fods since it requires less time and money to enjoy the hunt and still harvest a bear. In 1988, approximately 500 bear hunters took to the woods in hopes of harvesting the elusive black bear. Hunter success average 17 percent overall, with the average hunter-days afield being eight. Bear hunting may never be one of Utah's major hunts, but it is another opportunity op-portunity for the sportsmen to go afield. |