Lake Chippewa Flowage Vacation

The opening in the embankment you are viewing is a resting place for a Wisconsin black bear. This bear den was discovered by Jan and Harold Treland; along with the family dog Ollie, in mid February on Derro Island across from Treeland Resorts.

The black bear is Wisconsin’s largest mammal. An adult male black bear averages 54-70 inches and weighs about 250-350 pounds.

At three years of age the female black bear mates in June or July. Two or three cubs can be born to a mother bear in January or February while the mother is still in her winter sleep. At birth, bear cubs are only 6-8 inches long and weight 7-12 ounces. The eyes are closed, the fur is sparse, the cubs grow slowly for the first few days and then these little guys develop rapidly. Their eyes open after about a month and the cubs leave the den in late March to remain with their mother for a couple of years. After the second winter with the mother the cubs are chased off which can be initiated by an interested male bear on the prowl.

The black bear is omnivorous (eat both plant and animal matter) and will eat almost anything, varying their diet with seasonal food availability. Bears will tear open rotten trees and ant hills to feed on insects, eggs and larvae and will destroy bee hives to get at the honey. Sometimes the black bear becomes a nuisance as they interfere with the encroaching human environment. Damage to cabins in the woods, campgrounds and garbage sites occurs when seasonal food is in short supply.

During the winter, bears go into dens as is the situation in our photo above where they fall into a deep sleep—-the bear does not hibernate. The bear’s body temperature, heart beat and respiratory does not drop to the level where hibernation occurs. Bears live off the body fat they accumulated in the fall.

Black bears were an integral part of the early history of Wisconsin among the Native American Indians and the early settlers. The Native Americans honored the bears as a supernatural creature and treated the bear hunt with great ceremony and respect. They prized the bear skin for clothing and the meat and oil for cooking, fuel and medicines.

With proper management, the black bear will continue to provide harvesting recreational opportunities as well as the thrill of observation of this great wild animal in our north woods wilderness.