6 Black bears prefer to have a lot of land to roam without other bears
up with the rope and loads the firearm Then he sits down for a long and quiet wait A bait pile sits 20 yards 18 m from the base of the tree The pile has a variety of foods that bears love Its purpose is to attract a bear from its hiding place deep in the brush In a forested area this vast and thick this is one of the only ways to shoot a bear As the sun goes slowly down squirrels look for food in the woods Songbirds chirp on nearby branches But when the sun dips below the trees the woods become silent The hunter sits up and becomes more alert Dusk is coming At this time of year hungry bears often move in the evening toward the end of legal hunting hours A twig snaps The hunter’s heart beats faster A dark form drifts along the game trail approaching cautiously It’s a black bear The bear nears the clearing where the hunter left the bait It is a big bear The young hunter wonders if the bear 7
will hear his heart pounding There is still enough light to make a good shot Quietly he brings his rifle up He takes aim and slowly squeezes the trigger With the sound of the shot the bear jumps in the air and then runs into the brush But through the branches the hunter sees the large animal fall The hunter sits down knees shaking He just got a bear Bear Hunting History In North America bears have been hunted since before European settlers arrived Native Americans hunted bears for food They used bear hides in ceremonies and as blankets in winter When settlers cleared forests across the continent bears were forced into smaller areas of wilderness The settlers also hunted the bears There were no rules about how many bears the hunters could take The bear population fell 8
Scientists estimate that there are between 850,000 and 950,000 black bears in North America But now bears are expanding their range again In many places bears live near humans With healthy populations of black bears and brown bears in the United States and Canada hunters can harvest bears Today people hunt bears for the meat and hide They also do it because bear hunting is an exciting challenge 9
