Watching for Bear Signs - Broken Logs

by Derek Ryder, Volunteer Wildlife Ambassador & IGA Interpretive Guide

Kananaskis Country is home to a lot of animals, including bears. Recreating safely in bear country means more than just knowing what to do in a bear encounter. It’s also understanding signs that bears are around, so that maybe those encounters can be prevented.

Bears are big enough that they almost always leave evidence that they’ve been present – if you know what to look for. Keeping your eyes peeled for this evidence can help you be aware if bears are present, and will decrease the risk that you’ll accidentally run into a bear. In this series of articles, I’m going to help you learn about some of the signs bears leave in the forest.

Research shows that two kinds of ants that are common here make up a good part of the early season diet of both Black and Grizzly bears. You might not think that a little ant would be of interest, and a single ant is no more interesting to a bear than to you or me. But a Red ant colony can contain hundreds of thousands of little ants, and their ground hills are obvious. Red ants also like living under dead and fallen trees. The Giant Carpenter ants that live in rotten wood in particular can have a LOT of calories in their colonies.

Bears are great at sniffing out Giant Carpenter ant colonies in rotting wood, and Red ant colonies under wood. With their claws, they’re really good at breaking that wood up, too. Other than woodpeckers, no other animal destroys trees and logs like a bear. Accordingly, any log that’s been obviously torn apart is a sign that a bear has been in the area at some point. You should look out for these logs and damaged trees. They are evidence that bears are going after those ants.

Pileated Woodpeckers like those Giant Carpenter ants, too. Sometimes, what starts as the distinctive rectangular, fist sized, close to the ground Pileated Woodpecker hole gets “enlarged” by a bear. This is what happened to the tree above and to the right. Log damage by bears especially occurs in the spring, because the ants can be readily sniffed out, and there aren’t a lot of other great food sources for a bear to pick from at that time of year.

If you see a broken-up log, you can check and see if there is evidence of claw marks. You can often tell the difference between damage done by black bears or grizzlies by looking for the size and shape of the scratch marks that broke the log or tree apart. The edge of log to the left shows fat Grizzly claw marks. You can also get a good idea of how fresh the damage is. If the bits of log pulled off look fresh, not dried out, and are sitting on TOP of nearby grasses, it’s a clue that it could be recent. If there are ants visible, it’s very recent. Bears will never get 100% of the ants, and the ones left behind will not be very happy. If the bear didn’t get the Queen, what’s left of the colony will move fairly soon.

I came home one day a few years back to find a bear had destroyed a stump in my driveway while I was gone. Sure enough – the remaining Red ants were still scurrying around trying to collect themselves. See the photo below.

Next time you see damaged trees and logs in the forest, stop and have a look. See what you can figure out about the bear’s behaviour.

Click here to find out about some of the other signs that bears leave behind!