Reviewer: Sharon Brunner
Richard P. Smith’s Understanding Michigan Black Bear, 3rd Edition offers an extensive review covering the habits, attacks, and hunting of Michigan black bears. These well-researched bruins have exhibited avoidant and dangerous behaviors. They may run away if yelled at or may attack if they feel threatened. Some bears can be more aggressive than others. The book was predominantly set during modern times. However, Smith also visited the past to describe for example bear attacks. The setting of the book was the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (U.P.), upper Michigan below the Mackinac Bridge, Minnesota and Wisconsin. The U.P. served as the most desirable location for bears due to the rural setting, plenty of forests for the bears to roam. Smith thoroughly expressed his vast knowledge and concern for the black bears of Michigan.
Some of the themes in the book were extensive research efforts, safety for humans and he expressed that bear habitats need to be protected. Many individuals have studied bears while they were hibernating. Others have walked along side of them observing their behaviors. Humans need to take extra precautions when around bears. Smith gave an example how a man’s best dog fell into a bear den while a bear was hibernating and the dog was killed. Bears can be nuisances and try to break into homes and cabins. The book began with the sad news about the disappearance of bear habitats. Humans have built their communities where bears used to reside.
Dave Taylor’s book “A Natural History: Black Bears” reminded me of this book and it introduced a shy, reclusive and misunderstood mammal with an examination of the black bears’ habits and areas they reside. He provided helpful advice about camping in the black bears’ locale and what to do if a black bear was encountered. The movie Backcountry (2014) also reminded me of this book which involves a couple, Alex and Jenn, who left the city to visit the woods. They forgot their phone and become lost they end up being stalked by a man-eating bear. It would be scary to be in unknown territory fighting for survival.
About scary experiences, I would like to report about a frightening time I had when hiking in the woods. I have taken the Algonquin trail on many occasions, even took my granddaughter on the trail. It was September 27, 2023 and I just dropped off my dog at Doggy Daycare. I decided to run some errands and then go on a hike. It was a nice day, in the 60s. I entered the trail and met an older woman who was finishing her hike. She looked relaxed. The trail is a little over two miles in length. I was about halfway finished with the hike, a mile into the hike and I saw a bear cub run into the woods as I walked around a corner. The trail was full of twists and turns. The cub disappeared into the woods, and a mother bear came out of the woods. We were probably 30 to 40 feet from each other. She stared at me for the longest time. I thought if this was my last day of life, I may as well enjoy watching her. She was beautiful. Sleek and black. I decided to try something I have done on multiple occasions when I felt threatened by dogs who were coming onto the road where I was walking. I yelled as loud as I could, shouted the word “go.” She turned and ran back into the woods. I decided to turn around and go the opposite way to avoid going by where she ran in. I walked around the corner and encountered another mother bear with three bear cubs. On the trail where I just walked. I said to myself “seriously” and turned around to walk past where the first bear walked into the woods. I don’t think I ever walked as fast as I did that day to get off the trail. Did not want to run. When I got to the last part of the trail which ended up a short distance from where I parked my car, I ran into a jogger. I told him about the bears I encountered. He begrudgingly turned around and decided not to run on the trail. It surprised me and brought up a lot of questions when the bear ran back into the woods when I yelled at her. Are some bears afraid of humans? Smith indicated that bears know humans hunt them, so they were afraid of us. The second mother bear I encountered appeared to be headed to the woods when she saw me.
My husband and I ran into a mother bear and cubs when traveling on our side by side in the woods. She stood on her hind legs warning us. I had to back up as fast as I could away from her and her cubs. Bears need to be respected. We do live in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, a city in the U.P., and they are prevalent. They have crossed the road by our home and have been seen in other places near where we live. We live in the country about five to seven miles from town. Friends of ours have shown us pictures on their phone of bears hanging out around a tree in town.
I did like all the informative pictures in the book. The unique bear cub story was interesting. A bear cub preferred being with a human. Another bear liked to be petted by humans. Smith explained the difficulty of placing orphan cubs in suitable situations with other mother bears. Bears can be harassed and will even abandon their bear cubs. A female bear has to weigh at least 175 pounds to be able to give birth. The eggs only start producing offspring when the female bear was in the den hibernating. They lay dormant until that time. Color phased bears were explored and Smith stated that this may occur because bears travel great distances. I found it interesting that mother bears kick out their cubs when they want to mate again. I do not like that bears hunt fawns and that story about the poor three-year-old that lost her life to a bear. Bears also seek out injured and sick animals and kill them. They appear to be predators. What would happen if a human was injured in the woods?
I recommend Understanding Michigan Black Bear, 3rd Edition for its information about the role of black bears as predators of fawns, because of its important points about bear attacks and how to avoid them; for what has been learned about bears through research and its data covering bear hunting. It was simply amazing how many defenseless fawns were killed by black bears, 40,000 to 50,000 per year. Bear attacks do occur against humans, but they were rare. Extensive research has been conducted regarding bear behaviors and other areas of interest. Smith has depicted his vast amount of knowledge and his deep concern about black bears in Michigan.
Title: Understanding Michigan Black Bear: The Truth About Bears and Bear Hunting.
Author: Richard P. Smith
