Michigan DNR Never Heard of "Don't Poke the Bear"

The Michigan DNR and Mississippi State University are in the midst of doing a Predator-Prey study, which involves going into bear dens in the Upper Peninsula to get data from hibernating bears, as part of a bigger study about whitetail deer predation. According to uppermichigansource.com, the study has been going on since 2009.

Coyotes have been known to take a lot of whitetail fawns, but a Penn State study from 2001 showed that black bears are "a major predator of young white-tailed deer". In reference to Penn State's study, biologists said, "It is widely known that the state's large population of coyotes prey on fawns, but it now looks like bears kill as many, possibly more."

I had no idea. So, it may not be just the coyotes and the wolves in the U.P. taking out a lot of fawns. I guess this study will tell us more when it wraps up in two years.

Here's the story.

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Filed Under: bears, DNR, Michigan, whitetail deer, WITL Morning Show

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Michigan DNR Never Heard of “Don’t Poke the Bear”