MPG Ranch Bears 2012

MPG Ranch Bears 2012

February 10, 2013

Alan Ramsey created a database with a record of each bear appearance during 2012 on Stealth Cams. In each record, videos and images are stored with fields for color, size class, height on four legs, height on two legs, sex, behavior, and other identifiable attributes such as rumples, throat patches, and snout characteristics. Included are explanations of identification in each record. Using the database, bears were searched across time and space and then compared side by side on two monitors for identification.

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MPG Ranch Bears 2012

2012 Ranch Bears Table of Content

MPG Ranch Bears 2012 Distinctive Characteristics

Bear Trigger Timeline in Order of First Appearance

Bear Trigger Timeline in Order of Last Appearance

Bear Trigger Timeline Ordered by Sex

Bear Activity in Woodchuck Versus Davis Creek

Time of Day of Bear Triggers

Back Float Bear was the dominant male bear on the ranch in 2012.

Back Float Bear does his thing at the pool in the middle of Davis Creek (see map last slide). No other bear floated on their back.

Bear Size Comparison at Woodchuck Meadow

Badonkadonk had the most consistent presence on the ranch in 2012 of the medium sized female bears.

Badonkadonk Bear triggered cameras on nine days while she swam in the pool in Davis Creek.

Big Tan spent time on the ranch in the spring and was absent by summer. He may have lost a showdown for the Boondocks with Back Float Bear.

Bear Size Comparison, Davis Creek Location 4

Big Mama bear arrived early in the year with two cubs and left before September.

Possible bear breeding 2012.

The first image shows Big Mama with two cubs in tow hidden behind her.

Wee Tan took at least six baths last year.

The little water hole at Davis Creek 5 provides habitat for favorite spring bear forage such as cow parsnip and horsetail.

Wide Ranging Rumple Bottom’s winter brown coat shed during July. A dark brown coat grew in underneath with a slight rumple in the backside during summer and filled out to a brown coat with a pronounced rumple by fall.

In the top images, it is evident that Rumple Bottom lost the majority of her winter coat in July. She was a regular visitor to the North Draw.

From 7/4 until 10/12, Rumple Bottom triggered a camera at least once every six days.

Doppelganger is one of three small males who made sporadic appearances on the property in 2012.

High Patch had a large white throat patch that began just below the suprasternal notch and ran up into the throat area.

Tawny Rump triggered cameras over a 10 day span at Wirespool Junction and Davis Creek.

Low Patch had tan hair on the ridge of his spine on 8/4. His large white throat patch began just above the suprasternal notch and ran down the sternum. Unique among the bears identified on the ranch, he had a monotone snout.

This family of three visited a berry patch at Woodchuck Meadow on 8/5, 8/20, and 9/5. The mother lost her tan coat a month behind Rumple Bottom. The cubs were adept at standing on two feet and picking berries.

Fall Black and Tan made one appearance. The bear looks like it may be a dispersing juvenile.

White Stripe arrived last on 8/26 at the Davis Creek 4 rub tree. She had a long white stripe down her sternum.

This may be Black Float Bear in 2012 in the Lower Woodchuck apple orchard.

Back Float Bear may have patrolled Davis Creek 4 last spring during the breeding season.

A young bear with similar shedding patterns to Rumple Bottom triggered cameras in the North Draw and at Davis Creek 4 in 2011.

If the two bears from 2010-11 are Back Float Bear and Rumple Bottom, this is what they would look like face to face and superimposed on top of each other.