Black bears have become so common around Sheridan County that locals consider them neighbors, and when there is trouble, it’s usually because people are behaving badly.
Despite that, it’s generally bears that end up paying the price.
Repeat offenders are sometimes killed by wildlife agents. Those are bears that have repeatedly showed up on people’s porches, raided bird feeders, broken into sheds and the like.
The trouble generally begins when a bear gets what biologists call an easy “food reward,” such as someone leaving garbage, bird seed or pet food where bears can get to it.
That first taste can instill the bear with bad habits, making it a danger to people. Thus, the old saying that “a fed bear is a dead bear.”
‘We Sort Of Consider Them As Neighbors’
Sheridan resident Mark Kinner owns a cabin in Story, a tiny burg nestled in the heavily forested lower slopes of the Bighorn Mountains of northern Wyoming.
Kinner, a former Wyoming legislator, told Cowboy State Daily that his son lives at the cabin, and he also visits it frequently.
Black bears are certainly around, but by exercising a few basic cautions — such as immediately cleaning up after barbecues — the family has mostly avoided bear trouble.
Kinner enjoys hunting deer in the Bighorns, but says he leaves the black bears alone even though they’re also legal to hunt there.
“We sort of consider them (the bears) as neighbors. If we leave them alone, they us alone,” he said.
The family’s one bad episode with a bear was several years ago, he said.
“We had a bear that broke into a shed and got at a deer carcass we had hanging in there,” he said. “The bear dragged off about three-quarters of the deer carcass.”
Game and Fish was familiar with that bear, he said, which unfortunately meant “that bear was euthanized as a repeat offender,” Kinner said.
Similarly in June 2023, Game and Fish wardens killed a young male black bear after it entered two houses in the Sheridan County town of Big Horn and was caught eating from a bird feeder on the front porch of a third home.
Fourth Of July Bear In Sheridan
A young female bear that showed up in Sheridan over the Fourth of July weekend had better luck.
The bear was first spotted late July 4 on the North Sheridan Pathway near Canfield Street, according to a Game and Fish report.
It was reported the next afternoon near 12th Street and Taylor Avenue and was finally caught at about 5 p.m.
Because the bear had no previous record of showing up in town and apparently hadn’t snagged and goodies during its venture into Sheridan, Game and Fish opted to take it deep into the Bighorns and set it free.
Bears Will Travel For An Easy Meal
Black bears sometimes stubbornly return to places where they know an easy meal is to be had.
Kinner said the bear that broke into his shed in Story had apparently already been trapped and relocated away from town.
It had traveled about 30 miles to return to Story, he said.
That might seem like quite the journey, but it hardly compares to the 120-mile trek taken by a tiny Idaho black bear in October 2024.
The 10-month-old cub ventured through some of Idaho’s most rugged and unforgiving wilderness, just to gorge itself in an apple tree the town of Hailey, the Idaho Fish and Game Department reported.
Fish and Game agents opted to transport the cub into another remote mountain range and set if free.
Keep Temptations Out Of Reach
Despite the Fourth of July shenanigans in Sheridan, black bear activity is about normal so far this summer, according to Wyoming Game and Fish.
“We are not seeing more bear activity or conflicts than normal. Most of Sheridan County is bear habitat, especially the western half. Bears can, and do, occur throughout the county,” Sheridan Region Game and Fish spokesperson Christina Schmidt told Cowboy State Daily.
Story, Big Horn and Dayton frequently have bear activity because they’re located in the foothills of the Bighorns along riparian corridors (wet areas rich with vegetation).
Sheridan gets bears in town too, but less frequently, Schmidt said.
There have been three conflicts reported so far this year, all caused by human carelessness, she said.
“The few conflicts this year have involved common attractants such as garbage, bird seed and domestic livestock animals and their associated feed,” Schmidt said.
Game and Fish tries to educate Sheridan County residents on how to avoid trouble. That includes such things as keeping garbage inside closed garages until the morning of and making sure chickens and small livestock animals are secure in buildings or behind electric fences.
Kinner said Story is a hot spot for hummingbirds, but it’s worth noting that black bears love the sweet liquid inside hummingbird feeders.
“We always make sure to hang our hummingbird feeders way up high where bears can’t get to them,” he said.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
