Bears in Indiana?

[Militarypol21]

Myself along with Jsharmon7 were hiking through Yellowwood State Forest on a BACK BACK road aproximately a half mile into the woods we spotted this print in the mud. There were only 2 prints in the mud that we noticed. Both prints were at least the size of our hands with 5 toes. It looks like a bear print but we don't think there are any bears in Indiana Also, ther were horse hoof prints nearby to and these prints were just as big.

Here's what we took via a cellphone camera-

THIS IS NOT A BIGFOOT PRINT...

 

[jennybird]

 

[Blaze261]

Looks like a four toed Chicken in red clay to me.

 

[Boilers]

can't see your images.

I swear this has come up before here.

But ASK TREE BOY..

Ask Treeboy Archives - WTHR | Indianapolis

Question: We’re in the process of buying a property just across the county line into Brown County. My husband was recently driving in that area and said he saw a bear cub come out of the woods, walk down the road and then go back into the woods. Are there bears in Indiana?
Submitted by: Julie Sample

Answer: Julie, I once played Smokey Bear (or at least wore the costume) as part of an environmental workshop for school children. I admit that between presentations I would sometime wear-the-bear for the entertainment of friends family and whom ever happened by. I can only imagine the stories told by those who witnessed my “bear behavior” and what skepticism greeted them each time their “strange but true” bear tale was told.

Having said that, if your husband said he saw a bear, there must still be bears in the woods of Southern Indiana. This is particularly good news especially since most scientific data suggest that the Indiana Black Bear, although witnessed by settlers in the early 1800’s have long been considered extinct.

A skeleton of the Giant Short-Faced Bear, possibly the largest predator during North America’s last period of glaciations approximately 1500 years ago, was unearthed in Rochester, Indiana in 1967. This behemoth “bear of bones” can be seen daily by touring the ice age exhibit at the Indiana State Museum.

Here is an alleged TRAIL CAM showing turkeys and bears in INDIANA..

 

[Militarypol21]

Ok... I uploaded the pics to photobucket. Let me know if they still dont show up!

 

[smitty12b]

I grew up near Yellowwood(lake lemon) and have hunted and fished near there many times. I have heard stories about bears in the area from old-timers but have never seen one or a track but I did see what I think was a bobcat in the late 70's while squirrel hunting. If there are bears in the area can they be hunted legally? I need a new rug.

 

[HICKMAN]

Bears are mentioned here, although in the past tense.

Indiana's largest state park in southern Indiana, Brown County State Park


My uncles told me bears have been spotted, although rarely, when I was growing up in southern IN.

 

[Fishersjohn48]

Do you even want to find bigfoot son?

 

[Boilers]

I can smell the bears at the zoo a mile away. I was THINKING about going to Yellow wood last weekend. Maybe I will go this weekend?

Can you mark on a map where you saw these?

 

[Boilers]

Do even want to find bigfoot son?

LMAO

YouTube - Greg Warren "Wrestling Team"

 

[El Cazador]

Well, they sorta look like black bear prints, but in the bottom picture of the "print", it looks more like two dog prints overlaid on one another. Notice how the pads are not "lined up" (symmetrical) as the would be if they were from one paw?

Now, having said that, it wouldn't surprise me if there was a bear or two roaming around Brown and Monroe County. People have large exotic pets like that, that they had gotten illegally often, and have had either let them go or had them escape from pens. Then they can't admit the animal was theirs since it was obtained illegally, so they don't tell anyone. There was an African lion loose in Owen County for a while, and mountain lions galore from Wells County all the way down to Harrison County that had escaped from pens.

If the animals aren't listed as game or furbearer animals in Indiana (and have a season) or on the federal endangered list, they're huntable.

 

[Militarypol21]

I can smell the bears at the zoo a mile away. I was THINKING about going to Yellow wood last weekend. Maybe I will go this weekend?

Can you mark on a map where you saw these?

Tomorrow I can post the approximate GPS location. We were hiking through Dubois Ridge if that helps any. The trail head is at: 39.208207, -86.326554

 

[tyler34]

according to this Animal Tracks - Black Bear (Ursus americanus) it would indeed appear to be black bear tracks. thanks a lot now my wife will never go camping again.

 

[jsharmon7]

Well, they sorta look like black bear prints, but in the bottom picture of the "print", it looks more like two dog prints overlaid on one another. Notice how the pads are not "lined up" (symmetrical) as the would be if they were from one paw?

Now, having said that, it wouldn't surprise me if there was a bear or two roaming around Brown and Monroe County. People have large exotic pets like that, that they had gotten illegally often, and have had either let them go or had them escape from pens. Then they can't admit the animal was theirs since it was obtained illegally, so they don't tell anyone. There was an African lion loose in Owen County for a while, and mountain lions galore from Wells County all the way down to Harrison County that had escaped from pens.

If the animals aren't listed as game or furbearer animals in Indiana (and have a season) or on the federal endangered list, they're huntable.

I never thought there were any bears in Indiana so that was my first thought as well. The only problem is that those prints were as big as my hand and I don't know that I've ever seen dog prints that big. Also, I don't think a dog would step exactly in the same spot as that; the "heel" of the print is in the exact same spot. It could definitely just be a dog, but I've never seen tracks like those and it seems to match up to the black bear prints I found online. We forwarded the pictures to a DNR wildlife biologist so maybe we'll hear something back from them and post their response here.

 

[shooter521]

We forwarded the pictures to a DNR wildlife biologist so maybe we'll hear something back from them

If their response is the same as it seems to be for sightings of cougars, rattlesnakes and other supposedly non-native species, it will likely be limited to "nuh-uh".

But keep us posted just the same.

 

[hotfarmboy1]

Someone that lives here in the area had a black bear as a pet once. They kept it in an old corn crib bin basically made out of metal fence. I haven't seen it for a few years or so now, I wonder if they released it or it died?

 

[smitty12b]

If their response is the same as it seems to be for sightings of cougars, rattlesnakes and other supposedly non-native species, it will likely be limited to "nuh-uh".

But keep us posted just the same.

I killed one last year 4 rattles about 3.5 ft long. Southern indiana is full of rattlers and the occasional copperhead

 

[redneck919]

i saw bears last year in indiana they played the colts in the season opener!

 

[tyler34]

If their response is the same as it seems to be for sightings of cougars, rattlesnakes and other supposedly non-native species, it will likely be limited to "nuh-uh".

But keep us posted just the same.

maybe they should go over to brown county state park and have a look in the nature center at the timber rattler exhibit.

 

[HICKMAN]

Hell yeah there's rattlers down in Brown Co, while there are rumors that DNR restocked them have more or less been debunked, they still admit:

Does the DNR release venomous snakes, such as rattlesnakes, into the wild?
The Department of Natural Resources supports the biological diversity of wildlife in Indiana. Species, such as the timber rattlesnake, are rare and endangered in Indiana, so the DNR conducts studies on these snakes. To study these snakes, DNR biologists and university researchers collect the snakes from their environment, tag them and release them back into the same place that the snakes were collected. No new snakes are ever returned to these environments.
The DNR is not stocking any new venomous snakes, such as rattlesnakes, into any new areas in the wild. If the DNR ever considered releasing a species such as the rattlesnake into the wild, the agency would first gain plenty of public input before proceeding.

I read on a couple Indian hunting boards that people have spotted them and horses have been bitten by them.