Taking the proper precautions can help prevent you from dealing with a bear during your next camping trip. After the confirmation of bear scat in one of the campgrounds and second-hand reports of sightings within Peninsula State Park, Superintendent Eric Hyde, and other park employees took to the trails earlier this month to post signs about the possibilities of bears in the area. Bears have been more common in Newport State Park near Ellison Bay than Peninsula State Park, which he says last had bear sighting in the 1990s. Bears are common enough in Newport State Park that each campsite has bear boxes to store food and other equipment that might make them curious. While bears are often not dangerous unless they are provoked, Hyde says there are things you can do to help prevent encounters from occurring.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources estimates there are approximately 24,000 to 26,000 black bears in the state, many of which reside in northern Wisconsin. While they are considered abundant in nearby Oconto and Marinette counties, bears are deemed rare in Door and Brown counties and transient in Kewaunee and Manitowoc counties. 

Picture courtesy of Pixabay and user ArtTower