Last spring in Alaska I found a huge bear print that was clear in the snow but it had no claw marks. It looked like either a HUGE black bear or a grizzly with toe nail clippers. I was puzzled so I called our friendly Alaska Fish and Game Department and chatted with a biologist.
Turns out, most bears shed their claws in the winter and grow new ones starting in the spring. The exact reason is not clear and it has not been studied scientifically as far as I know, just not as interesting as “what keeps bears from causing problems ” type studies. The vast majority of bears have claws by the time they are hunted or observed in spring.
If you find an abandoned bear den in the spring you can (carefully!) investigate to see if there are any shed claws for you to salvage. You’ll sometimes see Alaska Native kids selling these by the road to tourists. They’ll tell some great story about how their grandfather killed bears with a spear and they are selling off the family heirlooms for grandma’s cancer treatment or how they shot it with a 223 and it was “DRT” but 90% of them just know a bear den where they can grab shed claws every spring, and they know how to fool tourists. It is nice to support their industriousness but the lying annoys me.
Normally by the time people see bears in May or June they already have short to medium sized claws. But there have been a few cases of people encountering bears who don’t have claws early in the spring. These bears seem to know they can’t fight back as well so they tend to be very shy and elusive. This may explain some of the more far fetched stories of men wrestling bears.
The famous frontiersman Jim Bridger is said to have tracked a bear in the snow, and killed it with a knife. Normally this would be ridiculous. But if Bridger caught a clawless bear early in the spring it would have been easier. A clawless bear can still fight, but if cowboys can wrestle any angry steer to the ground it’s possible Jim Bridger could have wrestled a clawless bear long enough to stab it, especially if it was a smaller less confident bear.
Well happy April, time to get ready for spring. I hope to fill my freezer with a mountain bear I hiked in to hunt for. They will definitely have claws by the time I go hunting
