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In October fat reserves are collected prior to the winter hibernation – the wild boar feeding sites set up by hunters are checked (on fallow fields too something may still be found), sorties are made into apple orchards. The faeces of bears in autumn can contain purely fruits: apples, cranberries, lingonberries (scarce this year), hazel nuts and other edibles. The big game hunting season is on but bears are capable of slaying ungulates in the forest for themselves …

 

During the autumn ”fattening-up” period an adult individual can consume up to 20 000 kilocalories of energy per day, or expressed otherwise, for instance eat 400 apples – the increase in body weight, given a proper diet, may be up to up to 400 grams a day. In autumn a brown bear (average weight 100 to 300 kilos) weighs about one-fourth more than in early spring. The weight difference of pregnant females may be half of the springtime weight.

 

Towards the end of October, as the weather gets colder, the brown bears in our forests become more settled and stay more often  near the chosen hibernaton place; the intense feeding subsides.

 

Territorial marks of bear on pine bark

 

The number of brown bears can be estimated at slightly over 600 individuals and about 60 female bears with cubs were moving around. When more precise information arrives we will let you know.