IN fact, the largest black bears in the world live in coastal
North Carolina. The state record is an 880-pound bruiser
taken in Craven County. Closer to home, Pender County
grows some giants too. Ken Spell, hunting on the Black River,
26 miles from Wilmington, recently took a 720-pounder.
Black bears flourish in large expanses of uninhabited
swamps, hardwoods and pocosins. For that ecosystem, look no
farther than eastern North Carolina where three of the darkest,
deepest most formidable swamps in all the South lie along our
coast: the Green Swamp, the Great Dismal Swamp and Angola.
Virtually untouched by development,
those swamps are home to four species
of poisonous snakes, ticks and spiders
by the millions, mosquitoes (about
as big as hummingbirds), panthers,
wild boars and alligators. It’s no place
for humans, but no problem for bears
because they can outrun, out-climb,
out-swim, out-dig and out-fight every-thing
in the forest. Bears are omni-vores,
and they happily eat anything
that blooms, crawls, growls, squeaks or
peeps including grasses, roots, berries,
insects, fish, and animals — dead or
alive. A wildlife biologist could not have
designed a better home for bears than
eastern North Carolina, and as a result
populations are increasing each year.
While bear numbers are on the rise,
so are human numbers, especially on
the East Coast near historical bear
territory. With human expansion
comes urban development, and much
of that development is ever closer to
rural bear range. As a result, bears are
feeling the pinch and beginning to
roam beyond their traditional envi-ronment.
The natural rule of cause and
effect is evident — bears and people are
now meeting each other with alarming
frequency.
Colleen Olfenbuttel, the North
Carolina Wildlife Resources Commis-sion
black bear biologist, offers advice
about how to coexist with black bears.
“Most bears that wander into a resi-dential
area will quickly retreat to their
natural habitat, particularly if no food
source is around. Bears have adapted
to living near people; now it’s up to
us to adapt to living near bears,” said
Olfenbuttel.
As a result of human/bear interaction, many stories have emerged.
One of those tales is about a particularly large bear that lived in the
Bear Garden section of the 48,000-acre Holly Shelter Game Land
in Pender County but had begun to roam into bordering tracts of
private land.
One of those tracts is owned by the Godwin family and contains
a mix of hardwood, cypress swamp, pine plantation and open fields
along Ashe’s Creek. Bordered by Holly Shelter and adjacent to the
24,000-acre Angola Bay Swamp, the property offers a unique area for
black bears looking for new territory.
32 october 2022
WBM
Bear sightings were rare on the
Godwin tract, until one fall day when
deer hunters came across excoriated logs
and enormous paw prints on a section
of disturbed forest floor near the Holly
Shelter border. Though they didn’t see it
that day, they knew a bear of phenome-nal
size had been there searching among
the destroyed logs for ants and larvae
with its powerful, needle-sharp claws.
While deer hunting on a crisp,
December morning later that year,
through an open forest glade, they
finally saw the bear. “At first, we
thought it was a big, charred stump that
remained after last year’s controlled
burn,” said Ashton Godwin. “Then
abruptly the stump stood upright — an
enormous, towering black bear — a
very chilling sight! Having scented
us, he turned with amazing speed,
growling, slashing, and finally disap-pearing
headlong into a jungle of thick
canebrake.”
The hunt was on and late that
afternoon after a long chase and stalk,
Godwin finally had a clear shot.
“It was all we could do to get the
bear on our scales which only went to
500 pounds. It immediately maxed out
the scale, and we estimated the weight
at close to 600 pounds, “said Godwin.
It’s one thing if you meet a bear while
hunting, but what happens if you come
upon one otherwise — and at close
range? Unless provoked, a bear will
usually run rather than fight. However,
if threatened, cornered, or wounded,
especially if it’s a female with cubs, it
can be a completely different and fatal
story. They can repeatedly attack with
raging fury.
“Most bears that wander into a
residential area will quickly retreat
to their natural habitat, particularly
if no food source is around.”
TOM HARRISON