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Hope, the Black Bear cub, who, with her mother Lily (who was a first time mother), became famous across North America, as Lily gave birth to her cub Hope, on live wildlife camera - January 22, 2010. This was the first time a black bear cub had been born live on camera, while being watched by thousands, if not millions, of excited onlookers. Over the days, as Hope grew, she captured the hearts of people from around the world.

Excitement rose when Hope left the security of her mother Lily's den, and wandered around in a bright new world. But then, as suddenly as Hope captured out hearts, fear struck the very soul of those who had come to know her so well. She was been abandoned by her mother, and then Hope disappeared, as bear researcher Dr. Lynn Rogers and his assistant Sue Mansfield brought the formula, berries, fruits and nuts, that they hoped the cub would accept, to keep her going, until she could learn to forage completely on her own.

The progression has been interesting.

The first day of Lily and Hope's reunion, Hope made sure they stayed together, but Lily seemed less caring. Lily actually seemed annoyed by Hope. We're assuming this was a day of shifting hormones for Lily.

The second day was marked by intense play (a form of bonding) and nursing (with milk already). Both Lily and Hope were observed initiating play and they seemed to be truly enjoying each other.

Yesterday, the third day, they settled down to serious foraging. Also yesterday, Sue photographed an abundance of ripe pincherries, a favorite food, along a forest road in their area.

Today, Lily and Hope apparently found those pincherries. According to Lily’s GPS readings, they spent over an hour in that very area. It's a good berry year, especially for pincherries and chokecherries, and the heavy rain today should make it even better.

They Are Still Together

Out in the field, Lily and Hope continued to bond. When Hope cried out in distress, Lily came running, grunting her concern.

Hope is foraging along with Lily, taking advantage of Lily’s ability to pull down tall juneberry bushes. They also were eating ant pupae, alder-leafed buckthorn berries, dewberries, raspberries, and blueberries. Hope sticks to Lily like glue—more closely than we have seen with other cubs, even leaving the nuts we brought to catch up with Lily.

Lily vocalized several times while nursing Hope. We have never heard a mother do that before and don’t know what it means.

The relatively short time we accompanied them, we saw no play. Unlike yesterday, they skipped the frivolities and got down to the work of foraging.

Today, they covered over 3 miles, finding many feeding locations. This is farther than Hope was moving on her own. This is the main thing mothers teach—not what to eat but feeding locations. Cubs retain the information. While foraging, cubs have the advantage of their mother’s ability to detect danger and communicate it by a change in her breathing. Cubs also respond to danger on their own, but having the mother nearby to alert them allows cubs to concentrate more on foraging and not be quite the nervous cub Hope was for these past 6 weeks.

We are so glad they are back together.

Lily and Hope are re-united at last. The reunion was either between 8 and 10 AM yesterday as Lily passed south through Hope’s area or after 4 PM as Lily passed back north. Around 8 PM, a landowner spotted them together about 2 miles north of Hope’s area.

Will this union be temporary like before? Or will they stick together for the long haul. Sue videotaped their behavior today so each of us can decide for ourselves. See footage of Lily and Hope together at http://www.bear.org/website/lily-a-hope/den-cam-video-clips.html.

There is no objective way to describe their behavior together today. It was simply joyous. See what you think as you watch the video.

After walking miles together yesterday, they spent the day playing, nursing, snuggling, and mutual tongue-licking—a behavior we don’t understand. Maybe it’s bonding. Maybe it’s transferring enzymes. Hope was the one most vigorously pursuing it.

Hope was also the one initiating "endless play" (as Sue said). Hope played with reckless abandon; jumping on Lily, batting at Lily’s face, climbing on her, and playing hide and seek around trees.

Nursing was a big surprise. We couldn’t believe Lily had milk already. Less than 24 hours after re-uniting, Lily is producing milk in her two anterior breasts where Hope concentrates her nursing. Last we checked, Lily’s breasts were flat and flaccid. The lumps from the clogged milk ducts of 6 weeks ago were completely gone. Hope is getting some milk—which probably means she is getting elements only her mother can provide.

This outpouring of exuberance was not immediate. Last evening, by all reports, Lily could care less if Hope were there. Today, as the video shows, Lily is into it. Perhaps there has been a surge of hormones.

Things have changed drastically for Hope. She is a different cub from the lone, scared cub of the last 6 weeks. In addition to the amazingly energetic play, she slept long and deeply on the ground next to Lily—not up in a tree. Understandably, Hope doesn’t want Lily out of her sight. When Lily gets up and goes, Hope is tight on her heels. When Hope found herself briefly separated from Lily this morning, Hope immediately tracked her, bawling loudly as she went.

We are full of questions, of course, and we’ll explore them over the next days and weeks. This reunion is a huge relief in many ways. Maybe we are optimistic, but we feel that they will stick together this time.

Editor's note: This behavior is unheard of and totally unexpected. Researchers everywhere may be scratching their heads. I know I am.

Hope has not visited the feeding site since 9:15 PM on June 28. If we didn’t have the radio-collar on her, we’d be worried. We suspect that bringing the food to her is allowing her to explore more widely. This morning, she was still at the same white pine she was at last night, so she probably spent the night there. Back when we walked with bears for 24 hours at a time, we found that they typically went to sleep an hour or two after sunset and woke up about a half hour before sunrise. Most of their travel (and a couple naps midday) was during the day. Of course, bears that are trying to avoid people while seeking garbage or bird feeders often become more nocturnal, but that doesn’t apply to little Hope. The only time she was seen in a yard (May 25) was late afternoon, and she ran as soon as she was spotted. In fact, she traveled 2 miles back to the area where she and Lily had spent the spring.

Today, Hope moved 0.46 miles south to another area she had visited with Lily. If she traveled in a direct line, she may have fed on the many raspberries lining the route. This evening, she was at the exact tree where we had found her with Lily on May 29. The navigational abilities of this young cub are somewhat of a surprise. Not entirely, though. In earlier studies (back in the early 70’s), we noticed that little cubs that accompanied their mother on a trip 20 miles outside their usual territory remembered the distant location and returned there as independent adults—the only bears from that study area known to travel there. We found that out when two of the cubs (a male and a female) were killed by hunters there and their ear-tags were turned in. The new methods and technology show so much more these days.

An interesting feature of Hope’s location this evening is there is an old den there that would fit her, and it looked like she’d been in it from the fresh dust on leaves outside the den. If it wasn’t her, it was somebody else. Another thing the new technology and methods are showing us is how early in the year bears check out den sites. The earliest we know of is July 19 when we videotaped June digging the den in which she gave birth to her first litter that winter. We’ll see if Hope uses the den we think she checked out today. Interestingly, when we located Braveheart today to change her GPS unit, she was also near a den.

May 26, 2010 - For several days Hope's adoring followers held their collective breath, as the weather turned cold, windy and wet - not the type of weather that would allow a young cub to survive without its mother. Lily returned shortly to Hope, only to leave her alone -again. Followers kept the internet smoking, as they watched videos, read web sites and posted on talk forums - praying - and hoping beyond hope, that little Hope, would find a way to survive - on her own .

And then, on Friday June 4, 2010, there was a collective sigh of relief as the lost, abandoned, little Hope was spotted alive, near the feeding station where her formula and other food had been let out, just in case. There was hope - for Hope - she had survived.

USeeWildlife.com

Catalog below - books by T.R. Michels

 Photographs, Card, Calendar Prices

Trinity Mountain Outdoors Natural History Eco-Tour & Travel Magazine

T.R.'s Bird, Wildlife & Wildflower Blog / Recent Tours & Bird and Flower Sightings

Trinity Mountain Outdoors Natural History Eco-Tours

Trumpeter / Tundra Swan, Bald Eagle & Rare Bird Sightings & Tours

Live Animal Cameras I Bird & Animal Videos

Best Minnesota Birding Areas and Birding Schedule I Minnesota Wildlife Viewing Schedule

North America Bird List & Calls I Minnesota Bird List & Calls

Minnesota Mammals I Minnesota Butterflies I Minnesota Amphibians & Reptiles

Minnesota Wildflowers I Bird, Wildlife and Nature Photographs

 I currently have the hard cover Whitetail Addicts Manual and am interested in getting The Complete Whitetail Addicts Manual on .pdf.

Thanks,

David

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 Whitetail Addicts Manual

 By T.R. Michels

The Whitetail Addicts Manual (Creative Publishing International), by big-game expert T.R. Michels, provides whitetail hunters, whether they are novices or experts, with the information they need to understand the biology and behavior of white-tailed deer. There are over 17 million whitetail hunters in North America, making whitetails the most popular species to hunt on this continent.

The Whitetail Addicts Manual is based on more than 10 years of research by T.R. Michels, who studied how trophy whitetails behave in a range of conditions. The book helps hunters know how to locate deer in existing conditions and arms them with highly successful archery and firearm tactics and techniques for each rut phase. There are several chapters on the biology and behavior of whitetails, as well as tactics and techniques for scouting, observing, locating, patterning, and hunting. The knowledge that hunters gain from this comprehensive book will not only help them be more successful hunters, it will help them take more trophy bucks-the goal of all whitetail addicts.

T.R. Michels is nationally recognized for his action-packed, informative seminars, which are based on his experience as a wildlife researcher and professional guide. He is also a well-known outdoor writer and has authored 17 books. T.R. lives in Minneapolis, MN.

Whitetail Addicts Manual, By T.R. Michels

Creative Publishing International, 144 pages, 120 color photos, ISBN: 978-1-58923-344-7

 Rating - Whitetail Addict's Manual
The whitetail addicts is for any hunter looking for new outlooks, suggestions, and methods on hunting. I purchased it for my husband, anything hunting is a great purchase! However, the author is very helpful and even communicated with me prior to the purchase of his book. That says alot about his passion and knowledge. Great purchase, with lots of knowledge.

Rating: - Whitetail Addicts Manual
I enjoy studying the biology of deer and hunting them; I am a farmer, forester, and educator. I have quite a few books on deer in my collection and I would rank this one right up there in the top 10%. The man who wrote it obviously has a lot of experience with deer, and interweaves hunting knowledge with biology. It is a good book to read and then come back to. I might add that other deer books in this series have been pretty high quality and enjoyable reads as well.

 Since I wrote the initial review for this book, I have gone back and reread it from cover to cover. The first chapter is a long one on deer biology and is excellent. The rest of the book weaves the biology of the deer into hunting methods attempting to overcome deers' ability to scent, sight, and see you. The author is painfully shy and seldom appears in pictures in the book, but the book is profusley illustrated with excellent photos and illustrations. This book was printed by an outfit that has an excellent group of books on hunting and fishing. If I could only have one book in my library on deer hunting, it just might possibly

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