Vermonters usually put out bird feeders to attract winged visitors who fill their yards with song and color. But they could attract a far less dainty visitor: black bears. As bears emerge from their dens in early spring, they’re on the search for food. That can lead them to backyard beehives, birdfeeders, compost piles and even chicken coops.

“They’re super adaptable, they’re very curious, they’re always looking for the next best meal,” said Jaclyn Comeau, bear biologist at the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department.

Reports of bear incidents in Vermont have grown steeply over the past decade, according to department data. While some of that increase can be attributed to changes that made reporting incidents easier, the rise is related to an interconnected set of factors, including changes in the state’s bear population and in human development, Comeau said.

The state’s bear population has grown over recent years, from between 4,000 and 6,000 bears in 2018 to between 6,500 and 8,000 bears in 2024, according to population estimates by the state. The latest count is nearly double the objective of 3,500 to 5,500 bears, as outlined by a Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department population model. The time of year that bears emerge from their dens has also crept earlier and earlier over past decades, Comeau said, likely driven in part by a changing climate that has made Vermont winters shorter and less severe. In Vermont, the emergence has shifted about two weeks earlier over the past 15 or so years, she said, from around April 1 to mid-March.

That means Vermonters need to take steps earlier in the season to prevent bears from making a meal in their backyards, by removing or bear-proofing potential food sources.