This black bear was spotted in Northern Saskatchewan earlier this week. (Tommy Bird/Facebook)

By Derek Cornet

out of the den

Not unusual for black bears to emerge from den during winter months: wildlife expert

Jan 15, 2026 | 5:00 PM

After watching a video circulating on social media of bear running on a froze lake in Northern Saskatchewan, a provincial wildlife specialist said while the situation isn’t normal, it also isn’t unusual.

“It does happen from time to time,” Matthew Tokaruk explained.

“We had a bit of a warm spell here and what can sometimes happen is perhaps those bears had maybe not the greatest den location or perhaps there was some snow melt and some water came into the den, they may leave. Some bear dens may not be underground or anything like that, they may just be under a fallen log or a stump, and as snow falls as we have these warm spells, that can affect the den site and they may leave.”

In addition, Tokaruk explained the bear in the video is likely only two or three years old and wouldn’t have much experience in finding a den on its own.

“It can be a difficult situation for those bears, but it does depend,” he said.

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“If they left the den because there was trouble at the den sight, that can be problematic. They can leave for other reasons. It is possible they just wandered out for a bit and they would go back to the same den site and all is well, but if the den site was damaged or unusable for some reason, they may be able to find new site to settle into or they may not and that’s just the reality of life sometimes.”

Tokaruk noted unlike gophers or ground squirrels whose body temperature drops when they are in a hibernation state and don’t move much, bears are known as hyper-efficient hibernators. That means they may still run out of a den if it is disturbed by a snowmobile, for example.

“There is no need to be approaching these bears. They are kind of having a tough day so to speak,” he added.

“Let them be given their distance. What happens is going to happen whether they find a new site or don’t. Just treat them the same you would a bear in the snow free season. You shouldn’t be approaching. We don’t want to be attracting a bear that has emerged in an untimely fashion into a backyard or anything like that, so managing the food stuff in our yards is always important this time of year, whether it is for bears or coyotes, you name it.”

The hibernation cycle of bears are large tied to the amount of daylight hours. They typically enter the den in late October or early November and don’t emerge until late March or early April.

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derek.cornet@pattisonmedia.com