POLSON -- Hunters are going looking for pheasants starting today.

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes want them to know what they may stumble upon if they're searching in the Mission Valley: bears.

"We have several grizzly females with cubs, as well as numerous sub-adults in the valley right now," CSKT wildlife biologist Stacy Courville says. "They're eating fruit in the creek bottoms, they're in aspen seeps, they're in wetlands where you find a lot of brush and chokecherries."

They're doing what comes natural, fattening themselves up for winter, but it can lead to encounters no one human or bear wants. Tribal officials are warning hunters to be careful and residents of bear country to take precautions as well.

"Hunters should be cautious when entering dense cover that limits visibility to avoid surprising a bear," tribal wildlife program manager Dale Becker says. "Most bear attacks occur when a bear has been surprised, often in thick cover."

Watch for bear tracks and bear scat and, if you see any, leave the area, Becker advises.

Bears tend to remain in an area for extended periods this time of year, sometimes until they den for the season.

"Bears will remain in the valley until the snow flies," Courville says. "The females with cubs of the year will den first, usually by early to mid-November. Male grizzlies den the latest, generally by Dec. 1."

The latest sighting of grizzly tracks in the valley was Dec. 22, he adds.

"We put out warning signs where bears have been in the past, but it's hard to cover everything," Courville says. "Just be cautious. If you see a lot of bear signs, it's not the best place to hunt."

The tribes have closed Millie's Woods northeast of St. Ignatius through at least Dec. 1 because it's such an important late feeding area for grizzlies.

But Courville emphasizes there's been heavy bear activity throughout the valley, especially along streambanks, cattail areas in wetlands, and shelterbelts. While they usually use heavy cover, bears can also be found in open fields and shrub thickets.

Bear encounters should be reported to Tribal Dispatch at 675-4700. Grizzly bear sightings should be reported to Courville at 883-2888, Ext. 7284.

The tribes also recommend that rural residents in the Mission Valley remove any bear attractants.

Bears begin searching out food sources and foraging at a greater rate than during the summer, increasing the risk they will find unnatural food and come in conflict with humans.

During this period of hyperphagia stocking up calories for the winter bears consume up to 20,000 calories per day.

"When they find food, natural or unnatural, they will hang around until the food source is entirely consumed or eliminated." Courville says.

Garbage, fruit on fruit trees or other food sources that are repeatedly available at a site will cause bears to develop an immediate dependence on the source. They'll return regularly until the food source is no longer available.

Even if people do not mind a bear in their yard eating fruit or tipping over their garbage, they should still try to prevent it, Courville says.

The bear is learning a behavior that will not be tolerated by other neighbors. And as bears get more used to feeding around people, they tend to become more aggressive and eventually have to be killed.

"Setting a trap is not the first response to a bear call," says Pablo Espinoza of the CSKT Fish and Game Program. "We attempt to work with people to inform them and to get them to correct problems which are attracting bears."

Trapping and relocating a bear is a short-term fix, Courville says, because many relocated bears are able to find their way back to the attractant quickly or may be prone to seek out other similar attractants elsewhere.

Also, in the spring bears usually return to the last place they found food. If it was in your dog food dish or garbage can, guess where they're most likely to show up when they leave their dens?

The primary attractants for bears include pet food, livestock feed, garbage, birdfeeders, barbecues, fruit trees, dead livestock and compost piles.

Bear country tips

Precautions suggested for bear-country living:

• Feed pets during the day and do not leave uneaten pet food outside overnight.

• Store livestock feed inside a closed shed or in 55-gallon steel drums with lockdown lids. Try to minimize and immediately clean up feed spills.

• Do not let garbage pile up. Haul it to Dumpsters or landfills regularly. It should be stored inside a closed shed, garage, or in bear-proof containers.

• Use electric fencing around beehives, vegetable gardens, compost piles, fruit trees and small livestock pens (pigs, chickens and sheep).

• Suspend hummingbird feeders out of reach and stop feeding other birds until winter.

• Dispose of dead animals by having the carcass removed immediately. Simply burying it is not always a solution, as bears are easily able to dig up the buried animal.

• Pick and remove unused or unwanted fruit and garden vegetables and store them in a locked building or properly dispose of them.