Iowa’s first black bear sighting of the season was in northeast Iowa

The state's first documented black bear of the season was photographed Friday near the Yellow River State Forest in northeast Iowa.

Brian Gibbs, a former naturalist with the Clayton County Conservation Department, said he was driving along Paint Rock Road just outside the state forest when he noticed the bear ambling through a cornfield at high noon.

After fumbling momentarily with his camera, Gibbs said he got a couple of clear images at a distance of about 200 yards before the bear disappeared from view.

Department of Natural Resources Forester Bruce Blair, who manages the Yellow River State Forest, said he had never seen the bear but knew it was there.

Neighbors, he said, had photographed it with a trail camera and had to modify their bird feeders so the bear could get bird seed without destroying their feeders.

Jon Stravers, who researches cerulean warblers in the state forest, said he had seen a black bear there in 2009 and had seen bear sign, including scat, in recent years.

'It's nice to be somewhere wild enough where you can see a bear,” Stravers said.

Last week's photo follows June 1 reports of a black bear spotted in a northern Winneshiek County backyard, according to wildlife biologist Vince Evelsizer, who tracks large mammals for the DNR.

Iowa has been getting about a half dozen bear sighting reports annually in recent years, he said.

'The trend with bears,” he said, 'is that they continue to expand into Iowa from Minnesota and Wisconsin.”

Though there have been reports of cub sightings in Iowa, Evelsizer said the DNR has no documentation that bears are reproducing in Iowa.

While wild bears are generally innocuous, one made headlines in 2014 after destroying bee hives along the Turkey and Volga rivers in northeast Iowa.

Mushroom hunters found what is 'very likely” that bear dead in the woods in May of last year, according to DNR Conservation Officer Chris Jones.

Jones said the bee hive raids stopped after the bear's carcass was found.

Although a complete post mortem could not be performed because of the bear's decomposed condition, Jones said officers found 'no holes in him and no obvious signs of poisoning.”

Black bears are not protected by law in Iowa.