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Rub Tree Photo and Description
Both black bears and grizzly bears will scent mark by biting,
clawing, and rubbing their bodies on trees and fence posts.
These marking posts appear very similar for both species and
maybe impossible to distinguish to species without accessory
clues (hair left on the tree, tracks associated with the marking
post). Grizzly bears and black bears have also been
documented to use the same marking posts in places where
the two species co-exist.
Photo 4. Two lodgepole pines that have been repeatedly
marked by grizzly bears. Look for bark removed at about
standing head height for a bear, claw marks and bite marks
as well as smooth bark about rump and shoulder height for a
bear. Northwestern Montana. Photo by David Moskowitz.
Photo 5. Grizzly bear marking post on an old fence post
in northwestern Montana. Note bite and claw marks
about head height on the post and hairs caught in the
barbed wire on the post. Photo by David Moskowitz.
