It’s still too early to put away your bear spray, according to Fish and Game wildlife biologist Anthony Crupi.

On Dec. 8, Heather Lende and daughter Sarah Elliot met for an afternoon walk on Lily Lake Road with their two dogs. As they were climbing the first hill near the dump, they came face-to-face with two bears.

“We ran, which I know you’re not supposed to do,” Lende said. “But Sarah later said she’s seen enough of Game of Thrones to know that you don’t want to be at the bottom of the hill with your enemy at the top.”

Lende said she was surprised to see the bears because of the time of day, month and proximity to town.

But according to Crupi, who collected data by collaring bears in Yakutat from 2009-2015, “many bears continue to forage through December and a few into January.” Crupi’s research shows that, while two thirds of denning happens in the beginning of December, it continues throughout January and even the beginning of February.

The reason? Food. “It often depends on resource availability and weather conditions,” Crupi said. “I believe the warmer weather and physiological need to accumulate as much fat as possible before hibernation contributes to the timing of den entrance.”

This year, Haines has seen warmer temperatures and fewer returns of king, chum and pink salmon. According to Juneau National Weather Service meteorologist Rick Fritsch, Haines saw a significantly warmer autumn with an average temperature of 43.6 degrees, compared to a longterm average trend of 41.5 degrees. For December, “the airport right now is a whopping 3.9 degrees above normal,” Fritsch said. “From a climate standpoint, that’s a big deal.”

Ketchikan and Prince of Wales biologist, Ross Dorendorf, said that it isn’t unusual to have bears out this late into December in southern Southeast. “We’ve gotten calls about bears hitting trash cans as late as last week,” he said.

Dorendorf said that bears that have access to human foods hibernate much later than those that rely on natural food sources.

According to Crupi, many of the Yakutat bears who denned late in January remained near the townsite where supplements of human food were accessible at the landfill and local residences, and late coho salmon spawning in small tributaries near the road.

Fish and Game biologist Carl Koch said that while he’s still receiving notices about bear sightings in Southeast, he’s seen calls drop. Koch said that Fish and Game recommends people continue to secure garbage and other attractants so that bears won’t have incentive to delay hibernation.

In August, Crupi began a five-year research study collaring brown bears in the Chilkat Valley and Skagway to collect information that will assist in managing the population.

To date, Crupi has collared 21 bears, and 18 have retained their collars; one was harvested and two got into tussles and removed their collars, he said.

Crupi said he intends to remotely survey bear locations when weather improves to check on how many collared bears have denned.