🦌 Bear & Big Game Trivia Questions & Answers
Black bears, elk, big-game seasons and the hunt for larger quarry. Below are 30 free bear & big game trivia questions with answers — part of Hunting trivia on BUZZ. Want a real challenge that adapts to what you know? Play the Hunting quiz — no signup needed to start.
30 Bear & Big Game trivia questions
Q1. Despite its fierce reputation, what makes up 80-90% of a black bear's diet?
Answer: Plants and vegetation
💡 Grasses, berries, nuts and other plant matter dominate a black bear's diet — meat is a small supplement, not the main course.
Q2. What term describes a bull moose's broad, flat, hand-shaped antlers?
Answer: Palmate
💡 Moose are the only North American deer species with genuinely paddle-shaped antlers.
Q3. NC black bears are found primarily in which two regions?
Answer: Mountains and coastal plain
💡 NC has two distinct black bear populations. Mountain bears tend to be smaller; eastern bears in dense pocosins and swamps are among the largest in the East.
Q4. An adult female black bear is called a:
Answer: Sow
💡 A male black bear is a 'boar.' Cubs stay with their mother for about 17 months. Sows breed every other year, one reason bear populations are slow to rebound from overhunting.
Q5. What is the 'Boone and Crockett Club' scoring system used for?
Answer: Recording trophy big game by antler and horn size
💡 Founded by Theodore Roosevelt in 1887, the Boone and Crockett Club is America's oldest wildlife conservation organization and keeps the most recognized trophy records.
Q6. What habitat type is most associated with eastern NC black bears?
Answer: Pocosins and bottomland swamps
💡 The pocosins of eastern NC (thick shrubby wetlands), swamps, and bottomland hardwoods are prime bear country. The Alligator River and Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuges support high bear densities.
Q7. During what season do black bears in NC typically enter dens for winter dormancy?
Answer: Late November through March
💡 NC black bears enter torpor (not true hibernation) during winter. Pregnant sows den first; males may stay active until heavy cold. Cubs are born in January–February in the den.
Q8. A cinnamon-colored bear roaming out West is almost always what species wearing an unusual coat?
Answer: American black bear
💡 Out West, over half of black bears can be brown, cinnamon, or blond — it's genetics, not a different species.
Q9. Before denning up for winter, NC black bears binge hardest on which food source?
Answer: Acorns
💡 Hard mast like white oak acorns packs the calories bears need to survive months without eating in the den.
Q10. North Carolina's densest black bear concentration, among the highest in the world, centers where?
Answer: The Albemarle Peninsula
💡 The five counties of the Albemarle Peninsula hold roughly 8,000 of NC's 20,000-plus bears — nearly half the entire state population.
Q11. Over a short sprint, a healthy black bear can reach roughly what top speed?
Answer: 30-35 mph
💡 That's fast enough to outrun almost any human — a big reason wildlife agencies say never try to outrun a bear.
Q12. What is the collective noun for a group of wild boar?
Answer: Sounder
💡 A sounder typically contains a mature sow and her offspring from multiple litters. Mature male boars (tuskers) are largely solitary except during the rut.
Q13. Why does a rutting bull elk repeatedly wallow in a muddy pit?
Answer: To soak himself in his own scent
💡 Bulls often mix in their own urine, turning the wallow into a walking billboard for nearby cows.
Q14. As of 2024, Lower 48 grizzly bears are mostly confined to which region?
Answer: The Northern Rockies
💡 Before 1800, an estimated 50,000 grizzlies ranged across all or part of 18 western states.
Q15. What's the main tactic hunters use to close on wide-open-country pronghorn?
Answer: Spot-and-stalk
💡 A pronghorn's eyesight is often compared to looking through 8-power binoculars.
Q16. A raised muscle mound between a bear's shoulders is the classic tell for which species?
Answer: Grizzly bear
💡 Black bears can hunch and fool you at a glance, so guides always double check the hump alongside claw length and face profile.
Q17. Bears rub, bite, and claw trees during breeding season mainly to do what?
Answer: Leave a scent signal
💡 Rub-tree marking peaks in May and June, letting bears broadcast reproductive status and social standing without ever meeting face to face.
Q18. On a fresh bear track, which print is longer and narrower, often mistaken for a human's bare foot?
Answer: The hind paw
💡 A black bear's hind print has an elongated heel pad that gives it that eerily human look — a classic 'is that a person?' moment in the woods.
Q19. About how many pounds did NC's heaviest recorded black bear, taken in Craven County in 1998, weigh?
Answer: 880 pounds
💡 Coy Parton's 880-pound Craven County bear, taken during a hound hunt near Vanceboro, still stands as the state record decades later.
Q20. North America's wild hogs mostly descend from pigs first brought over by whom?
Answer: Spanish explorers
💡 Hernando de Soto landed with just 13 pigs in Florida in 1539 — within a year the herd had grown to 300.
Q21. What's the hunting term for a lone bull elk that trails a herd without holding cows?
Answer: Satellite bull
💡 Satellite bulls are often the easiest to call in, since they're eager but can't compete with the herd bull.
Q22. What's the hunting term for the dominant bull that guards and breeds a cow herd?
Answer: Herd bull
💡 A herd bull surrounded by his cows is notoriously hard to call away from his harem.
Q23. Compared to a black bear's, how do a grizzly's ears typically look?
Answer: Smaller and more rounded
💡 Ear shape alone isn't definitive, so guides say to check it alongside the profile and hump together.
Q24. In calm, open conditions, how far can a bull elk's bugle typically carry?
Answer: Up to a mile or more
💡 Windy weather actually muffles a bugle fast — if you can hear one on a windy day, he's probably close.
Q25. What's the general term for permanent, never-shed headgear like a bighorn ram's?
Answer: Horns
💡 Unlike antlers, horns are a bony core wrapped in a keratin sheath that keeps growing for life.
Q26. During denning, a black bear's heart rate can drop from a normal 40-50 bpm down to as low as what?
Answer: 8-12 beats per minute
💡 Despite the crawling heart rate, a denning bear's body temperature barely drops — a very different trick from true cold-blooded hibernators.
Q27. How often does a denning black bear take a breath during the deepest part of winter dormancy?
Answer: Roughly once every 15 to 45 seconds
💡 That stretched-out breathing pattern, paired with a rock-bottom heart rate, lets a bear coast through winter on stored fat alone.
Q28. Bull moose typically shed their antlers during which stretch of winter?
Answer: December through January
💡 Only bull moose grow antlers at all — cows never do.
Q29. What do Western states call the credits hunters bank for years they don't draw a tag?
Answer: Preference points
💡 States like Wyoming and Colorado give limited tags to whoever's stacked up the most points, not to lottery luck alone.
Q30. What's the term for a bear's fall-season eating binge before den-up?
Answer: Hyperphagia
💡 During hyperphagia, a grizzly can pack away up to 20,000 calories in a single day.
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