Even as we segue into the fall/winter seasons, with bears needing to ramp up their caloric intake to 15,000 to 20,000 calories a day to prepare their bodies for torpor/hibernation, natural food sources are in abundance. Plants that sprout berries in the fall are amply spread about the forest, and by virtue of a mild winter/spring/summer transition the yellow jacket population is at epic proportions. Although a severe nuisance to humans, yellow jackets do serve important roles in the environment and one of those is to provide foraging bears with an excellent source of fat and protein. Ground nesting yellow jackets colonies are dug up by bears so they can access the egg cells which contain larvae and pupae of emerging queen and drone yellow jackets which are an excellent source of natural calories.