As an avid snowshoer "shoeing" the backwoods here in the hilltowns of western MA I have yet to see evidence of bears coming out of hibernation. When should I have to start worrying about bear interactions? Jay

See this info from Mass Wildlife on bears coming out of hibernation and bird feeders:
www.mass.gov/dfwele/dfw/mwnews/2008/mwnews_0308.htm#item3

looks like it is about mid-March.

but it seems the bigger question is whether or not you need to worry about such an encounter. regardless of the time of year. though i am no biologist, my impression is that you run a risk of a bad encounter only if you come between a mother and her cubs - which were born in the den back in December or so... otherwise, bears don't want to encounter you, and will be long gone by the time you come trudging through the woods.

Thank you dbk . Years ago I had a very angry sow with three treed cubs interacting with my dogs and myself . I do not want to recreate that experience . Jay

I dislike response posting to myself , but the past few days I have been talking to some very woodland knowledgeable individuals and they report little if any bear activity yet in the "Hilltowns". In their opinion this winter's cold and lack of a January thaw has affected hibernation. The bears are still "snowed in" so to speak. Jay

The bears hit my feeders on April 8 and got their fair (and final) share of bird food from our galvanized trash cans on the 11th and 12th. I finally got to see the culprits on the 13th- a "yearling" and an older bear. Neither of them appeared to have collars. I was surprised to see two bears traveling together. Jay

my impression is that bears are both smart and habitual- they'll be back next year in early April!