Hunters were the main cause of mortality (53%) for American black bears (Table 2). Of 141 known mortalities, 54% occurred during the first year after release when bears were 1 to 2-year old and at least 2 bears lived for more than 10yearsinthewild.Thebestfittinglogisticregressionmodel indicated that age at orphaning (Z¼2.35, P¼0.018), release weight (Z¼2.26, P¼0.024), and the interaction between the 2 (Z¼2.33, P¼0.020) were the variables that best explained first-year mortality in Idaho, Montana, and Washington. Mortality was lower for bears orphaned at