Females give birth to their cubs during the winter in late January or early February. Average litter sizes are from two to three young. The young bears stay with the mother through the next winter and disperse the following spring. Female bears usually begin breeding at about 3 to 5 years of age and normally produce cubs only every other year. Black bears require extensive amounts of land with little disturbance by man, a major limiting factor in their numbers.
Male bears tend to roam much more than the females.
Studies have shown that the home range of female black bears in the coastal plain average about 2,000 acres with males averaging about 11,000 acres. Female black bears in the mountains roamed over 2,800 acres while males in the mountains utilized over 15,000 acres. Oak, hickory and mixed hardwood forests with laurel and rhododendron thickets are preferred bear habitats in the mountains. In the coastal plain they are found primarily in swamps, pocosins, and lowland hardwood forests. Black bears live to be about 10 years old.