Long-term Brown Bear (<i>Ursus arctos</i>) Filed Sign Survey Dataset, Teshio Experimental Forest, Hokkaido University, northern Hokkaido, Japan (1976–2015)<b>, </b>during a wildlife management policy shift. This dataset has been published in <i>Ecological Research</i> as a data paper (Takafumi et al., 2026).

This dataset comprises long-term records of brown bear (<i>Ursus arctos</i>) field signs collected in the Teshio Experimental Forest Hokkaido University (TEF), northern Hokkaido, Japan, between 1976 and 2015. Field surveys were conducted annually during July and August along predefined routes that followed streams and forest roads across approximately 22,500 hectares of mixed forest. Observers recorded brown bear filed sings, including feeding signs, footprints, and scats.The original paper-based survey logs, which described both route characteristics and observed signs, were digitized and georeferenced into shapefile format. In total, the dataset includes 2,421 geotagged field sign records (1145 feeding signs, 964 footprints, and 312 scats) collected along 9,890 km of surveyed routes, representing approximately 3,400 person-days of effort.Importantly, the study period spans both the enforcement and subsequent discontinuation of the Spring Bear-culling Program that was in effect until 1990. This context makes the dataset especially valuable for exploring the long-term ecological consequences of wildlife management practices.Each record contains spatial and temporal metadata, and in many cases, additional details such as the size of footprints or the contents of scats. These data provide an important foundation for understanding temporal trends in population status, habitat use, and foraging behavior of brown bears under shifting management regimes and environmental conditions.