CPW Tells Denver Metro: Bring Your Pumpkins In At Night

As Halloween decorations start appearing on porches across the Denver metro area, Colorado Parks and Wildlife is asking residents to rethink one seasonal tradition: leaving the jack-o’-lantern out overnight.

According to a report from 9News published Oct. 2, CPW is warning Front Range residents to bring their pumpkins inside after dark, citing the risk that unattended gourds and other fall decorations can attract bears into neighborhoods. The advisory lands squarely in the middle of peak autumn bear activity, when the animals are packing on calories ahead of winter denning season.

Why Pumpkins Draw Bears

Pumpkins might seem like harmless fall décor, but to a hungry bear, they’re essentially a snack. Pumpkins and many other squash varieties are calorie-dense and emit strong, sweet odors as they soften and begin to rot — precisely the kind of easy, high-reward food source bears are wired to seek out this time of year. Corn stalks, gourds and other common autumn decorations carry similar appeal.

This isn’t a new concern for wildlife officials, but it takes on added urgency each fall because of a biological process called hyperphagia. In the weeks before hibernation, black bears — Colorado’s only bear species — can spend up to 20 hours a day foraging and consume thousands of calories in search of fat reserves to sustain them through winter. A porch pumpkin left out overnight can look like an effortless meal compared to the natural food sources bears would otherwise have to work for in the wild.

Once a bear associates a neighborhood with food, wildlife officials say, it’s likely to return — and repeated encounters often end badly for the animal. CPW and local agencies have long emphasized that a fed bear is rarely a safe bear, since animals that lose their natural wariness of humans are more likely to be relocated or, in repeat cases, euthanized.

Foothills Communities on Alert

The warning carries particular weight for communities along the foothills interface, where suburban neighborhoods back directly up to bear habitat. Towns like Evergreen, Golden, and parts of Boulder and Lakewood sit in what wildlife officials often describe as the wildland-urban interface — areas where development meets forest and bears regularly pass through backyards, alleys and open space corridors in search of food.

These communities have dealt with bear activity for years, from trash can raids to the occasional bear wandering into a garage left ajar. But fall presents a distinct challenge: it’s also the peak of decorating season, when porches fill with pumpkins, cornstalks and other attractants just as bears are at their most food-motivated. CPW’s guidance asks residents in these areas to treat pumpkins the same way they would treat a bag of garbage or a bird feeder — as something to secure or bring inside once the sun goes down, rather than decor that can simply stay out until it rots on its own.

Balancing Bear Safety With Halloween Traditions

The advisory doesn’t mean Denver-area families need to cancel their Halloween plans. Trick-or-treating, porch displays and neighborhood decorating remain deeply embedded fall traditions across the metro area, from urban neighborhoods in Denver proper to the more rural pockets of Jefferson and Boulder counties. CPW’s guidance is less about discouraging decoration and more about timing: residents in bear country are encouraged to display pumpkins and other edible decorations during the day, when human activity is higher and bears are less likely to approach, and then move them indoors, into a garage, or into a secured space overnight.

For neighborhoods hosting trick-or-treaters later this month, that may mean adjusting routines — bringing in the pumpkin after the last group of costumed kids has come through, rather than leaving it glowing on the steps until morning. It’s a small shift, but one wildlife officials say can make a meaningful difference in reducing the number of bears that wander into yards, driveways and streets in search of an easy meal.

A Recurring Fall Message With New Urgency

Colorado Parks and Wildlife issues bear-safety advisories most years as autumn approaches, typically paired with reminders about securing trash, taking down bird feeders and locking vehicles that might contain food. This year’s pumpkin-specific messaging, highlighted in the 9News report, reflects how closely the agency ties its seasonal warnings to the actual rhythms of fall life along the Front Range — in this case, the overlap between Halloween decorating and the final weeks of bear foraging before hibernation.

The guidance is regional in scope, applying broadly across Front Range communities rather than responding to a single bear sighting or incident. That distinguishes it from the more urgent, incident-driven wildlife stories that sometimes make headlines when a specific bear is spotted in a specific neighborhood. Instead, this is a preventative measure — an attempt to head off conflicts before they start, as pumpkins go up on porches across Denver, Lakewood, Golden, Boulder and the foothills towns beyond.

What Residents Can Do

CPW’s broader fall advice, consistent with its pumpkin guidance, includes bringing decorative gourds, cornstalks and other edible fall décor inside at night; keeping trash cans secured and stored until the morning of pickup; taking down bird feeders, which also attract bears with concentrated seed; and avoiding leaving pet food or grills accessible outdoors overnight.

For residents in foothills communities especially, wildlife officials’ message is straightforward: a well-meaning Halloween display can inadvertently turn a front porch into a feeding stop. As bears continue their pre-hibernation push through October and into November, a few extra minutes spent moving the pumpkin indoors each night could be the difference between a quiet, bear-free block and an unwelcome nighttime visitor.