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The use of computer simulation models as an aid to understanding of biological data was demonstrated using a number of simulated bear populations. Data from black (Ursus americanus), brown (U. arctos), and polar bear (U. maritimus) populations were employed. Population models without feedback were used to compute mortality isoclines as a function of reproductive measures and to document the unreliability of age structure as an indicator of population growth form. A simple Leslie matrix projection was modified to include the effects of population density and hunting. The resulting models provided a consistent explanation for some of the sex and age ratios reported in the literature. The importance of spatial and temporal distributions of hunting pressure were documented, and management implications of hunting patterns, population biology, and dispersion of bears were summarized.