Why hunt bears

It is my belief that this all started back in This is when children across the globe latched onto something. Something that made them feel safe. The teddy bear has enriched the lives of more than a few young children. From the teddy bear, another favorite character was inspired, including one that I personally loved: Winnie the Pooh or Pooh Bear. Over the years, we have given voices and personalities to oodles of bears that have circulated throughout our media.

Today, we see bears pop up in advertisements for Coca Cola, wildfire prevention Smokey the Bear and, even, toilet paper Charmin. Or that they are cute? Whatever it is, it puts them in a certain light; one that builds a connection between bears and humans. So, it is no surprise that this light might seem to be put out by hunters when we harvest a bear. That is in the eyes of the uneducated at least. So, what can we do about this? I think this is all about educating.

Not just people outside of the hunting world either. This is an easy place to start because there is already common ground between hunters. I do this on a regular basis with hunters who want to know more about trying their luck with bruins. From there, we need to remain civil about this stuff. This is not a crime. For those willing to listen, take the time to tell them why. Why do we bear hunt and why is it necessary today?

By taking the time to explain this stuff in a thoughtful manner, we are not only opening up the possibility of these folks understanding us, but even the possibility of them wanting to try it themselves. They are potential future hunters that could very well pass this tradition down to their kids and their grandkids. Think big picture here. As hunters, we may like to huddle up in our own little worlds, but the world is much bigger than we are. Seasons are underutilized.

Many regions have liberal bear seasons and are essentially begging for people to come hunt bears. Idaho has both spring and fall seasons, and in many zones hunters can buy two tags over the counter.

Bear hunting is challenging and rewarding. What other big-game animal can you hunt through the spring and also in the fall? Answer: none. Hunting methods are as diverse as the regions bears inhabit. You can spot-and-stalk, still-hunt, hunt over bait, pursue them with hounds, and drive cover in many states. Bear meat is tasty. However, Tom Beck, a retired bear researcher for the Colorado Division of Wildlife—along with a cohort of five other Western states wildlife managers—says that males emerge from dens a mere two to three weeks earlier than females, meaning females with cubs go unprotected.

Black bear cubs, usually born between December and February, emerge from hibernation with their mothers in April and May. Wildlife managers say there is no way to prevent the killing of nursing females during a spring hunt. Even when states prohibit the take of nursing females, hunters kill them unintentionally: Females forage at great distances from their cubs, and if pursued by hounds , a mother will leave her cubs in a tree.

In , Alaska filed a lawsuit protesting that change, arguing that the Park Service had to adopt Alaska state regulations for managing preserves. The next year, the Trump administration began dismantling the rule. The National Park Service published a new environmental assessment , which concluded that while the changes to hunting regulations might affect some individual animals, family groups, or packs, it did not expect hunters to adopt the controversial hunting methods widely enough to have significant effects on populations.

Don Striker, acting Alaska regional director at the National Park Service, told National Geographic in a written statement that the June 9 rule provides more consistency between state and federal lands and simplifies rules for local hunters. Almost none of the success stories Alaska regularly cites in support of its wildlife management practices have been borne out, Miller says.

The state, for example, partly attributes a 2 to 4 percent annual increase of one caribou population to its wolf reduction efforts. But in , biologists with Alaska Department of Fish and Game published a peer-reviewed study that found no evidence linking increased caribou to wolf reduction, likely because not enough wolves between and , according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game were killed to have an effect.

The lead author of the paper, Rod Boertje, says the caribou population was already increasing before wolf control started. Several studies across the U. Moreover, it also can harm entire ecosystems by allowing herbivore populations to grow out of control.

In a paper in Biological Conservation, Ripple noted that the disappearance or reduction of large predators in Olympic, Yosemite, Yellowstone, Zion, and Wind Cave National Parks resulted in major changes to plant communities and began to transform areas into entirely different habitats.

On the other hand, in and , when grey wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park, the ecosystem began to revert to normal. The number of elk decreased, some woody plants started growing taller, and the number of beavers increased.

Also, no data are available about how many people might take advantage of the newly permitted hunting methods. In August, a public opinion survey of Alaskans revealed that 68 percent oppose hunters in national preserves being allowed to kill wolf pups in their dens, kill hibernating bears, and bait bears with human food. All rights reserved. Animals Wildlife Watch. Why the U. Many preserves share borders with national parks, including Denali National Park, pictured here.