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Author Topic: Grizzly hunts may be allowed in the Rockies  (Read 5765 times)

Offline littlemac

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Grizzly hunts may be allowed in the Rockies
« on: December 04, 2012, 01:53:32 PM »
Fresh off the Associated Press wire:

http://news.msn.com/us/grizzly-hunts-may-be-allowed-in-the-rockies

December 4, 2012 (49 min ago) |By Matthew Brown
 
About 1,600 grizzly bears live around Yellowstone and Glacier national parks.


BILLINGS, Mont. — With bear-human conflicts on the rise, wildlife managers in the Northern Rockies are laying the groundwork for trophy hunts for the animals in anticipation of the government lifting their threatened species status.

It's expected to be another two years before about 600 bears around Yellowstone National Park lose their federal protections, and possibly longer for about 1,000 bears in the region centered on Glacier National Park.

Yet already government officials say those populations have recovered to the point that limited hunting for small numbers of bears could occur after protections are lifted — and without harm to the species' decades-long recovery. That could include hunts in areas of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho where bear-human conflicts and livestock attacks are on the rise.

A federal-state committee that oversees grizzly bears will consider adopting a pro-hunting policy next week during a meeting in Missoula. Precise details on bear hunts have not been crafted.

It's taken decades for grizzlies to rebound from widespread extermination, and some wildlife advocates say it's too soon to talk about a hunt.

But state wildlife officials said hunting is a proven approach of wildlife management that could work for grizzlies just as it does for species such as elk, mountain lions and black bears.

"We have bears that are in conflict (with people), and certainly one of the ways that we could deal with that would be to reduce populations through hunting," said Jim Unsworth, deputy director for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.

"There's the additional benefit of providing probably one of the most sought-after opportunities in North America — the opportunity to hunt a grizzly bear," he added.

Hunting is not being considered for smaller populations of the bears in the Cabinet-Yaak, North Cascades and Selkirk areas of Idaho, Montana and Washington.

Hunting for grizzlies currently is allowed in Canada and Alaska, where hundreds are taken annually.

Grizzlies lost their threatened species status in 2007 in the Yellowstone region, but protections were restored two years later by a federal judge.

Based on that court ruling, the government is now conducting additional studies on a decline in an important food source for some bears — the cones of white bark pine trees. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is expected to again seek to lift the animal's threatened status after the work is completed late next year.

Meanwhile, grizzlies already are dying regularly in the Northern Rockies as the slowly expanding population pushes out of wilderness strongholds and into areas with more people, ranches and croplands.

At least 51 bears have died so far this year in the Yellowstone area, according to the U.S. Geologic Survey. Most have died during run-ins with hunters, who sometimes shoot the animals in self-defense, and at the hands of wildlife agents who kill bears that cause repeated problems.

The bear population is closely tracked, and the government sets limits on the percentage of bears that can die in any given year for the population to remain healthy.

With such detailed accounting, grizzly managers could set hunting limits that the species could safely tolerate without risk to the overall population, said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grizzly coordinator Chris Servheen.

Dave Smith, a conservationist and author of a book on backcountry bear encounters, said there would be nothing to stop government officials from raising those overall mortality limits so more hunting could be accommodated.

"I think the plan is to delist grizzlies based on what we have now and then say, 'Whoa, we're changing everything,'" Smith said. "They can manipulate the numbers any way they want."

Wildlife officials said any hunts would be tightly controlled and highly conservative.

Servheen said they would differ significantly from wolf hunts now taking place in the Northern Rockies. For wolves, states have lifted quotas on the predators with the explicit aim of driving down their pack numbers through aggressive hunting and trapping.

By contrast, said Servheen, "you could probably count on one hand" the number of bears that could be legally killed in any given year if hunting is allowed, he said.

"Hunting is a tool, particularly to reduce populations in some areas on the periphery (of their range) where we may not want a lot of bears. We're trying to get it on the radar screen as we approach the management of healthy, recovered populations," he said.

"It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor even the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change."

-- Charles Darwin

Offline Special T

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Re: Grizzly hunts may be allowed in the Rockies
« Reply #1 on: December 04, 2012, 02:05:59 PM »
This will face the same kind Resistance that wolves have had... Fortunately they are not quite as destructive as wolves... Yet. This is less about Grizz and more about land controll. Note that thearticle states concern over white bark pine cones because this affects them so much. Kinda sounds like the BS I've heard about spotted owls and other species...  :bash:
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Offline Bean Counter

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Re: Grizzly hunts may be allowed in the Rockies
« Reply #2 on: December 04, 2012, 02:13:52 PM »
No, they should not sell tags for several hundred dollars a piece and generate revenue. They should spend state treasury to hire professional marksman to cull the excess bears. Or better yet, hire professional trappers and relocate them 6 miles from the affected areas.  :rolleyes:

Offline sirmissalot

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Re: Grizzly hunts may be allowed in the Rockies
« Reply #3 on: December 05, 2012, 11:02:57 AM »
I can tell you first hand this needs done, just as bad as wolves in some areas. The area my buddy in wyoming guides is horrible with grizzlies, many times when they get a bull down they quarter it and leave it over night to pack out with mules in the morning and last year all but one bull had a grizz on it come morning, one of them the bear had dug a huge hole to bury them quarters in.... I will try to get the pictures it was pretty amazing.

The impact grizzlies have on elk calves is huge, they don't all need shot but there does need to be some management. This area I am talking aboutalmost all the sows had 3 cubs. That tells you how good they are eating.

Offline boneaddict

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Re: Grizzly hunts may be allowed in the Rockies
« Reply #4 on: December 05, 2012, 11:13:50 AM »
Might save some lives if we put fear back into them. 

Offline deerslyr

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Re: Grizzly hunts may be allowed in the Rockies
« Reply #5 on: December 05, 2012, 11:16:32 AM »
WOOO I cant wait to draw a griz tag  :IBCOOL:

Offline shanevg

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Re: Grizzly hunts may be allowed in the Rockies
« Reply #6 on: December 05, 2012, 11:46:15 AM »
Grizzlies are right up there with mountain goats for me for top animal I want to hunt in my lifetime.  I can't wait to start putting in for tags in MT, WY, and ID!!!

Offline GoldTip

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Re: Grizzly hunts may be allowed in the Rockies
« Reply #7 on: December 05, 2012, 11:52:33 AM »
I spent Nov 16-23rd hunting the western border of Glacier about 7 miles from the canadian line.  This where my parents live, I hunted in a 5-7 miles radius of their house and saw three different grizzlies, all of them at under 100 yards (one was within 50) and all them well aware of my presence.  Not one of them spooked or in any way moved off because of my presence, they essentially ignored me.  Not one of those days of hunting did I go without seeing fresh grizzly tracks.  There absolutely needs to be a limited season.
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Offline saylean

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Re: Grizzly hunts may be allowed in the Rockies
« Reply #8 on: December 05, 2012, 12:37:15 PM »
Where do I sign up! :tup:

Offline MtnMuley

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Re: Grizzly hunts may be allowed in the Rockies
« Reply #9 on: December 05, 2012, 03:45:59 PM »
I really like the fact that maybe I can be the hunter again in those areas instead of the hunted.  Getting pretty pathetic in quite a few areas.

Offline link

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Re: Grizzly hunts may be allowed in the Rockies
« Reply #10 on: December 05, 2012, 06:47:27 PM »
Might save some lives if we put fear back into them. 
This is the point I was going to try to make. The area I've been hunting in Wyoming is absolutely lousy with grizzly bears. Every year we see bears. More and more every year it seems. This year I personally had two run ins with bears. First one, we walked up on a bear on a deer carcass. Absolutely no fear of us. We backed out and crossed a couple hundred yards back above it. The second one tried to take a deer from us. Came right in, completely fearless. There were four of us too, standing there, it did not care. We emptied three cans of bear spray as it circled us getting closer and closer as we gathered our gear and loaded up and got the hell out of there. All it wanted was the carcass, but it showed no fear. Maybe if they were actually hunted ( on a limited basis) they may start to show some fear, and wait for us to leave the carcass before they move in on it. I actually enjoy seeing them, but I would prefer they stay a few hundred yards away and move in the opposite direction!

Offline Labs07

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Re: Grizzly hunts may be allowed in the Rockies
« Reply #11 on: December 17, 2012, 02:47:28 PM »
Griz is on my list of animals to hunt but I doubt very much that when they offer tags that I will be able to afford it!  I have seen them hunting and they did not spook or anything!

Offline link

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Re: Grizzly hunts may be allowed in the Rockies
« Reply #12 on: December 17, 2012, 07:02:55 PM »
I was reading some info on Wyomings proposed fee increases for 2014. They had a line for a grizzly tag in it. Not sure what the cost of the resident tag was, but the non resident tag was around $7500! I am very skeptical about them even having a season on them any time soon. Even if they did, I sure as hell couldn't afford one. 

Offline Bshiftbc

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Re: Grizzly hunts may be allowed in the Rockies
« Reply #13 on: December 17, 2012, 07:13:41 PM »
We also ran into bears every day in the WY back country. Not an ounce of fear in them! Never had an issue, they just ignored us.
Bears are becoming a huge problem in parts of WY and MT. We had one client that couldn't wait to get back to Texas after seeing his first Griz....
This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave.  ~Elmer Davis

Offline steeleywhopper

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Re: Grizzly hunts may be allowed in the Rockies
« Reply #14 on: December 17, 2012, 07:21:37 PM »
Hate the SOBs, shoot em all..... My opinion
Politicians like Jay Inslee are the reason we have the 2nd Amendment

Offline JLS

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Re: Grizzly hunts may be allowed in the Rockies
« Reply #15 on: December 17, 2012, 07:22:59 PM »
I am willing to bet we'll see grizzly hunts in the lower 48 within 5-6 years.  Quotas will be VERY conservative, especially for females.

They are an amazing creature.
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