Feel Free to copy and post this on other sites.

[InsideWDFW]

Believe it or not the main reason (not the only reason) is biological.  Bear populations are sitting on the edge of where we want them to be.  Right now the big concern is numbers of sows being harvested.  While this really has no effect now, it could be a huge deal in a couple of years.  In order to slow harvest down a bit, we had to cut down the season.  We had a choice to do it at the beginning or the end which leads to..

The unfortunate Sauk mountain shooting.  We understand that this was an isolated incident.  The last non-hunter death was 25 years ago.  The kid broke every rule that all hunters should follow.  Unfortunately this incident caught a lot of people's attention, including State Senators and Representatives.

Though hard to sometimes understand, studies have shown that non-hunting uses of public lands bring in more revenue then hunting does.  While we (WDFW) do depend on license sales, a majority of our budget comes from the state's general fund.  And Washington Legislators control how much of that fund we get, so basically they sign our paycheck.  Some groups have put a lot of pressure on Legislators to outright ban hunting on public lands citing the fact that non-hunters spend more money than hunters.

We had to come up with a solution that made people ok.. not happy but ok - also known as a compromise.  In order to make sure that bear hunting in Washington survived, we had to take the initiative regarding non-hunter/hunter interaction.  Otherwise we would have been left with a law being passed by State Legislators without having any input.  See the baiting/hound/trapping initiative from a few years back to see what happens when we we loose our voice.

So we came up with moving the general bear season to Sept 1. on public lands.  Along with the biological reasons; this allowed us to make sure that bear hunting was both still available on private lands and that some odd ball law wasn't passed as a knee jerk reaction by State Legislators.  You have no idea how close it came to having hunting banned statewide during the summer months.

[runamuk]

Though hard to sometimes understand, studies have shown that non-hunting uses of public lands bring in more revenue then hunting does. 

I would be very interested in seeing those statistics, especially if broken down into user groups.  I have found frequently that groups pushing anti hunting tend to overinflate, or borrow numbers out of context and even sometimes just flat out make them up to fit their goals.

I am not doubting you and find it very believable if the money made from land leases is included in that number i.e. timber sales and grazing leases  

thanks again for info from another perspective.

[bobcat]

Thanks for taking the time to post on this topic. I really appreciate your input on here.  It's extremely helpful. So from the sounds of it, this isn't something that can be changed no matter how many complaints the WDFW receives from hunters.  

I guess I need to find something else to do in August.  

[billythekidrock]

Believe it or not the main reason (not the only reason) is biological.  Bear populations are sitting on the edge of where we want them to be.  Right now the big concern is numbers of sows being harvested.  While this really has no effect now, it could be a huge deal in a couple of years.  In order to slow harvest down a bit, we had to cut down the season.  We had a choice to do it at the beginning or the end which leads to..

So we came up with moving the general bear season to Sept 1. on public lands.  Along with the biological reasons; this allowed us to make sure that bear hunting was both still available on private lands and that some odd ball law wasn't passed as a knee jerk reaction by State Legislators.  You have no idea how close it came to having hunting banned statewide during the summer months.

The "population" angle is a copout. We all know it is about managing people, not animals.

You may state that the bear population is not growing at the rate it once was, but we are also losing bear habitat faster then ever. Where will the excess go?
By not hunting bears in August we are bound to have more bear/human conflicts especially in times of food shortages. Who will be responsible for removal of these excess bears? F&W? At what expense? I do not want to see F&W or their contractors killing or relocating bear (and coincidentally spending more money) when they could have been legally harvested. It does not make sense to have the department do it when hunters will pay to hunt them.

Year   Total
2007   1585
2006   1642
2005   1333
2004   1654
2003   1566
2002   1725
2001   1439
2000   1165
1999   1113
1998   1802
1997   844

We are currently harvesting about 1500 bears a year. That is up about 500 from the pre-ban days of baiting and hound hunting. We have sustained those pre-ban levels or exceeded them for more then 10 years and we are still seeing more bears than ever. This is obviously not about the bear population.

But if there is any concern about the bear population then start by removing the second bear tag. I have not found any data available to the public about how many hunters are successful in filling both tags though my own informal surveys online show it could be about 10 percent of the successful hunters. I have successfully filled both bear tags in four seasons and though this will cut into my hunting time, it would be a decision I would support if it were based on sound management. Removing bear hunters from public lands over a user group issue is not sound management and I will not support it.

F&W very easily could have offered August as Archery only or ML and the harvest numbers would have come down and allowed those user groups to hunt without competing with modern firearms.

[woodswalker]

We had to come up with a solution that made people ok.. not happy but ok - also known as a compromise.  In order to make sure that bear hunting in Washington survived, we had to take the initiative regarding non-hunter/hunter interaction.  Otherwise we would have been left with a law being passed by State Legislators without having any input.  See the baiting/hound/trapping initiative from a few years back to see what happens when we we loose our voice.  

OK, in a compromise both sides get something...I dont see where we as hunters gained anything.  Its the same with the anti-gunners...take take take.  All in the name of "Reasonable Restrictions"

On the issue of baiting/hounds for bears and cats....Let Mr and Ms Kitty eat Fluffy, Buffy and Spot, I REALLY AND TRULY DONT CARE.  I'm all for the public having to sleep in the bed they made.  No hounds? Gee, I'm sorry that the cougar ate your prized alpaca..really I am, but we just really cannot catch it without a hound.  And NO, no special dispensation for a "trouble cat' to use hounds.  Let them sleep in the bed that they made.  Bear damage?  Gee, I'm sorry but we cannot hunt bears in summer (August) your (insert crop here) will just have to wait until its opened again in Sept.

I am sick nigh unto DEATH with the urban idjits with their Disney-fied views of wildlife and the wild.  Build a wall around them and dont let them OUT.

[MichaelJ]

Sorry Inside... but I'm with these guys....  Though I want to let it be known that I respect you and really appreciate it that you have given us your input here!   

Michael

[InsideWDFW]

Guys, you are screaming at the wrong people here.  It was either what we proposed, or what would have been forced on us.  One of the harsh realities is that WDFW has to play the political game.  If the State Legislature tells us to jump, we have to ask how high.  We learned a hard lesson lesson with the trapping initiative, that if we don't step in a play peace maker, we get handed a pretty nasty present.  There was a lot of interest from the Dome in outright banning hunting (all hunting, not just bear) during June, July and August statewide.  We had to quite the Dome down, and this was the best way to do it.

woodswalker:  There is a reason why we made it only public lands and not just all lands... we understand that bears cause havoc during August, hence leaving the general season open during August on private lands.  As far as the "make your bed, sleep in it comment".. we like this one.  The next Game Management Package is just three years away.. who knows how the public will respond to increased bear incidents during the next 3 years.

billythekidrock and most others: I know it's hard to believe that the decision to cut the season down was based on research rather then PR.  Your numbers are nice, but they don't show the whole picture.  Prior to the hounds initiative, most people assumed that in order to harvest a bear, you needed to use hounds.  A lot of hunters didn't bother to purchase/hunt bear because they didn't have hounds.  Once people realized that bear hunting was possible, more people started hunting bears.  I don't have the figures at hand, but there was actually a sharp increase in the amount of bear tags purchased after the ban went into effect.  So you have more people hunting bears, so more are going to be harvested.

What those numbers don't show is sow harvest, we have seen sow harvest slowly creep up the past few years, and in some areas jump up.  During the last game management plan, we wanted to see a 35%-39% sow harvest rate.  That number is starting to creep up to a place where we get a bit nervous.  Because a sow won't have her first birth until after 2 years old, we have to think two years in advance.  Going by past trends, and what we saw with the lastest hunter reports, in 2 years we are going to be over the 39%.  The cuts to the seasons you would see during the next Game Management Package would make this years propposal seem like a nice fluffy puppy dog.

Take a look at last year's Status report: http://wdfw.wa.gov/wlm/game/status/ and Game Harvest report: http://wdfw.wa.gov/wlm/game/harvest/index.htm . Remember that these are just summaries of the research we've done.

[Ridgerunner]

 

This is SO frustrating.  Thank you for at least coming on here and telling more of the story than what we otherwise would have known. 

[billythekidrock]

My numbers are nice? They are your numbers from your site.
Of course the number of tags went up after the ban, but you can't tell me that was because hunters went out and bought them. It was F&W's creative packaging that made them (and cougar tags) basically free and an attractive package to raise revenue.

As for the sow harvest...again, eliminate the second tag. Most people think there is a bear problem and with the option of a second tag they will shoot the first legal bear they see.

There are too many options that are not being used to make me believe it is truly a population issue. Like I said before, make it Archery only or muzzleloading only in August. Cut the season at the end when there are more hunters in the woods and the incidental harvest goes up. This would also allow bred sows to survive.

The problem is the precident F&W has set with this proposal. We as hunters know that once it is gone..it is gone.

There is a serious mistrust around F&G with hunters. Not only are you maintaining that distrust with this proposal, but you are also adding fuel to the fire by shutting us out of public lands over a user group issue and not sound management. There is no big game season in July. Let the hikers have July and then shut them out for August. If they want to be outdoors in August then let them purchase a hunting license. How long before we can no longer hunt public lands in September?

[Ray]

That's Right. You nailed all the major points right on the head. Especially the scam that the bear harvests might be too high and then 2 tags.

[bobcat]

If they ever go so far as to close public lands to hunting in September, I hate to say it, but I have a feeling there will be a lot of poaching going on.

[Ridgerunner]

I knew this proposal was political in nature.  Urghhhh!

[InsideWDFW]

Guys, cutting the season down was talked about prior to the Sauk mountain incident.  It was just a matter of where.  I get the feeling that I'm not going to be able to convince you that the change was biological rather public pressure on an internet forum, so I have a little homework assignment if you dare.

As some of you know, there is a lot of information we have that isn't published.  It's not about trying to be secret about anything, it's just that we don't have the people to get everything out there.  So I'm going to make you work if you want to have the real numbers for your arguments.

File a Public Disclosure Request ( http://wdfw.wa.gov/about/public_disclosure/ ).  You are asking for "1998 through 2008 bear tag sales report and a separate 2nd bear tag sales report".  You should also ask for the "raw excel files for the same years bear harvest reports" - This will give you an idea of the percentage of 2nd tag holders who harvest.  Gut call here, but I'm guessing that for each year this number will be less then 200 and will have been mostly harvested in areas that we are not concerned about.  You also see the sow harvest percentage creep up.

These reports are relatively easy to produce, so you should see a response in a couple of days.  The request and response and be done via e-mail.

Next, actually read the section on the 2007 Game Status and Trend report relating to bears.  Yea the numbers are ours, but all they show is total bear harvest for the entire state.  Right now (as in this very second) there are only a few areas in the state that are throwing little flags, though the other areas are headed down the same path.  Please keep in mind that we have to look 2, 3, 10 years down the road.  Are goal here is not to piss off bear hunters (a lot of us at WDFW have a few hides in our homes) but to make sure that bear hunting stays around, and doesn't get banned by "antis" (who have more clout then WDFW does fyi) or the population goes down the drain.

And finally guys, keep in mind that these proposals where put together by guys and gals who, along with having multiple PH.D.s, spend 50-60 hours a week, 50 weeks a year working to maintain Washington's wildlife.

[ICEMAN]

InsideWDFW, (something I have always wondered...) how accurate do you feel voluntary hunter harvest reporting actually is?  Are your game density numbers based on field work, or reporting...? Thanks.

[billythekidrock]

Inside. I appreciate your input on this site and the ability to go back and forth, but you are right, you may not be able to convince some (me) that this was not political.

I would very much like the bear population to continue growing and any changes based on that are fine with me. But your comments about ....

You have no idea how close it came to having hunting banned statewide during the summer months.

...only confirm what I believe the real reason is for this proposal. Like I said before, there are other options not being used.

I would like to know what you think about August bear hunting in the future? Will it ever happen again or is it completely off the table?