Spring bear public comment is open

[Blacktail Sniper]

Anyone catch this? Part of the vote is to, "add a stipulation prohibiting harvest of female black bears with offspring and prohibiting the harvest of offspring."

How will that be enforced?

It won't imo, but, if that language is required to move forward I accept.

It could if they require an examination of the carcass like with cougar. 

Isn't their currently a requirement for spring bears to bring in proof of sex that was added in the the last couple years, very easy for them to just up it to same requirements as cougar.

[Alan K]

Anyone catch this? Part of the vote is to, "add a stipulation prohibiting harvest of female black bears with offspring and prohibiting the harvest of offspring."

How will that be enforced?

I suspect it will just result in some wasted bears if someone shoots a bear that turns out to be a milking sow and cannot have the hide checked without looking guilty.  The reality is a boar could have killed the cubs the day before. So really, it's unenforceable unless directly observed in the act.

I don't know of anyone that would knowingly shoot a sow with cubs. The reason it's always been "urged not to shoot sows with cubs" rather than "prohibited from" is that WDFW understood there are rare mistakes and they'd rather an animal not lay to waste.  Just another aspect the animal rights folks don't understand. The reality is even if a sow with first year cubs were harvested it wouldn't even scratch the population, but that's another topic all together....

[Ghost Hunter]

Anyone catch this? Part of the vote is to, "add a stipulation prohibiting harvest of female black bears with offspring and prohibiting the harvest of offspring."

How will that be enforced?

It won't imo, but, if that language is required to move forward I accept.

It could if they require an examination of the carcass like with cougar. 

Isn't their currently a requirement for spring bears to bring in proof of sex that was added in the the last couple years, very easy for them to just up it to same requirements as cougar.

That would require someone self reporting the error.  Or someone else reporting it.  They going to give points for bear?

[saylean]

I would suggest those adding comments to the spring bear public comment include, "a lactating sow would not be considered a violation, only an observed sow with cubs" or something along those lines. As previously stated, a lactating sow could easily have a dead cub unknown to the hunter. Lactation does not prove a live cub upon time of kill.

[Blacktail Sniper]

Anyone catch this? Part of the vote is to, "add a stipulation prohibiting harvest of female black bears with offspring and prohibiting the harvest of offspring."

How will that be enforced?

It won't imo, but, if that language is required to move forward I accept.

It could if they require an examination of the carcass like with cougar. 

Isn't their currently a requirement for spring bears to bring in proof of sex that was added in the the last couple years, very easy for them to just up it to same requirements as cougar.

That would require someone self reporting the error.  Or someone else reporting it.  They going to give points for bear?

I would think it would be like anything else, those who aren't going to follow the rules won't, and those that do will. 

But are more regulations and/or stipulations as a harvest requirement what is really needed? 

All I was saying is, be careful what you are willing to accept just to get what you want, it can come back later and may not be in a good way. 

[hunter399]

Anyone catch this? Part of the vote is to, "add a stipulation prohibiting harvest of female black bears with offspring and prohibiting the harvest of offspring."

How will that be enforced?

It won't imo, but, if that language is required to move forward I accept.

It could if they require an examination of the carcass like with cougar. 

Isn't their currently a requirement for spring bears to bring in proof of sex that was added in the the last couple years, very easy for them to just up it to same requirements as cougar.

Yes and Yes.
Seen that even though I'm not totally crazy about making a poacher out of someone that makes a "mistake" By taking a female with cubs , I agree it's the writting we need to go forward with the spring bear hunt. It's kinda falls in line with the way the general public view us as hunters.
Just maybe they could make the fine very small,or still allow us as hunters to keep the bear. And just be used as a deterrent to follow the basic rules.
I had a spring bear tag last year,And could of filled it many times on females with cubs. But didn't,cause I seen the writting on the wall. And had a feeling it would be very bad for all future hunts. And I ate tag soup ,and I'm ok with that.
And hope to draw again and maybe redeem myself on a boar.
We have antler restrictions and other laws that are basically the same for other animals.
I know it's not what anybody wants to hear about more regulations. These animal rights people want you to report these females with cubs harvested ,so they can throw it in our faces. I say let's go on with the hunt,do our best,Maybe at some point down the road when WDFW can give better "scientific data on bear numbers and such,rules like these might just put us that much closer to OTC spring bear.
Other states that do have OTC spring bear hunts have similar rules.

[Platensek-po]

Awesome to see the overwhelming support in the comments. Keep it up!!

[Boss .300 winmag]

Done

Thanks Saylean

[hunter399]

And yes,done commented in support to go for the hunt.
I don't care what rules there is.
We need to support it no matter what,it needs to come back now,or it will be gone for good.
And we don't want that.

[KNOPHISH]

If there is a 2 bear limit then why does it matter if some are taken in the spring? 

[northwesthunter84]

done

[buckfvr]

Done, and status quo guys, status quo.  It was fine how it was with very few sows with cubs harvested, so why encumber the already full plate of laws.  Dont even go there to accommodate the agenda driven commissioners.

[salt n sage90]

Im not sure I have every met anyone that knowingly chose to shoot a sow with cubs. Nobody I know relishes the idea of orphaned cubs.
I thought it was already sort of an unwritten rule here.

[hunter399]

Im not sure I have every met anyone that knowingly chose to shoot a sow with cubs. Nobody I know relishes the idea of orphaned cubs.
I thought it was already sort of an unwritten rule here.

Correct and correct



 

[trophyhunt]

Im not sure I have every met anyone that knowingly chose to shoot a sow with cubs. Nobody I know relishes the idea of orphaned cubs.
I thought it was already sort of an unwritten rule here.

Correct and correct

I also added that when we could bait bear it was even easier to target certain bears and much easier to not accidently shoot females with cubs. I told them bait is #1 way to target boars and spring bear hunt is #2.  I also told them that people who were uneducated about baiting bears are the same people who want spring bear gone, told them to go with the science and not their hearts.