Here come the bears

[powderbounder]

This will close a ton of land down. May want to take pics of your hunting grounds now. You won’t be hunting it in afew years. I almost bet any roads that wash away now won’t be replaced. Pretty F’n sad.

[CarbonHunter]

This will close a ton of land down. May want to take pics of your hunting grounds now. You won’t be hunting it in afew years. I almost bet any roads that wash away now won’t be replaced. Pretty F’n sad.

How is this any different than what has been happening in areas without bears?  The 74 road outside of Greenwater got washed out in 08 and it has never been and will never be replaced. Thousands of acres are slated for return to nature and removal of roads regardless of bear reintroduction.

Why are so many hunters upset about roads getting removed and giving more roadless areas for all animals?

[Southpole]

This will close a ton of land down. May want to take pics of your hunting grounds now. You won’t be hunting it in afew years. I almost bet any roads that wash away now won’t be replaced. Pretty F’n sad.

How is this any different than what has been happening in areas without bears?  The 74 road outside of Greenwater got washed out in 08 and it has never been and will never be replaced. Thousands of acres are slated for return to nature and removal of roads regardless of bear reintroduction.

Why are so many hunters upset about roads getting removed and giving more roadless areas for all animals?

Because not every hunter or even non hunters are physically capable of hiking miles in to enjoy the outdoors.

[Houndhunter]

This will close a ton of land down. May want to take pics of your hunting grounds now. You won’t be hunting it in afew years. I almost bet any roads that wash away now won’t be replaced. Pretty F’n sad.

How is this any different than what has been happening in areas without bears?  The 74 road outside of Greenwater got washed out in 08 and it has never been and will never be replaced. Thousands of acres are slated for return to nature and removal of roads regardless of bear reintroduction.

Why are so many hunters upset about roads getting removed and giving more roadless areas for all animals?

Because not every hunter or even non hunters are physically capable of hiking miles in to enjoy the outdoors.

That and how many more "roadless" areas does this state really need? Plus the trend seems to be once it's gone, she's gone for good.

[nwwanderer]

Fire control, harvest, lots of reasons to keep good tools

[JWBINX]

Grizzly's numbered in the thousands before the white man was here, and they were eradicated
by the white man. I say bring them back .
99 percent of the people on this site will never be far enough from a road to encounter one.
It might even keep the REI crowd on their toes.

[TriggerMike]

Does the next Presidential Administration have the ability to reverse this decision?

[nwwanderer]

Even with settlement about 60,000 are thriving in north America, expanding range and even crossing with an occasional polar bear.  Like the wolf, do not throw money away, they will be fine.

[CarbonHunter]

This will close a ton of land down. May want to take pics of your hunting grounds now. You won’t be hunting it in afew years. I almost bet any roads that wash away now won’t be replaced. Pretty F’n sad.

How is this any different than what has been happening in areas without bears?  The 74 road outside of Greenwater got washed out in 08 and it has never been and will never be replaced. Thousands of acres are slated for return to nature and removal of roads regardless of bear reintroduction.

Why are so many hunters upset about roads getting removed and giving more roadless areas for all animals?

Because not every hunter or even non hunters are physically capable of hiking miles in to enjoy the outdoors.

That and how many more "roadless" areas does this state really need? Plus the trend seems to be once it's gone, she's gone for good.

The roads and people are a far bigger cause for the low wildlife populations than the presence of predators. Look at Alaska and Canada if you think I’m wrong or where Washington was 400 years ago. If you don’t create more escapement for the wildlife along with better habitat the populations will continue to decline regardless of the presence of bears.

[Ingwe]

I have hunted moose several times in central British Columbia. They voted to stop grizzly bear hunting a few years ago. We see more grizzlies and less moose every year. I hate to think what they will eventually  do to deer, moose and cattle in Washington. When I shot my moose last year, we went back 2 days later to see if anything had been to the gut pile. Sure enough grizzly had it. I have to admit, grizzly’s scare me.

[bigmacc]

This will close a ton of land down. May want to take pics of your hunting grounds now. You won’t be hunting it in afew years. I almost bet any roads that wash away now won’t be replaced. Pretty F’n sad.

How is this any different than what has been happening in areas without bears?  The 74 road outside of Greenwater got washed out in 08 and it has never been and will never be replaced. Thousands of acres are slated for return to nature and removal of roads regardless of bear reintroduction.

Why are so many hunters upset about roads getting removed and giving more roadless areas for all animals?

Because not every hunter or even non hunters are physically capable of hiking miles in to enjoy the outdoors.

That and how many more "roadless" areas does this state really need? Plus the trend seems to be once it's gone, she's gone for good.

The roads and people are a far bigger cause for the low wildlife populations than the presence of predators. Look at Alaska and Canada if you think I’m wrong or where Washington was 400 years ago. If you don’t create more escapement for the wildlife along with better habitat the populations will continue to decline regardless of the presence of bears.

Well, I have a pretty good family history revolving around Alaska. You’re right, not alot of roads, lots of predators, not alot of people. The territory is HUGE. Lots of room for predators, prey and people. This state is at the verge of being tapped out as far as predators, prey and humans all coexisting. We’re not living in a time where this state can handle much more, let alone 400 years ago. Grizzly, cougars, wolves are going to make a big impact on the landscape of this state. It won’t be positive if you’re a hiker, biker, pet owner, rancher, hunter or a rural land owner. We are not in a world or state that existed 400years ago. You can create all the escapement you want, we can’t turn back the clock 400 years, all these predators on the landscape of today in a state like Washington is going to be catastrophic for some user groups and deadly for others. My opinion.

[Night goat]

Anybody else read that hooplah?? Grizzlies... reintroduced to north cascades? What a racket. Gonna be fine and dandy til some city slicker Subaru driving granola tree huggers gets munched... ain't like those bears are gonna be fat dumb and happy loaded up on salmon like up in Alaska, that's going to be be one hungry cranky eating machine... probably going to wreck havock on whatever small ungulate populations it can find, moose calves and what not... just watch "night of the grizzlies", I mean we're just waiting for somebody to be the next Timothy Treadwell at this rate. I mean, I'm used to bears up in Alaska, I carry very very stout 12 gauge slugs loaded in my boomstick, don't bother me much, but think it's a horrible idea...


S.S.S.  a good big ol magnet and a locomotive will take care of any radio collars one might stumble across 

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna149558

[Southpole]

This will close a ton of land down. May want to take pics of your hunting grounds now. You won’t be hunting it in afew years. I almost bet any roads that wash away now won’t be replaced. Pretty F’n sad.

How is this any different than what has been happening in areas without bears?  The 74 road outside of Greenwater got washed out in 08 and it has never been and will never be replaced. Thousands of acres are slated for return to nature and removal of roads regardless of bear reintroduction.

Why are so many hunters upset about roads getting removed and giving more roadless areas for all animals?

Because not every hunter or even non hunters are physically capable of hiking miles in to enjoy the outdoors.

That and how many more "roadless" areas does this state really need? Plus the trend seems to be once it's gone, she's gone for good.

The roads and people are a far bigger cause for the low wildlife populations than the presence of predators. Look at Alaska and Canada if you think I’m wrong or where Washington was 400 years ago. If you don’t create more escapement for the wildlife along with better habitat the populations will continue to decline regardless of the presence of bears.

Comparing Alaska to Washington’s wildlife is like comparing apples to oranges. Washington had a robust deer and elk population before hound hunting was outlawed, most logging roads were wide open and no wolves yet. Now there’s an over population of cougars, black bears and wolves, roads are gated or decommissioned, less deer and elk permits given and a glaringly obvious decline in elk and deer populations. How do you explain that?

[Feathernfurr]

I’ve hunted elk in one of the densest grizzly populations in the lower 48 for the last 7 years. Granted that area has a much larger population of elk. But I’ll be honest with you, I love it, it keeps a lot of people out of the area. The roads are all gated and the pressure on game is way lower. Tie that for what it’s worth but it has been a recipe for success time and time again for our group. I had the biggest boar I’ve seen in person inside of 15 yards this past year while working a bull, that’ll get your heart rate up.

We rarely find carcasses, the berries and veg are abundant and the bears would rather lay on their butt all day and eat the stuff that doesn’t run away. I think they absolutely have an impact on ungulates, but not nearly as much as wolves and cats. They’re the only species killing black bear cubs. I think black bears have a larger impact on the prey honestly.

Impact with users and cattle will definitely happen, but grizzly wont be the end of Washington’s deer and elk. Management will likely be the bigger impact. People are always up in arms about cattle, but I’ll tell you right now that most states are keeping elk populations at low objectives because of conflict from cattle farmers. In all honesty, I despise a cattle farmer. I’ve watched them absolutely decimate honey holes that used to hold hundreds of elk, while they pay pennies per acre to free graze on public land, cause soil compaction that won’t recover in my or my children’s lifetime.

I eat a steak here and there, but I eat more elk. I’d take hills full of elk over a cattle farm any day of the week.

[Southpole]

I think what’s most upsetting is government going ahead with things that the majority of people clearly do not want. They had several meetings over the years about this and most were against it including some tribes. Now we are living in a dictatorship.