I got a call today from the bear bio in charge of the CF study. He was very nice and he spent quite a bit of time on the phone with me. Some of the things he mentioned.
He told me that they caught that bear on June 10th a “mile or two” from where we saw it and that it was about 135 lbs. (the other bio said 122lbs).
He confirmed that there are about 11 bears in the CF with collars and that they captured 6 bears in a 20-day period this June. They have collared 25-30 bears in the last few years. The largest was 365 lbs a couple years ago and it just lost its collar earlier this year.
Hunting is affecting the age class and the majority are young bears. He wants to cut back on hunting and to “get back to what it was”.
The average home range is 28 sq kilometers for sows and 45-50 kilometers for boars. The bears do not seem to cross the highways on three sides, yet they seem to filter in from the NW. This apparently goes along with a study done south of the CF in that the bears down there did not cross to the North.
The only thing I didn’t understand or really agree with was that he figured there were only 40 bears in the CF. I asked if he meant carrying capacity for 40 or an actual count of 40 and he said “40 bears”. I guess I am pretty lucky to see a couple a year up there if there are only 40. Who knows? With the average home range being what it is, maybe I am seeing sign from single bears when I thought it might be multiple?
When asked about timber damage he said that they are learning that the feeding programs may not be the way to go. Feeding the bears keeps them healthy, healthy bears have more young, more bears damage more trees. They think that more hunting opportunities may be a better solution.
When asked if there was anything that hunters could do to help out he stated, “Get the word out” that they are doing a study. He also said to let everyone know that it is legal to shoot a collared bear or tagged bears and that he “doesn’t lose sleep” about people shooting them. He knows that is part of the deal. He also said that they do lose their tags or collars and that hunters should check inside the upper lip for tattoos. They used to only tattoo above the right canine, but now it can be on either side of the upper lip.
