Outdoor Adventures

[trkyhntr]

We have had legal bear hunting in Pennsylvania for many years, K2. While there are some slob hunters who would do what you are worried about, shoot the bear and take only the head, that would be so small a number as to approach zero. Most folks who take a bear would consider it a real trophy, and would work their butts off to get the whole bear out in one piece. The meat, contrary to popular opinion, is pretty decent to eat. Doris and I have several recipes we use when I am lucky enough to get one. She made a caserole to take to school one year, and the teachers raved about it for several days, until she told them what they had eaten. A caution: Bear meat should be frozen for at least a month before eating at -10 degrees. They tend to have a higher incidence of trichinosis. Trichinosis can be dangerous, but if the meat is frozen as above, it is perfectly safe, especially if cooked thoroughly.

As to the problem with wounding bears, that is an issue, but a very small one. Again, the number of wounded bears that are not recovered would be a small number. Any bear so wounded that survived would tend to avoid human encounters for the rest of its life. Dr. Gary Alt, in his study of Pennsylvania bears, found several that had survived horrible wounds. It seems that since the bear hunt is in the time of year most bears are ready to den, the wounded bear goes to den and heals while sleeping it off. I know this sounds horrible, but no matter how skillful the hunter, eventually something like this could happen. I will knock on wood, as it hasn't happened to me as yet.

I am a bit leary of hiring sharpshooters to do a job hunters could do cheaper and better. Sharpshooters would be well-paid for their efforts, and there is no guarantee they would not wound any bears that get away. Instead of a half-dozen hired killers, you would have 10,000 legal hunters. In this case, more is certainly better.

While we do have a hunter safety course required of all new hunters in PA., we require no special training to go bear hunting. Our problems have been minimal, save for the occasional media event staged by the animal rights weenies.

I am not looking for a job. Your WCO's can handle the training courses quite well. My main concern is that the hunters do their job and don't act like slobs. In any population of individuals grouped by interest there are some slobs. You probably have them in the programming field. Most hunters are ethical. Of course the animal rights weenies will have a field day if even one wounded bear is found. That is inevitable. The alternative is to let them manage the bear population. I don't think you want that.