Replies to post #6296 on Outdoor Adventures (OUTDR)

[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.

[Colt1861Navy]

Good morning, Ksquared...Re: Bear problem

My views based on the fact that I really know nothing about the territory where the bear problem is. In Texas you could blindfold me and after 5 minutes I could tell you what region of Texas I was in as well as tell within a certain degree of accuracy, the nearest landmark, ie., city, town, community, plains, mountains, coastal, hill country, south Texas, west Texas, east Texas, the Panhandle, rivers, creeks, lakes, oil country, gas country, blah, blah, blah. Hell, I can even take one look at a gal down here in Texas and tell you EXACTLY where she is from. <ggg> So I will put your bear problem in Texas to make this point which I would most likely transfer to New Jersey and it would still work.

Game Wardens: Bad idea. It never works. Wardens in every state are stretched much to thin. They can't and shouldn't be taken away from their everyday duties. To get rid of the big over population of bears, is going to require hunters. Just like hunting of any animal or bird in any state, a Hunters Safety course is required as is the purchase of a Hunting License which brings states hundreds of millions of dollars. NJ is really pretty far behind the 8 ball and I don't think anyone is too impressed with the powers to be in the way they regulate animal life. Just from all the stories you tell us about bear, deer, turkey, etc., running around all over the place...that is bad for both man and animal. There is a fine line between what is best for both and what is not. The big shots in New Jersey don't seem to understand this. You have to continually thin out the animal population by eliminating the oldest and the weakest. Like we do down here when Whitetail hunting, you cull the known Spikes, you keep the Buck to Doe ratio as close to 1:1 as possible, you try to take out the Mature Bucks that are over 5 1/2 years old and you also get rid of cull or management bucks (bucks that show to be inferior after a couple of years of watching them). States like Texas and Pennsylvania make Bill Gates kind of money from hunting. A Special Bear Tag could be sold for say, several hundred dollars. Hunters pay big bucks for most all species anyway and a NJ bear would be no different.

As to 'jerks' it wouldn't be any more or less than every state has every hunting season. Very minimal. The Game and Fish Agency in New Jersey could impose a very stiff fine if caught with one and no license or permission to hunt the land. Say 5 years in Federal Prison and a $10-20,000.00 fine would keep 99.99999999999% of the jerks at the local bar instead of hunting. Hunters that go to the trouble of taking a Hunters Education course, pay for their License, and spend the money for all the other things like rifle, scope, ammo, clothing, 4 wheeler, etc. are VERY Responsible and would treasure the trophy. Bear rugs are very popular among hunters. Bear heads??? I've never heard of anyone wanting just that as a trophy. Every hunter I know who has a Bear to his or her name keeps the whole Bear for either a floor rug or spread eagle on the wall. Poachers who are interested only in a head are after the Antlers of a 'Whitetail Deer'.

I think that New Jersey needs to bring in experts from some of the big hunting states like Pa., Texas, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, Oregon, Wi., Michigan, etc. and get themselves some education on Proper Game Management. Here in Texas the deer have become so healthy, the bear population is growing, Big Horn Sheep are coming back big time, Mountain Lion populations are also coming back to 1900 population numbers, west Texas Mule Deer are in good shape, and so on. We have the largest population of Exotics of all the other states combined. We have Elk down here. We have lots of Buffalo. We have some African animals. The reason is we have Game Wardens who work with land owners and hunters and it is fantastic.

I just can't see NJ Game Wardens as the way to get a grip on your bear problem. Game Wardens work if you have a wild animal loose in a city or township. But, sending out the small force that most states have has just never worked. It would be like taking all of the policemen in New Jersey and sending them out to every mile of border in the U.S., meaning all of Mexico and Canada as well as all three oceans. Just can't be done. Each warden would be 100 miles apart and in between them thousands of illegals are slipping through. Hell, our Border Patrol manning the borders of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California have been fighting the uphill battle for a hundred years and getting further and further mired in the muck. This would be the same with Game Wardens trying to control the bear population by themselves. I have no idea how many man hours or days per bear it would take. The current crop of Wardens could probably at best devote maybe one day, even then they would have to do a staggered shift, which would be like fighting the Iraq War with .22's and no planes, bombs, tanks, etc.

Anyway, that is my take on the New Jersey bear situation. And I'm sticking to it! :>) Gotta run...I'm running late. Later!!!

Colt