Bear Hunting- Pro or Anti?

[BCMtnHound]

Well, to be fair Betelgeuse, there is an incredible amount of self interest displayed in the topic of wildlife and wildland management. On both sides of the debate, the science is cherrypicked to support one’s own predisposed position. Despite whatever good those efforts may result in, it never fails to bring hard emotions to the other side of the debate.
FWIW, IMO in our 1st world society south of the 60th parallel, we all have an equal stake, and an equal vote, in our land use decisions. No matter if you are rural or urban, vegan or near-carnivore. The results affect us all more or less equally.

[Supermoon]

I have absolutely no problem with people hunting ethically for meat. My personal experience with people hunting bears or other carnivores, has been more for the trophy, even if they end up eating some of the meat. The meat is a novelty not a freezer filler.

I don’t eat any meat I haven’t personally harvested for a variety of ethical and environmental reasons. I don’t hunt, so I only occasionally eat fish.

Killing animals for food is a necessary part of our omnivore existence, but i think the two extremes of hunting for fun, or buying meat from the store and pretending someone didn’t do the dirty work for you are dubious.

Ethical hunting is the most humane and eco way to eat meat IMO. Meat Eater is a great show that I think shows the correct way to approach it. Respect for the land and connection to your food.

People who bait bears to hunt them for fun should die a fiery death.

[iceman]

What's all this about hunting bare?

[riser4]

What's all this about hunting bare?

Bare-chested for you. Jeans are mandatory.

[cat in january]

It's not really hunting. They train the bear weeks ahead of time with the bait, then they bring the sport out set them down and wait for the bear to show up. Guess I am more ok with it because I know some of the guides because I have hired them to shuttle me for canoe trips and bear hunting is their biggest money maker.

For some reason hunting bear with dogs so they are chased up a tree and then it is plunked bothers me more.

Maine has a very healthy bear population. Of course we thought that about Moose, but the ticks are literally sucking the juveniles dry.

[BCMtnHound]

Running bear and shooting them once treed is risky business. Hard to get a clean shot (they are hard to kill outright in the first place), and they might either fall out of the tree only wounded and now you and the hounds are at risk, or the bear expires in the tree without falling out, and then you have another issue at hand.
Interestingly, the hound in my avatar was whelped by a Karelian bear hound stud, bred to chase bear and moose to bay and allow the Fin/Ruski to dispatch the animal. But back in the beginning, those tough bastards were using spears to take down their prey. Now, Karelians have been used in Banff to harass problem black bear in the hopes they they can be discouraged from seeking opportunity around human developments. The program has had mixed success from what I have been told. Better than outright destroying them I suppose.

[Lone Star]

Does hunting pressure change animals' behavior? Most deer and elk hunters would claim this is true. Not sure what the literature says? But if hunting has an impact on how wildlife interact with people....

Maybe you shoot a few more bears but prevent a sizable number of euthanized problem bears at the same time? Perhaps prevent a few of the encounters like what we saw this fall in the Yellowstone area?

I think I'd support a compromise in the grizzly bear dilemma by allowing a hunt in the core area around Yellowstone but not allowing it in the rest of the state. Then, you still allow them to expand their range while picking off a negligible amount of their population where the woods are thick with 'em.

Black bears? eh, same argument for/against black bears as raccoons or squirrels.

[iceman]

How's a dead bear gonna teach the other bears anything?

[snoqpass]

[2FUNKY]

Overpopulated my fucken ass. More like encroaching on the humans way of life and we just define it however we want.

I dont care too much if you are actually eating your kill. But any sort of trophy hunting is whack yo

One day, I hope to invent a tool/mechanism that helps livestock farmers deter carnivores better without killing

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Settle down ffs. Over population is a real thing. Whitetail deer are a prime example of a species that can and will over populate itself until a disease like blue tongue comes along and wipes out the entire area taking several years to build a decent population. I have witnessed it in a few counties in Montana. Nasty shit. Hunting is a great way to alleviate that and put some of the best protein avail into ones freezer.

Don’t care if people hunt bears or their means to do it if legal. I’ve killed a few and taken a few friends on hunts for bear. The meat is ok, I like it best as a summer sausage but I would rather eat an ungulate.

[snoqpass]

Settle down ffs. Over population is a real thing. Whitetail deer are a prime example of a species that can and will over populate itself until a disease like blue tongue comes along and wipes out the entire area taking several years to build a decent population. I have witnessed it in a few counties in Montana. Nasty shit. Hunting is a great way to alleviate that and put some of the best protein avail into ones freezer.

Don’t care if people hunt bears or their means to do it if legal. I’ve killed a few and taken a few friends on hunts for bear. The meat is ok, I like it best as a summer sausage but I would rather eat an ungulate.

Bear that’s been feasting on huckleberries is pretty good

[TBS]

I think I'd support a compromise in the grizzly bear dilemma by allowing a hunt in the core area around Yellowstone but not allowing it in the rest of the state. Then, you still allow them to expand their range while picking off a negligible amount of their population where the woods are thick with 'em.

Great idea. State of WY should restrict the season to bows and spears, and create a reality TV show to record the hunt. Gives a whole new meaning to The Deadliest Catch - just think of the ad revenue for the Donald Trump Jr episode

[Cono Este]

Not sure about Bear, but everything I’ve read is that the white man hunted everything almost to extinction 100 yrs ago but now things are roaring back.

In Mo they actually had to import white tail from Up north and now we have 2 million.

That being said I hate dipshit hunters who shoot from their cars or take bad shots.


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[XXX-er]

On Haida Gwai deer were imported and have no real predators so they have over grazed everything and they are like little tame dogs I think the limit is 4

[iceman]

Has it ever worked out well in all of history when we imported a species into an area where it didn't previously exist? If there's ever been a positive outcome I'm not aware of it offhand.

[m2711c]

Bare-chested for you. Jeans are mandatory.

Putin style....

[Slopetime]

Talked to a fishing guide in NC who's going to start bear hunts on the Carolina coast, $1,000 a day. He says the largest black bears in the country are in that eastern NC region. Never heard that before, haven't done a googelz search to verify. He said 600-800 lb bears are pretty common. I always figured the bigger bears were more up north.

[cat in january]

Has it ever worked out well in all of history when we imported a species into an area where it didn't previously exist? If there's ever been a positive outcome I'm not aware of it offhand.

honey bees

[Banh Mi]

I’ve killed a few

I dont think we can be friends


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[Kenny Satch]

Talked to a fishing guide in NC who's going to start bear hunts on the Carolina coast, $1,000 a day. He says the largest black bears in the country are in that eastern NC region. Never heard that before, haven't done a googelz search to verify. He said 600-800 lb bears are pretty common. I always figured the bigger bears were more up north.

Wikipedia says that, "The biggest wild American black bear ever recorded was a male from New Brunswick, shot in November 1972, that weighed 902 lb after it had been dressed, meaning it weighed an estimated 1,100 lb in life, and measured (7.9 ft long.)"

That's almost unbelievable

[iceman]

Wikipedia says that, "The biggest wild American black bear ever recorded was a male from New Brunswick, shot in November 1972, that weighed 902 lb after it had been dressed, meaning it weighed an estimated 1,100 lb in life, and measured (7.9 ft long.)"

That's almost unbelievable

Right? Who would dress a bear? What would it wear?

[neckdeep]

[cat in january]

What would the map look like if the timeline started in say 1804

[Kenny Satch]

Right? Who would dress a bear? What would it wear?

[neckdeep]

What would the map look like if the timeline started in say 1804

Well, for starters, there would be about 10,000 grizzlies living in Betelgeuse's neighborhood (California) so he would probably have a totally different opinion on the subject.

Pretty fucking easy to have simple opinions about charismatic megafauna while one is living somewhere where no one ever gets shredded by grizzlies.

For the record, I don't approve of hunting or culling grizzlies. I'd rather see 200 of them dumped in Betelgeuse's backyard. Once that has happened, then I'll give a shit what the NIMBY folks in CA have to say about it. Sure would like to know what the folks who get so worked up about this have done to get grizzlies reintroduced to the Sierras, Cascades and Coast ranges. I'll bet Betelgeuse is all talk and no walk when it comes to that.