Be careful out there

[belly-deep]

Two hunter/bear incidents in less than a week here in MT

http://www.krtv.com/story/30182912/hunter-mauled-by-bear-saturday-morning-near-choteau

http://missoulian.com/news/local/ma...cle_fd02dbce-398b-5e75-80e6-244db0f0db0f.html


Score is 1-1 for bears and hunters looks like

 

[2rocky]

Jackson Wyoming paper came out with an interesting article.

An old study led by Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team biologist Chuck Schwartz determined there was an average of 3.7 grizzlies killed by hunters each year between 1992 and 2000. In the past 11 years the figure averaged 10.2 bears a year, meaning that there has been a three-fold rise in bears dying from hunter gunfire.

Looking only at Northwest Wyoming the hunter-killed grizzly trend has also been upward, despite there being fewer elk hunters than were around at the turn of the century, Wyoming Game and Fish Department large carnivore supervisor Dan Thompson said.

“It’s a slightly increasing trend,” Thompson said. “We’re averaging about 5.5 [bears killed a year] since 2002. So, watch out.”

Thompson’s hunch is that the increase in conflict is due to there being more grizzlies around for hunters to run into. From a low point in the 1970s when an estimated 136 grizzlies populated the region, the number is now believed to exceed 700 animals.

“Increased bear numbers and densities would explain why we see more potential for conflicts and more mortalities on the landscape,” Thompson said. “I think a lot of people really fixate on how we’re seeing an increase in grizzly bear mortality ... but there’s a lot more bears out there than there was 20 years ago.

 

[belly-deep]

Time for a season.....

 

[2rocky]

B-D I'm afraid Wyoming's hardline stance on the Wolf Predator zone is going to bite them in the ass on establishing any new seasons on predators coming off the ESL.

My Prediction, as a WAG is 10 years....

 

[belly-deep]

You're probably right