There is no excuse for shutting down hunting or fishing (excluding the combat zones). Just like during the government shutdown when they shut down national forests, BLM land, etc. The outdoors exist in spite of the government, not because of it.
Keep all the government employees at home and just let people play. Worst thing that's gonna happen is that outlaws are gonna be outlaws and they don't catch them anyway. I don't blame anybody for not wanting to seal bears while this [bleep]'s going around, but I am 99% sure we can figure out a phone/picture/video solution to that. And worst case, if a whole bunch of bears don't get sealed... so what? Like I told the 10th person who called me today about bear hunts shutting down - I'm pretty sure they don't want a whole bunch of Alaskans developing a serious case of cabin fever.
