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Grizzly Managers Look Toward Hunts in Rockies
Anticipation grows of the government lifting grizzlies' threatened species status
By Matthew Brown, Associated Press, 12-04-12
BILLINGS �

With bear-human conflicts on the rise, wildlife managers in the Northern Rockies are laying the groundwork for trophy hunts for grizzlies in anticipation of the government lifting their threatened species status.

It's expected to be 2014 before about 600 bears around Yellowstone National Park lose their federal protections, and possibly longer for about 1,000 bears in the region centered on Glacier National Park.

Yet already government officials say those populations have recovered to the point that limited hunting for small numbers of bears could occur after protections are lifted � and without harm to the species' decades-long recovery. That could include hunts in areas of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho where run-ins with humans and livestock attacks have increased in recent years.

A federal-state committee that oversees grizzly bears will consider adopting a pro-hunting policy next week during a meeting in Missoula. Precise details on bear hunts have not been crafted.

The government has spent more than $20 million on restoration efforts since grizzly bears in the Lower 48 states were put on the list of federally protected species in 1975.

Four people were killed by grizzlies over the past two years in Yellowstone National Park and nearby areas of Wyoming and Montana � highlighting the problems that have accompanied their rebound in areas frequented by people.

Still, it's taken decades for grizzlies to rebound from widespread extermination, and some wildlife advocates say it's too soon to talk about a hunt.

But state wildlife officials said hunting is a proven approach to wildlife management that could work for grizzlies just as it does for species such as elk, mountain lions and black bears.

"We have bears that are in conflict (with people), and certainly one of the ways that we could deal with that would be to reduce populations through hunting," said Jim Unsworth, deputy director for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.

"There's the additional benefit of providing probably one of the most sought-after opportunities in North America � the opportunity to hunt a grizzly bear," he added.

Hunting is not being considered for smaller populations of the bears in the Cabinet-Yaak, North Cascades and Selkirk areas of Idaho, Montana and Washington.

Hunting for grizzlies currently is allowed in Canada and Alaska, where hundreds are taken annually.

Grizzlies lost their threatened species status in 2007 in the Yellowstone region, but protections were restored two years later by a federal judge.

Based on that court ruling, the government is now conducting additional studies on a decline in an important food source for some bears � the cones of white bark pine trees. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is expected to again seek to lift the animal's threatened status after the work is completed late next year.

Meanwhile, grizzlies already are dying regularly in the Northern Rockies as the slowly expanding population pushes out of wilderness strongholds and into areas with more people, ranches and croplands.

At least 51 bears have died so far this year in the Yellowstone area, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Most have died at the hands of wildlife agents who kill bears that cause repeated problems or during run-ins with hunters, who sometimes shoot the animals in self-defense.

The bear population is closely tracked, and the government sets limits on the percentage of bears that can die in any given year for the population to remain healthy.

With such detailed accounting, grizzly managers could set hunting limits that the species could safely tolerate without risk to the overall population, said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grizzly coordinator Chris Servheen.

Chris Colligan with the Greater Yellowstone Coalition said hunting discussions are premature, particularly when the number of bears killed by humans is high even in the absence of hunting. Dave Smith, a conservationist and author of a book on backcountry bear encounters, added that there would be nothing to stop government officials from raising mortality limits to accommodate more hunting.

"I think the plan is to delist grizzlies based on what we have now and then say, 'Whoa, we're changing everything,'" Smith said.

State and federal officials rejected that charge, and said any hunts would be tightly controlled and highly conservative.

Servheen said they would differ significantly from wolf hunts now taking place in the Northern Rockies. For wolves, states have lifted quotas on the predators with the explicit aim of driving down their pack numbers through aggressive hunting and trapping.

By contrast, said Servheen, "you could probably count on one hand" the number of bears that could be legally killed in any given year if hunting is allowed, he said.

"Hunting is a tool, particularly to reduce populations in some areas on the periphery (of their range) where we may not want a lot of bears. We're trying to get it on the radar screen as we approach the management of healthy, recovered populations," he said.

Trouble is, by the time this plan overcomes the countless lawsuits that will most certainly be filed by anti-hunting groups, I would guess it won't be a reality before 2024. In the meantime the FWP will continue to cull problem bears and the number that die in hiker/hunter conflicts will increase. A limited hunt could help both those issues and be good for the bear population in the long term.

Sure wish I would have had a Griz permit this year while hunting elk. Came out of tent about 30 ft from one that was black from hump to head and down front legs and tan from hump on back. just beautiful as they shimmered being so fat. Ya they, sow and 2 cubs.
Cubs colored just like mom. Cubs almost s big as mom. They looked us over pretty good before going on their way. We looked them over pretty good as well. Sure glad we did not come out of tent 1 min later as we would have been nose to nose,toes to toes.She sure was not scared of us. The bears have not had a shot fired at them for 40 years. I don't think the white bark pine nut story holds water as every where we went was lots of bear sign. Grizzly bear on top of wolf tracks.

I am more optimistic than you. With wolf management litigation as a precedent, I think that a couple of lawsuits might be filed once the plan is crafted. Then, the legal challenges will be quickly resolved in favor of the states' management of a recovered species, guided by a broadly accepted management plan.

I think there is no doubt that mudhen is right. The wolves will make it much easier for the grizzlies to become huntable species.

Can you imagine the draw odds for a lower 48 Grizz tag?

Regardless, I'm in.

Yeah, I could be talked into it too.

I doubt NR's will get a shot though.

Hope I'm wrong. What a great animal.

Almost as tough as drawing a Texas desert bighorn !

I hope mudhen is right, but remember the wolf hunt, at least here in Montana required action by Congress to bypass most of the legal wrangling. I'm thinking with the state things are in now, congress couldn't change a light bulb with out the White House calling em out and vice versa.

Draw? I think it should be open season for the locals. We are the ones that put up with them. Just sayin

IMO, the need for action by Congress was more to do with WY not playing nice than any legal wrangling by the "save the wolf" crowd...

Regardless, the challenges since then in both WY and the Lakes states have pretty much set a precedent for the DOI and a good one, again, IMO.

For those that dont remember,there used to be Grizzly hunts in Montana some time back.

Jayco

I read this on Yahoo. The bunny huggers are outraged of course, but they don't live here for the most part. It seems every year we have grizzlies near Great Falls and sometime east of there. They are getting into more and more trouble up to killing people and not just around the parks. When we had a limited hunt I believe the bears feared man more. Now they are at the top of the food chain again including man.

The bunny huggers even said the population needs the older bears to teach the younger adults how to live. I pointed out that the older bears (male) kill more cubs than a limited hunt would allow. (Now I am not an expert. This is just from stuff I have read over the years.)

90 or 91 was the last.

It became only a problem bear hunt about that time before it was shut down. Now the gov. kills the bears.