There is a glimmer of hope that truth may actually find its way into the discussion. Only time will tell.
Agencies seek help to quell bear woes is the title of today’s highlighted story and it starts like this:
State wildlife officials are looking for volunteers to help teach the public how to avoid conflicts with bears in Aspen, where 20 bears were killed last year after threatening people.
Another tack to try to ease troubles between bears and people in the mountain resort town has raised the concerns of one environmental group. The Colorado Division of Wildlife has proposed almost doubling the number of bear hunting licenses in the region, including the Vail and Glenwood Springs areas, to about 1,100 from 630.
The “environmental group”, as is typical, has raised a stink over the concept of additional hunting opportunities.
Excerpt:
“What I’m afraid they’re trying to do is hunt their way out of this,” said Wendy Keefover-Ring of WildEarth Guardians.
As is also typical, this group will act like spoiled six-year-olds if they don’t get their way.
Excerpt:
Keefover-Ring said the underlying problem is enforcing laws requiring bear-resistant trash bins so the animals stop identifying people with easy-to-find food. Bears need to be chased out of town and individual problem bears need to be removed, she added.
Keefover-Ring said her group would “raise a ruckus” if the state wildlife division pushes to dramatically raise the number of bear hunting licenses.
There is more to the story, however, as expressed in another article I found on the same topic.
Excerpt:
The long-term argument that the human-bear conflicts were considered “people problems, not bear problems,” because of failed efforts to control waste and garbage storage, no longer was working.
“There’s some truth to that, but after 20 years it’s not getting any better,” he said. “It’s time to take a more comprehensive approach.”
I must applaud Colorado DOW for their thinking.
Excerpt:
While the hope is that hunting may alleviate some of the trouble, DOW spokesman Randy Hampton emphasized that hunting alone will not solve what is proving to be a continuing and growing problem.
Hampton said hunters each year on average kill only 5 percent of the approved quota.
“So 1,100 licenses do not equal 1,100 bears,” Hampton said. “But we want to shift the killing of bears to sportsmen rather than wildlife officers or local law enforcement agencies.”
That “shift” is the way it should be. As I have said for many years, it makes little sense to spend tax dollars for government officials to kill animals when sportsmen are willing to purchase licenses to do the job.
There is another concept I’d like to address.
We need to quit tip-toeing around our sport as if we’re ashamed of it.
Excerpt:
“What I’m afraid they’re trying to do is hunt their way out of this,” said Wendy Keefover-Ring of WildEarth Guardians.
So what!?
Look at the math.
DOW is looking at an increase of 470 bear tags for that area. Hunter success averages about 5 percent. That translates to an additional hunter harvest of 23.5 bears.
Hmmmm; how many bruins did DOW kill last year?
20.
This proposed increase is not overzealous and sportsmen can assist in managing bear numbers and in making their home turf safer for themselves and the general public.
Hunt their way out?
Sounds good to me…
