http://www.idahostatesman.com/...rticle210861274.html



Idaho approves first grizzly bear hunting season in more than 40 years.
BY ROCKY BARKER

rbarker@idahostatesman.com


May 10, 2018 12:22 PM

Updated 45 minutes ago

One lucky Idaho hunter would draw a permit to shoot one grizzly bear in eastern Idaho under a hunting season approved Thursday by the Idaho Fish and Game Commission.

The hunt would run from Sept. 1 through Nov. 15 and the hunter who wins the draw for a residents-only controlled hunting tag won't be able to use bait or hound hunting to bag his "once in a lifetime" trophy.

Hunters can apply from June 15 through July 15. Fish and Game officials want hunters to know the hunt could get delayed or called off if grizzly advocates go to court to stop the hunt.

Fish and Game would reimburse the cost of the tag, $166.75,if that happens. But they would keep the application fee of $16.75



The question many hunters who attended public meetings on the grizzly hunt proposal and commented in Idaho and Wyoming had was will non-hunters be able to apply for the tag too? The relatively low cost would be an attractive way to make their point.

"Anybody who has a resident hunting license can apply,"said Roger Phillips. a spokesman for Fish and Game.

And they are already lining up in opposition.

“Idaho bowed to the wishes of trophy hunters who just want to gun down these magnificent grizzlies to mount a head on their walls,”said Andrea Santarsiere, a senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity of Victor. “This is a sad day for the many state residents who value our native wildlife and the critical role it plays in keeping wild lands in balance.”

"The proposal attracted more than 900 comments to Fish and Game’s website during the public comment period in April and earlier this month.

" Comments greatly varied, but the majority favored moving forward with a grizzly hunt," said Phillips.

Shooting one bear at this point is not a threat to the population in the Greater

Yellowstone Ecosystem that includes Idaho, Wyoming and Montana. When I arrived in 1985 there were no more than 200.

Today the population has grown to an estimated 718 bears. Biologists for the federal government and the three states saw the population grow steadily from 4.2 percent to 7.6 percent annually from 1983 to 2002.

But the growth slowed down after 2002 to under 2.2 percent annually which biologists say to because the population in the core habitat in and around Yellowstone is at or near carrying capacity.

This hunting season will only be allowed in eastern Idaho where grizzly bears we removed from the threatened species list in July of2017. Idaho still has grizzly bears up north in the Selkirk Mountains and the Cabinet-Yaaks near Sandpoint and Bonners Ferry. They remain protected as endangered, and the hunting proposal would not change that.

“The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem grizzly bear population has been delisted from the Endangered Species Act, and it is being managed by the Conservation Strategy and a Memorandum of Agreement agreed upon by the three states and federal agency partners.." said Toby Boudreau, Fish and Game assistant wildlife bureau chief. " Hunting is an important part of conservation and consistent with those agreements.”

Meanwhile, British Columbia, announced in December 2017 that it was ending grizzly hunting. The province has 15,000 grizzlies.

Wyoming is considering allowing up to 24 grizzlies to be harvested in their first season in more than 40 years. Montana decided against opening a hunt this soon.

Good news

Well, Ray Atkinson time to dust off them bear rifles and sharpen them skinning knives there's a bear hunt about to happen !!!

The bear population is increasing by 15 bears per year.

What is ridicules is only allowing 1 bear to be taken.

They are already 118 bears over population goals.

A 1 bear limit is a feeble attempt to appease hunters while kissing ass of the anti's.

https://www.sheridanmedia.com/...ear-hunt-number99602



Wyoming reduces proposed grizzly bear hunt number


By The Associated Press on Fri 05/11/2018 05:54am
Posted in AP Wyoming


CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Wyoming has cut back slightly on its proposal for hunting grizzly bears in the state, reducing the number of female grizzly bears that can be hunted from two to one but still allowing for 10 male bears to be taken.

Chief Game Warden Brian Nesvik says the decision to cut back on the number of female bears that can be hunted is to ensure that the first grizzly hunt in the state in over 40 years is a conservative one.

However, a representative of a conservation group that opposes grizzly bear hunting says Wyoming's proposed hunt is still aggressive and threatens continued recovery of the bears.

The state Game and Fish Commission will consider the grizzly bear hunting regulations when it meets May 23 in Lander.

https://wgfd.wyo.gov/WGFD/medi..._Draft-5-8-18-10.pdf


Draft Wyoming Grizzly Bear Regulations.

Any numbers on problem bears being killed by Ranges?

Hunters are being replaced by predators slowly but surely.more and more .
I think we will see most hunting except deer being ended in 20 years or less .
You can look at wild sheep predators replaced hunters pretty quick.Now sheep hunts are down to almost both k ng.in the lower 48 and predators wipe out a large percentage of the lambs every year.
Each lamb has about 50 predators plus cars so the numbers don't grow so less hunts are available .
Then after so many.years most people forget about sheep hunting because it's too hard to draw a tag or
Way to expensive .Moose in.the lower 48 is about the same way except main and Montana but they are a park animal and predators wipe out the calves and their numbers decrease but hunters get blamed then less moose rage .It goes on and on will just get worse .I took kids hunting and forgot about trophy hunting.
Because we are an aging group .Kids and women are what's the future of hunting .The govt protects way too many.predators .They are less hassle to fg and they don't Care about us we last on fg list even though we give them.the most money .We lost 2.5 million hunters during.oboma hell time .We gotta save hunting.or lose it forever !

Amazing how dumb the liberal ajenda is and it's all based on the bambi syndrome...Have they not heard of dwarfism and inbreeding!

the removal of old bulls is the making of a healthy herd in any species including domestic animals as well..

maybe we should do that with humans by means of casteration not trophy hunting, and rid outselves of weak stupid liberal mindless idiots whos plan would in fact destroy a herd of anything and a common practice in ranching for that matter, Horses, sheep, goats, cattle and whatever.....

Oh well, just a bit of humor on the subject..