State wildlife officials trying to revive Southwest Alaska caribou killed almost 100 brown bears in less than a month

Mulchatna caribou (Alaska Department of Fish and Game)Department of Fish and Game employees killed nearly 100 brown bears in less than a month in a …

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https://craigmedred.news/2023/06/16/100-dead-bears/


100 dead bears
BY CRAIGMEDRED ON JUNE 16, 2023 •



How many is too many?
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) have joined the list of environmental groups outraged by the state of Alaska’s execution of just shy of 100 bears and a handful of wolves that once roamed a remote area about the size of Rhode Island.

The group this week dispatched a media release saying it has urged Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland to cut off federal funding to states like Alaska “engaged in excessive predator control.”

Calling the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s aerial predator shoot this spring “both a biological black eye and a blatant misuse of federal conservation funding,” PEER said Haaland should block the transfer of federal Pittman-Roberston Act funds that annually cover just under 70 percent of the budget for Fish and Game’s Division of Wildlife Conservation.

PEER last year spearheaded a group of environmental organizations charging Alaska “illegally diverts millions of dollars in federal wildlife conservation aid to support prohibited predator control that dispatches hundreds of wolves and bears each year to increase the number of moose and caribou.”

This is a complaint rich with ironies considering the complicated nature of ecosystem management in Southwest Alaska and the source of the federal funds.

The Pittman-Robertson program is funded by a federal excise tax that adds 11 percent to the wholesale price of long guns and ammunition and 10 percent to the price of handguns.

Despite Alaska’s high rate of gun ownership, the state’s small population ensures firearms sales in the 49th state provide virtually none of the P-R funding.

But because of the formula used for distributing the funds, which is weighted toward a state’s size and number of resident hunters, Alaska annually gets the biggest chunk of the federal money.

Other people’s money
For fiscal year 2022, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Alaska was awarded approximately $2.25 million in P-R funds for hunter education, the same amount as was given the nation’s two smallest states – Rhode Island and Delaware.

Meanwhile, states with large numbers of shooters enrolled in hunter education programs – such as Texas and Michigan, and even California and Washington state – were awarded nearly three times as much for firearm education.

When it came to the big pool of “wildlife funds,” however, Alaska and Texas each collected $44.1 million with other states trailing far behind.

On a percentage basis, Alaska, which is home to about 0.22 percent of the U.S. population, collected more than 4 percent of the total P-R funds distributed to the 50 states.

And if anyone is unhappy about how that money is being spent, it should be shooters, and especially hunters, who live in the 49 states other than Alaska, given that they are pretty much guaranteed to get nothing out of the state’s predator control program in Southwest Alaska.

The reason for this is tied to a federal law that makes the management of hunting different in Alaska than all the other states.

Alaska is governed by a federally mandated “subsistence preference” for fish and wildlife harvests that discriminates between rural Alaska hunters, urban Alaska hunters and non-resident hunters with the latter the first to be denied hunting opportunities when the supply of live wildlife falls short of the demand for dead wildlife.

Most of the hunting in Southwest Alaska is already restricted to rural subsistence hunters, who depend heavily on the meat of caribou and moose to feed their families, and the reason for the so-called “predator control,” id that their demand for meat animals already exceeds the supply even though there are fewer than 10,000 people sharing the Mulchatna caribou range with the Mulchatna caribou.

The local view of the predator kill was pretty well summed up by Gary Nielsen, a resident of Kokhanok, a village of about 160 people on the south shore of Lake Iliamna that can only be reached by small plane or by boat across the 22-mile wide and windswept lake from the community of Iliamna, population 35, where the state maintains a paved, jet-capable airport that is a relic of World War II.

While Alaska’s largest newspaper, which caters to an urban audience in Anchorage, was reporting “wildlife advocates” upset about the “number of brown bears killed…given findings last year by state biologists showing limited food supply and disease play a larger role in overall Mulchatna herd declines than predators,” Nielsen was observing that local residents had a far different view.

“They didn’t shoot enough,” he texted. “Not only not enough but they were too far north.”

I still don't know why people who hate bears choose to live in Alaska.

quote:

Originally posted by chuck375:
I still don't know why people who hate bears choose to live in Alaska.

Chuck, you haven't a clue.

Hate has nothing to do with it, but you'll not find many rural Alaskans that feel the same lust for bears that you urban lower 48 folks do.

I live in the area mentioned, I like bears, but the truth is, bears break into and ruin cars, cabins, smokehouses, airplanes, garbage cans, greenhouses and bird feeders.

Bears eat snowmobile seats, subsistence fish and nets, the occasional and rare outdoorsman and large capacity fuel bladders.

Bears are capricious, arbitrary, opportunistic and I think practical jokers.

Nothing is less entertaining than a bear in moose camp, a bear in your cabin or in your skiff. My skiff gas cans were bought for the sole purpose of supplying gasoline for my skiff, not as a bear chew toy.

No, I've never had a real problem with a bear, I have brains, and as I've said other places, I know how to use my brains to avoid bear problems. Yes I did once have a bear steal an entire moose from me, but I did take the moose back with no problem because I used my brain.

The death of 100 bears in an area that has a two bear per hunter per year limit for more than a decade ain't much of a loss. The kill area is surrounded by bears in abundance and will refill quickly. A salmon stream in this area devoid of bears will be quickly utilized.

I wouldn't know if this cull will be effective or not, but I can tell you with authority that the village residents in the Mulchatna Caribou Herd area care nothing for your umbrage.

Caribou were important, were valued and now are gone. If the predator cull results in the survival of two Caribou calves the local Alaskans will be appreciative, Coloradans don't get a vote.

Scott-Have been wondering why the ADFG hasn't taken a similar approach further down the AK Peninsula. It seems to me that the caribou down by Pilot Point, Cinder, Heiden, Moller, etc. are at the lowest numbers I have seen in the the last 15 years. Bears everywhere. Is it because it is all federal? Native corp? Locals tell me it is all about calf predation.

quote:

Originally posted by Scott King:

quote:

Originally posted by chuck375:
I still don't know why people who hate bears choose to live in Alaska.

Chuck, you haven't a clue.

Hate has nothing to do with it, but you'll not find many rural Alaskans that feel the same lust for bears that you urban lower 48 folks do.

I live in the area mentioned, I like bears, but the truth is, bears break into and ruin cars, cabins, smokehouses, airplanes, garbage cans, greenhouses and bird feeders.

Bears eat snowmobile seats, subsistence fish and nets, the occasional and rare outdoorsman and large capacity fuel bladders.

Bears are capricious, arbitrary, opportunistic and I think practical jokers.

Nothing is less entertaining than a bear in moose camp, a bear in your cabin or in your skiff. My skiff gas cans were bought for the sole purpose of supplying gasoline for my skiff, not as a bear chew toy.

No, I've never had a real problem with a bear, I have brains, and as I've said other places, I know how to use my brains to avoid bear problems. Yes I did once have a bear steal an entire moose from me, but I did take the moose back with no problem because I used my brain.

The death of 100 bears in an area that has a two bear per hunter per year limit for more than a decade ain't much of a loss. The kill area is surrounded by bears in abundance and will refill quickly. A salmon stream in this area devoid of bears will be quickly utilized.

I wouldn't know if this cull will be effective or not, but I can tell you with authority that the village residents in the Mulchatna Caribou Herd area care nothing for your umbrage.

Caribou were important, were valued and now are gone. If the predator cull results in the survival of two Caribou calves the local Alaskans will be appreciative, Coloradans don't get a vote.

I have a clue. I lived on a ranch for two years that borders Yellowstone Park from 1971 to 1972. I became the designated problem bear control hunter and killed 7 bears over that period. I later found out no one wanted the job lol. I was in my very early 20s. Grizzlies got relocated a problem black bear that wouldn't get the hint had a tag issued to the ranch. I also was an assistant guide in the Bob Marshall during that period, we got one grizzly tag a year. I had to finish one up close and personal that a client had wounded with my cannon of a 270 that my son now owns. I realize grizzlies are dangerous, they are also beautiful animals that make being out in the wild something special. I don't have a problem with them being thinned but I wish it was done selectively not with the "caribous good bears bad moronic mentality". You chose to live in a beautiful place where there are lots of bears. I envy you. They were there before you were. They aren't your property even if they are on it. There's lots of places in the country where there are no grizzlies. I wish we had them in Colorado.

quote:

Originally posted by crane:
Scott-Have been wondering why the ADFG hasn't taken a similar approach further down the AK Peninsula. It seems to me that the caribou down by Pilot Point, Cinder, Heiden, Moller, etc. are at the lowest numbers I have seen in the the last 15 years. Bears everywhere. Is it because it is all federal? Native corp? Locals tell me it is all about calf predation.

I don't know. I think the feds have really different ideas from the state regarding something like culling and of course the Peninsula is a much better known trophy area for big bears. I'd guess that if you ran around Kodiak Island or the Alaska Peninsula culling big bears you'd be less popular.

As I mentioned above, our limit locally has been two per hunter per year most of the rest of the state is one bear every four years. "Get rid of em" is a popular idea, right or wrong besides the point.

Also as I said above, I like bears. I have them here at the house daily and if it's while we're still awake, we all rush to the window for a glimpse. Neato.

The bear vacuum will be quickly refilled. The salmon are streaming back in by the millions and new bears will come for miles to enjoy.

quote:

Originally posted by chuck375:
I have a clue. I lived on a ranch for two years that borders Yellowstone Park from 1971 to 1972. I became the designated problem bear control hunter and killed 7 bears over that period. I later found out no one wanted the job lol. I was in my very early 20s. Grizzlies got relocated a problem black bear that wouldn't get the hint had a tag issued to the ranch. I also was an assistant guide in the Bob Marshall during that period, we got one grizzly tag a year. I had to finish one up close and personal that a client had wounded with my cannon of a 270 that my son now owns. I realize grizzlies are dangerous, they are also beautiful animals that make being out in the wild something special. I don't have a problem with them being thinned but I wish it was done selectively not with the "caribous good bears bad moronic mentality". You chose to live in a beautiful place where there are lots of bears. I envy you. They were there before you were. They aren't your property even if they are on it. There's lots of places in the country where there are no grizzlies. I wish we had them in Colorado.

Two years in the 1970's?

Sort of why Coloradans don't get a vote.

Blackbears where I live. I have to shoot an average of 4 a year plus friends take a couple more on my farm while sitting for them. I have no animosity towards them at all. There are just to many and very destructive to crops, extremely wasteful.
I find a rainy evening is perfect for hunting bears in the 12-14' corn. The rain dampens sound and scent. usually shot at 12-15'. Nobody wants to go with me to shoot one .

quote:

There are just to many and very destructive to crops, extremely wasteful.
I find a rainy evening is perfect for hunting bears in the 12-14' corn.

The amount of damage bears do in a corn field is amazing.

They destroy far more then they eat.

quote:

Originally posted by p dog shooter:

quote:

There are just to many and very destructive to crops, extremely wasteful.
I find a rainy evening is perfect for hunting bears in the 12-14' corn.

The amount of damage bears do in a corn field is amazing.

They destroy far more then they eat.

There’s not a lot of corn fields in Alaska

Organization of this subject can screw up an anvil with a powder puff, they are liberal, educated to the point they ate the covers off their books and many are cuddly and love the great outdoors and never forget the road to the destruction of wildlife is paved with good intention by cuddly idiots...Lord save the bear, but any predator that
is said to eats ones children has little chance of survival in modern society I suppose...

That said is my opinion only and Im not in a position to do much about it other than post my opine on the internet..