BC Grizzly Hunts over except for the First Nation people!

Suther said:
I'm not surprised. We knew they didn't care about the science. They only cared about public opinion on the matter. An the public opinion is negative - one poll even had the majority of hunters (58% or something like that) against the hunt.

Furthermore, it WAS a campaign promise. People like to complain about the government not listening to the people, then when they do listen to the people someone else is upset they're not listening to the science... Well you can only have one or the other in many cases...

I feel sorry for the people impacted by this. I'll never get a grizzly skull for my collection, but that's nothing compared to the people who are losing their jobs (guides ect) or some of their best clients (transportation services ect)

Everyone who's thinking that grizzlies will overrun bc though... Less than 300 bears are taken yearly. Considering the population is estimated at 15000, that's a tiny number of bears, certainly not enough to make a noticeable difference in the short term. Also, big old males (the ones trophy hunters specifically target) are a major hazard to cubs, so it's actually possible that numbers will decrease due to increased cub mortality.
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One thing I have noticed in Alberta where the grizzly hunt has been closed for quite some time... once these apex predators are no longer hunted, they loose all fear of people, and they can terrorize areas with no consequences.
 
45ACPKING said:
yes..... I'm pissed for the same reasons.
I also think it's a very poor decision to not close it for "everyone" if they are going to close it at all. I am quite vocal in my support of aboriginal right and title but in this case I believe the government is screwing up big time. Decisions like this only serve to cause problems for everyone

When it comes to restricting or closing a harvesting season on a plant, animal or sea life , and it IS actually made for true conservation reasons.... even as an aboriginal person , I believe it should be closed or restricted for all. It goes beyond "rights" when it is done for the sake of conservation.
But this grizzly bear thing.... it's not conservation at all it's just a bunch of dumb people playing politics with our wildlife.
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Thats the thing though. Nobody is claiming its for conservation are they? They are claiming it is no longer socially acceptable - and honestly, if the poll results being spouted by them are to be trusted they are right.

That said, people who have no interest and no idea shouldn't be making the rules. Because the people of BC know nothing about true conservation and wildlife management (all they know is they don't like anything being killed unless its on the grocery store shelf), they should leave things like wildlife management to professionals. It should be done from a scientific perspective, not a populist perspective. Decisions such as what should be huntable should be made by educated individuals specializing in the field, not bus drivers and receptionists that don't know a damn thing about it and just act on feelings.

I can't help but reiterate that it was an election promise though. People ##### about the government not listening, well this time they are listening, still people are upset. Considering the unstable nature of the current government, I am not the least bit surprised they did this - it gives them a concrete thing to point to in the next election to say look, we listened, you said you wanted this done and we did it. Vote for us again!

Can anyone confirm the details of the Native hunt? Is it only allowed on traditional lands?
 
conor_90 said:
Lol wut? What urban areas are grizzlies going to be marauding?

But yes this is very, very stupid.
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We get them downtown Squamish often. They get relocated, they come back, and then eventually they need to be put down. We often have CO alerts about aggressive grizz in the area - one last year was chasing ATV's and even the COs that responded because it was eating a black bear.

One example from a quick search:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...dies-after-3-attempts-at-relocation-1.2763233
 
Grizzlies have very little value to anyone now. Who will pay even $1K to travel outside of the Bela Coola area to see them? No $90 tags, a week of vacation, 1000KM of travel to maybe get one. They will be shot and dumped if they are a problem. The COs down south will use our tax $ to relocate them, then quietly shoot them.
 
Plus the commies can't afford to piss the Indians off as they need their support stopping Alberta's evil oil to flow to the coast.
 
Reeferman said:
Plus the commies can't afford to piss the Indians off as they need their support stopping Alberta's evil oil to flow to the coast.
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They just approved the Site C dam project. So they're not that against pissing off the natives it would seem... Besides, they have plenty of support against the pipeline, its widely unpopular in the big cities where the overwhelming majority of the population lives (you know, the folks who can make it look like 75% or more of BC people want to end the grizz hunt?)


emerson said:
Grizzlies have very little value to anyone now. Who will pay even $1K to travel outside of the Bela Coola area to see them? No $90 tags, a week of vacation, 1000KM of travel to maybe get one. They will be shot and dumped if they are a problem. The COs down south will use our tax $ to relocate them, then quietly shoot them.
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Thats not true. There is a whole industry built around yuppie city folk driving all over the place trying to take pictures of them - "eco tourists" out number hunters by a large margin in the great bear rain forest. It annoys me to think about the ecological footprint of transporting them all, the garbage potential, the potential impact on the wildlife from increased interaction with humans, in light of the bear hunt being banned...
 
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Not one comes here to PG to watch grizzlies. Sure, take a few pics along the highway while blocking traffic, but no revenue. My understanding of the "Great bear etc" are there not many roads. Like I said Bela Coola and repurposed dive/whale watching boats on the island.
 
I think these bear viewing outfits are going to do more harm than good in the long run.Over the generations bears are going to get more and more used to people and the boats,sooner or later there is going to be an incident.
The ban was put in place based purely on emotion.I am not a biologist but I seen more grizzlies in the past few years than I have ever before,even in areas where most people would not think they are,2 different sows with 3 cubs each just past the old toll booth on the coq.
 
Suther said:
I'm not surprised. We knew they didn't care about the science. They only cared about public opinion on the matter. An the public opinion is negative - one poll even had the majority of hunters (58% or something like that) against the hunt.

Furthermore, it WAS a campaign promise. People like to complain about the government not listening to the people, then when they do listen to the people someone else is upset they're not listening to the science... Well you can only have one or the other in many cases...

I feel sorry for the people impacted by this. I'll never get a grizzly skull for my collection, but that's nothing compared to the people who are losing their jobs (guides ect) or some of their best clients (transportation services ect)

Everyone who's thinking that grizzlies will overrun bc though... Less than 300 bears are taken yearly. Considering the population is estimated at 15000, that's a tiny number of bears, certainly not enough to make a noticeable difference in the short term. Also, big old males (the ones trophy hunters specifically target) are a major hazard to cubs, so it's actually possible that numbers will decrease due to increased cub mortality.
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But then the stinking commies can use the declining numbers to blame us for something else on our slide into the new dark ages.
 
Zedbra said:
We get them downtown Squamish often. They get relocated, they come back, and then eventually they need to be put down. We often have CO alerts about aggressive grizz in the area - one last year was chasing ATV's and even the COs that responded because it was eating a black bear.

One example from a quick search:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...dies-after-3-attempts-at-relocation-1.2763233
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I live somewhere with a similar problem I don't see any dead Australians yet
 
It will be interesting 5 years down the road if it is true that the old boars kill off the cubs to bring the sow back in heat. Then the population crashes because of snowflake intervention.
Never worry about the grizzly killing to many cows in BC and AB the ranchers have been dealing with them the same way for years.
I would like the grizzly to be put on the same tag system as a black bear. I wouldn't mind shooting a grizzly mountain bear for the meat. I hear it is quite tasty.
 
Thin edge of the wedge. Would have been easy enough to require meat be salvaged but it doesn't fit the ideals. For any hunter that even considers this ok maybe think about all other game animals. Moose for example are routinely hunted for their trophy status and of course the meat is salvaged, but take this "puplic acceptance" into account and it's easy to see how we are on the dismal path to losing all our opportunities. Very sad.
 
350 Mag said:
Get used to MORE of this right across the country....

Game populations are under pressure everywhere you go....

I can see a day in the future when only 1st Nations will be allowed to hunt.
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Hunting license sales make up a significant source of revenue for provincial resource ministries. Banning grizzly hunting is a calculated manoeuvre that impacts a limited number of license buyers and can more than be made up for by jacking up fees elsewhere.

Gov'ts always seek out soft targets with minimal cash and/or voting value.

Patrick
 
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