*****Alberta Grizzly hunt suspended*****

Not surprising at all. I mentioned in a previous post that they were doing the DNA sampling. I don't know if this is as a result of a petition to the courts or if the government of Alberta saw the writing on the wall and did it themselves, but......................

This is exactly the way the anti's attack now and there have been cases elsewhere that have been successful. When the government doesn't have any accurate sensus in place on a given species...they zero in on that and get a court order to hault the hunt until the ministry of natural resources/fish and wildlife or what ever it is called locally, produces the goods to show that the population is being managed for a sustainable harvest and not in any danger.

We are going to see more of this boys and girls.
 
If they REALLY want to know whats happening to the bears perhaps they should look to the yuppies. Bear habitat lost due to yuppification. Bears re-located unsuccesfully due to yuppie encroachement. Bears destroyed due to yuppie concerns and or contact.
 
svt-40 said:
Pardon my ignorance, but to an uneducated ear it sounds like MNR is going to do a blood test of every bear. What is this all about?
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This would be extremely difficult as there isn't any imperical data on actual bear numbers. This simply a case of the sutpid leading the spineless.
 
That's what I thought - they neede DNA data to figure out how many bears they had, but to collect DNA they'd have to know each one's address and phone # LOL
 
svt-40................they are using hair samples. What they do, and this is an over simplification, is put out bait sites to attract the bears and then they use some barbed wires strands (or something similar) around the sites to catch hair off of the bears that pass over or under the wire. They do the DNA analysis off of the hair samples.

Biologists developed this method a number of years ago while doing population studies on grizzlies in BC and I believe a marten study in Montana or something like that.

It is impossible to do an actual count on bears by sight due to the terrain, so this is the latest and greatest method for coming up with population densities.
 
dumb ass fockers..... everywhere bear populations are INCREASING !! ..... just a matter of time before overpopulation will lead to more bears destroyed because of encroachment of yuppies.
 
svt-40 I don't agree with the ban and I am with you, they could have carried on with the spring hunts while they completed the sensus, but..............this is just more bear politics.

The harvest rate in Alberta under the draw system has always been low. But, as a former Albertan....I have seen this coming for about 10 years. It was just a matter of time.

Calgary and Edmonton are growing like crazy and the populations of those two cities are still urban thinkers....even if they are in Alberta. The mountains are filled with skiers, mountain bikers, trekkers, bird watchers, etc.........they do not like hunters, least of all guys that want to kill grizzlies........hell they didn't even like us riding our horses on the trails!
 
Yes and the seasons were designed to concentrate the hunting when the most likely bears to be killed were males. If memory serves me right the annual hunter harvest was usually around 12 to 14 bears.
 
The way they do bear counts around here is sort of a bull#### deal. Let's say they dart 10 bears out of the population, and tag them. Then they sally forth and dart another 10, then another 10. They add up the number of times that the same bears are darted, do a mathematical calculation, and end up with a wild ass guess as to what the population is. I suppose some statistician can argue that it's accurate means of measuring a population, but I don't buy it - there's too many variables which effect the data. Perhaps it would work in the mountains where bears are more territorial.

Anyhow lets say that in Alberta there are 1000 grizzlies. By my figuring, that means that an annual harvest of 333 bears (30%) will keep the birth rate high, and the population stable. Of coarse you would have to factor in natural mortality, and Alberta bears being harvested in B.C., so perhaps Alberta hunters could harvest 200. If one in 4 hunters was successful that means you could sell 800 licences.
 
I've been racking my brain trying to remember where the 30% I quoted came from, but I recall that 30% mortality kept birth rates as high as they could be expected to go, yet the mortality rate was not so high as to effect the strength of the base population....sort of like winning a million dollars but only spending the interest. Now whether or not a game departments work that 30% into the allowable annual harvest, or whether or not they use hunting as an effective management tool is another question. One of the biggest arguments we have against the anti's is that hunting is a valuable game management tool, and without hunting the game population drops. It appears that in the case of the Ontario black bear hunt and now the Alberta Grizzly hunt that political interference plays a larger role than does good game management. Of coarse Manitoba is little better, in that we are not allowed to harvest the polar bears we actually have tags for, a policy which has more to do with Coke adds than it does with the welfare of the bear population.

BTW - Bambi is going to be replaced by a Coke swilling polar bear once they figure out a name for him. I'm going with "Toothless" myself.
 
I do support the suspension, (and I hunt bears, and have a priority of 6 for Grizzly) as I believe they have based it on the science, not the ravings of the anti hunters. They have 2 years worth of DNA census already. Also the 30 tags issued in the northern part of the province last year had 0% success. Maybe a fluke...maybe not. The Foothills Model Forest research shows bear mortality is directly proportional to proximity to roads, and with oilfield roads springing up all over the bush, I think it is precautionary to suspend the hunt until better info is known.

Not happy about it of course, but if decisions are made based on science instead of political pressure, I will support them.
 
Kev, you brought up a good point on the access. Alberta is booming, and miles and miles of lease roads are punched every year.

I understand this will NOT apply to natives...go figure!...:mad:
 
"The mountains are filled with skiers, mountain bikers, trekkers, bird watchers, etc.........they do not like hunters, least of all guys that want to kill grizzlies........hell they didn't even like us riding our horses on the trails!"

sweeping generalization here as an avid skier i can tell you that the pheasants forever/trout unlimited/ducks unlimited/RMEF dinners/auctions are FILLED with skiers, these are the guys that have tons of disposable income and put their money where their mouths are per se.

as for horses, grew up on them the family is very active in various forms of horse sport and in AB anyways the horse rider has right of way on all trails that are open and are still allowed to ride in most of the national parks(unlike mountain bikes)

last year there were 73 grizzly permits issued with a harvest of around 12 or 13, i couldn't tell you haow many were killed by trains/cars or for eating hikers, but in this case the GVMT took the path of least resistance for sure...
 
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Donny.............you are taking the comment literally as opposed to the intent of what I was trying to get across..............and sorry but I have ridden my horses all over in Alberta...........lived there a long time.........and had those experiences.

My point is as the population grows, which Alberta's is doing, the conflicts increase.........and if you don't think that is true........well then there is no point in my wasting any more time on here typing. The same thing has been happened in many parts of BC. Conflict among user groups. I have been in the tourism industry for 30 years and I am not making this stuff up.

Kev...........I lived 'up north' and drew a tag once in 525. Grizzly hunting in the muskeg country is far more difficult than in the mountains. Also, with the early start and end dates that they have purposely used, there are many times when you can't access the areas to hunt. They year I drew a grizzly tag I couldn't get into the zone until the season had already closed. The snow was too deep and regulations prohibit the use of snowmobiles.

The low kill rate in the boreal forest areas is normal. I have seen lots of grizzlies up there though...but usually after the spring season has closed and in the fall when there is no season.
 
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