Re: BCWF Position on Cancellation of Trophy Grizzly Bear Hunt
Originally Posted by
Lionhill
It would be great to have some talking points about the Grizzly bear hunt to share with non hunters.
How many bears vs harvested? Real world numbers, not estimates.
If the bears were not harvested (shot by rifle or bow), what is the natural attrition on senior bears (assuming hunters are going after bigger, older bears)?
How much foreign money comes to BC for the bear hunt, and stays with Government for (conservation) purposes to protect the resource?
How much of a loss financially to BC will this cost? I know that there is some BS stat that says bear watching brings 10X the fees that hunting does, but I just can't believe that - when you hear what some bear hunts cost the US hunters.
It would be great to have this info sooner than later.
Thanks
There are on average 250 bears killed annually by hunters. 80 from guides and 170 from resident hunters. We do not have numbers of FN harvest because they don't have to manditory report...
Around 40-70 are killed annually by trains, cars and conservation officers
Harvest rates remain constant over the past 30 years when comparing number of males harvested vs number of females harvested. This is a very good indicator of the health of the population because: As bears age, and more males are targeted, then eventually there should be less mature male bears, which should lead to more elderly female bears being harvested. This does not happen though, more male bears continue to be harvested which means that their numbers relative to harvest rates are in balance and the population is at the very least holding steady.
Grizzly bear hunting generates around $2.5M-3M annually between resident and non resident hunters. It is hard to determine the actual amount generated from resident hunters as only successfull hunts are recorded anywhere.
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