Re: BlackBears each spring
"There is no doubt that opportunistic omnivores like bears will eat a fawn, that’s true, but on the other hand, I have seen does with young fawns unmolested in bear-rich areas too."
and
"there are MANY areas on the Island that the bears simply do not dine on salmon"
I've heard a couple things about bears and ungulates. I don't know if they're true or not, but they're interesting.
First was a comment by Val Geist, who said "wolves knock down populations, and bears keep them down".
Another thing I heard (and Nog's comment reminded me of it) was that while bears can be very hard on fawns and calves, as science has demonstrated more than once, it may not be all bears. It may instead be bears that have become specialists in that kind of predation. I can't find the study, but anyway, it involved something along the lines of departing from the "shoot a bunch of bears in the fall to save fawns the next spring" to "shoot the right bears if you want to increase fawn survival".
In case anyone thinks I'm trying to make a sneaky case for saving bears by saying only some of them are to blame, let me add....bear meat is good, but once you start rendering the fat and using it for boots and leather and cooking you'll be doubly motivated to pop a black or two. Yeah, they're greasy, but it's worth it. The rugs feel nice at the bedside on a winter morning too.
Wish me luck - I'm going to try to fill a tag shortly!
Rob Chipman
"The idea of wilderness needs no defense, it only needs defenders" - Ed Abbey
"Grown men do not need leaders" - also Ed Abbey