Golddust
06-14-2017, 04:36 PM
In November I saw some media reports about this, now its resurfaced today. Vice wrote this report: https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/the-fight-to-end-grizzly-bear-trophy-hunting-is-heating-up-in-bc I’d like to start with addressing the Grizzly Bear Foundation and their argument against “trophy hunting” . I’d then like to discuss “trophy hunting”, and the positive effects of hunting “trophy” sized grizzlies.
The Grizzly Bear Foundation, contrary to what Vice makes it out to sound like, is not a government organization but a charitable entity. It employs no biologists and it appears that it skews the hunting data related to Grizzly Bear hunts. Essentially, the Grizzly Bear Foundation is an organization of grizzly bear lovers that enjoy the idea of bears in the woods and like watching videos and seeing pictures of the bears.
Trophy hunting:
“Trophy hunting” is a polarizing word which is perceived by the public today as simply shooting the largest member of the species, taking its head/hide as a trophy, and using that as bragging rights. When you hear the word “trophy hunting” you thing of Cecil the lion, poaching, and disrespect towards animals. In reality, however, “trophy hunting” is much more than this. Shooting the largest member of a species is the only overlapping idea when talking about trophy hunting. When talking about grizzlies and shooting a “trophy” bear you are generally talking about harvesting a large mature boar (male). The “trophy” is subjective, as for some any mature boar grizzly is a trophy, while other more experienced hunters may only be satisfied with a specific length or weight of a bear. Regardless, these animals are immensely intelligent, covering vast expanses of land which comprise their home range, and are very rare to encounter. Anecdotally, I’ve spend 100s of hours in the woods and while I’ve seen countless droppings and prints, I’ve never actually seen one of these giant brown ghosts. The “trophy” aspect when hunting mature grizzlies reflects the difficulty in not only encountering one of these beasts in the wild, but also in being able to put together the clues (their rubs, scrapes, scat, and prints) to locate a bear of appropriate maturity and take one.
While killing these old mature boars is incredibly difficult; it is equally important. Documentaries, movies, and TV shows portray these animals as protectors of the forest and happy, passive herbivorous creatures. Yes, they do consume a large amount of their diet as vegetation but they are also hunters that stalk and ambush prey; they are killing machines as well. In a study conducted by Bortje et al. (1988) they found “that each adult male grizzly killed 3 adult moose annually, each female without cub(s) killed 1 adult moose every 2 years and 1 adult caribou ( Rangifer tarandus ) annually, and each adult bear killed at least 5.4 moose calves annually”. It can be estimated that they kill a similar number of elk calves and it is my estimate that they kill even more deer fawns annually. They are giants which need to consume up to 58,000 calories a day to prepare for hibernation. As I mentioned, a substantial amount of their caloric intake does come from vegetation and even scavenging protein but they still predate upon moose, elk, caribou, mountain goat, whitetail deer, mule deer, black bears, and a number of other mammalian species. By reducing the numbers of these large, mature boars (which do the majority of the predation) you are not only conserving grizzly bear numbers by reducing the number of cubs that are killed during infanticide, but you are assisting in the conservation of the other species in which grizzlies prey upon. Infanticide is the killing of babies of their own species, usually for reproductive purposes. With grizzlies mature male bears will kill a female’s cubs so that she will come into heat during the breading season. They may eat the cubs or they may not. The primary reason for killing the cub is to force the females into heat so that they may be bread during the breading season. By killing one “trophy bear” you are also saving countless cubs from infanticide. Killing these large mature boars also ensures that you are not killing sows. To reach reproductive maturity a grizzly must survive for 3 years. Killing a sow kills her cubs and prevents her from having any further litters. A sow may have up to 10 cubs over the course of her lifetime; by killing a young sow you are essentially killing 11 bears. However, when shooting a large mature boar, which is the goal of “trophy hunting” you are killing only 1 bear. In killing this 1 bear you are saving the lives of countless other animals.
Once the bear is shot BC requires a compulsory inspection upon all grizzlies. This means that the bear is sent to a grizzly biologist for inspection. This inspection provides information on the bears age, its diet, how it dealt with different seasons and a number of other important statistics for the biologists. With this information as well as the statistics that they receive form their own methods of monitoring the populations of bears the biologists come together with the government and conservation officers and determine how many bears they can issue tags for next year (a tag is a license to shoot an animal). Please consider these biologists are lovers of the bears themselves and have dedicated their lives to the preservation of the species; they want to see the bears survive and thrive. When deciding on how many tags to issue they create a maximum for both resident and foreign hunters and if this maximum is taken the bear population will continue to increase based on the populations trend over the last few years. I mentioned earlier that the Grizzly Bear Foundation said that there are 300 grizzlies killed annually by hunters in BC. From the data that I gathered from a report listing the harvest numbers of all big game species in BC from 1976-2013 this is an inaccurate statement. In 2013 there were 1269 resident grizzly bear hunters that hunted for a combined 10,274 days and killed 178 grizzlies. In comparison, there were 178 non-resident hunters that hunted for combined 1,386 days and killed 67 bears. Totaling at 245 grizzlies killed in 2013. So, the biologists, conservation officers, and government in 2013 had decided that 1,447 grizzlies could be killed and the population would still be sustainable and grow; only 16.9% of those bears were actually taken. In addressing the slightly higher success rate of non-resident hunters, these hunters are spending tens of thousands of dollars to come to BC and hunt grizzlies. They are injecting, per the Vice article, 130 million annually and we can still harness the 13 million from bear viewing. They pay more than 10 times what residents pay for a grizzly tag and this money goes into the conservation of animals in BC. They are forced to employ guides that assist them and know how to identify bears, their sex, and their age so there are no accidents. Because of this the resident hunters are slightly more successful but are also significantly more likely to take a large mature boar and not confuse them with a younger boar, or even worse, a sow.
I’m not trying to force my opinions of hunting upon anyone I’m simply trying to educate as many people as I can on the issue that may come up for debate in the political arena. I've only been into hunting for the last 5 years but I think it is important that we, as hunters, attempt to educate people on not just why we hunt, but the conservation methods behind hunting as well as the economic benefits that hunting has for us as a province. I know for alot of you older guys this is nothing new. I had a conversation with some of my younger friends and they had no idea about much of this, they just like to get out in the woods with their guns and try to kill stuff. If they take away non-resident rights we're next so again, education is important. If this has helped and you feel it would serve to educate more people that aren't on this forum please share it. If you made it this far thanks for your time I appreciate you at least entertaining the ideas that I’ve posited in this long-winded message.
Cheers
The Grizzly Bear Foundation, contrary to what Vice makes it out to sound like, is not a government organization but a charitable entity. It employs no biologists and it appears that it skews the hunting data related to Grizzly Bear hunts. Essentially, the Grizzly Bear Foundation is an organization of grizzly bear lovers that enjoy the idea of bears in the woods and like watching videos and seeing pictures of the bears.
Trophy hunting:
“Trophy hunting” is a polarizing word which is perceived by the public today as simply shooting the largest member of the species, taking its head/hide as a trophy, and using that as bragging rights. When you hear the word “trophy hunting” you thing of Cecil the lion, poaching, and disrespect towards animals. In reality, however, “trophy hunting” is much more than this. Shooting the largest member of a species is the only overlapping idea when talking about trophy hunting. When talking about grizzlies and shooting a “trophy” bear you are generally talking about harvesting a large mature boar (male). The “trophy” is subjective, as for some any mature boar grizzly is a trophy, while other more experienced hunters may only be satisfied with a specific length or weight of a bear. Regardless, these animals are immensely intelligent, covering vast expanses of land which comprise their home range, and are very rare to encounter. Anecdotally, I’ve spend 100s of hours in the woods and while I’ve seen countless droppings and prints, I’ve never actually seen one of these giant brown ghosts. The “trophy” aspect when hunting mature grizzlies reflects the difficulty in not only encountering one of these beasts in the wild, but also in being able to put together the clues (their rubs, scrapes, scat, and prints) to locate a bear of appropriate maturity and take one.
While killing these old mature boars is incredibly difficult; it is equally important. Documentaries, movies, and TV shows portray these animals as protectors of the forest and happy, passive herbivorous creatures. Yes, they do consume a large amount of their diet as vegetation but they are also hunters that stalk and ambush prey; they are killing machines as well. In a study conducted by Bortje et al. (1988) they found “that each adult male grizzly killed 3 adult moose annually, each female without cub(s) killed 1 adult moose every 2 years and 1 adult caribou ( Rangifer tarandus ) annually, and each adult bear killed at least 5.4 moose calves annually”. It can be estimated that they kill a similar number of elk calves and it is my estimate that they kill even more deer fawns annually. They are giants which need to consume up to 58,000 calories a day to prepare for hibernation. As I mentioned, a substantial amount of their caloric intake does come from vegetation and even scavenging protein but they still predate upon moose, elk, caribou, mountain goat, whitetail deer, mule deer, black bears, and a number of other mammalian species. By reducing the numbers of these large, mature boars (which do the majority of the predation) you are not only conserving grizzly bear numbers by reducing the number of cubs that are killed during infanticide, but you are assisting in the conservation of the other species in which grizzlies prey upon. Infanticide is the killing of babies of their own species, usually for reproductive purposes. With grizzlies mature male bears will kill a female’s cubs so that she will come into heat during the breading season. They may eat the cubs or they may not. The primary reason for killing the cub is to force the females into heat so that they may be bread during the breading season. By killing one “trophy bear” you are also saving countless cubs from infanticide. Killing these large mature boars also ensures that you are not killing sows. To reach reproductive maturity a grizzly must survive for 3 years. Killing a sow kills her cubs and prevents her from having any further litters. A sow may have up to 10 cubs over the course of her lifetime; by killing a young sow you are essentially killing 11 bears. However, when shooting a large mature boar, which is the goal of “trophy hunting” you are killing only 1 bear. In killing this 1 bear you are saving the lives of countless other animals.
Once the bear is shot BC requires a compulsory inspection upon all grizzlies. This means that the bear is sent to a grizzly biologist for inspection. This inspection provides information on the bears age, its diet, how it dealt with different seasons and a number of other important statistics for the biologists. With this information as well as the statistics that they receive form their own methods of monitoring the populations of bears the biologists come together with the government and conservation officers and determine how many bears they can issue tags for next year (a tag is a license to shoot an animal). Please consider these biologists are lovers of the bears themselves and have dedicated their lives to the preservation of the species; they want to see the bears survive and thrive. When deciding on how many tags to issue they create a maximum for both resident and foreign hunters and if this maximum is taken the bear population will continue to increase based on the populations trend over the last few years. I mentioned earlier that the Grizzly Bear Foundation said that there are 300 grizzlies killed annually by hunters in BC. From the data that I gathered from a report listing the harvest numbers of all big game species in BC from 1976-2013 this is an inaccurate statement. In 2013 there were 1269 resident grizzly bear hunters that hunted for a combined 10,274 days and killed 178 grizzlies. In comparison, there were 178 non-resident hunters that hunted for combined 1,386 days and killed 67 bears. Totaling at 245 grizzlies killed in 2013. So, the biologists, conservation officers, and government in 2013 had decided that 1,447 grizzlies could be killed and the population would still be sustainable and grow; only 16.9% of those bears were actually taken. In addressing the slightly higher success rate of non-resident hunters, these hunters are spending tens of thousands of dollars to come to BC and hunt grizzlies. They are injecting, per the Vice article, 130 million annually and we can still harness the 13 million from bear viewing. They pay more than 10 times what residents pay for a grizzly tag and this money goes into the conservation of animals in BC. They are forced to employ guides that assist them and know how to identify bears, their sex, and their age so there are no accidents. Because of this the resident hunters are slightly more successful but are also significantly more likely to take a large mature boar and not confuse them with a younger boar, or even worse, a sow.
I’m not trying to force my opinions of hunting upon anyone I’m simply trying to educate as many people as I can on the issue that may come up for debate in the political arena. I've only been into hunting for the last 5 years but I think it is important that we, as hunters, attempt to educate people on not just why we hunt, but the conservation methods behind hunting as well as the economic benefits that hunting has for us as a province. I know for alot of you older guys this is nothing new. I had a conversation with some of my younger friends and they had no idea about much of this, they just like to get out in the woods with their guns and try to kill stuff. If they take away non-resident rights we're next so again, education is important. If this has helped and you feel it would serve to educate more people that aren't on this forum please share it. If you made it this far thanks for your time I appreciate you at least entertaining the ideas that I’ve posited in this long-winded message.
Cheers