Grizzly Bear shot in Pemberton... please read

[Panda]

Just got this from my wildlife association. If you know anything about this please contact the authorities.

"PWA members -
A young male grizzly bear was found dead on Monday, April 21 on the "upper" Kuurne property - approximately 5 kilometers past the Hurley River turnoff - on the "south" side of the Lillooet River. Upon investigation by Ministry of Environment staff it was determined that the healthy, 400 pound bear had been shot through the stomach with a large calibre rifle.
Conservation Officers are requesting that anyone with information about the incident please call the RAPP line at - 1- 877- 952- 7277. It is believed that the bear was shot on Sunday evening - April 20 or perhaps on Monday morning. If you heard a shot, saw a vehicle in the area or have any other information on this topic please call the CO's.
This animal was on private property where hunting is not allowed. Furthermore, there has been no hunting season for grizzly bears in the Pemberton Valley since 1965. Black bear hunting season is open at this time - it is possible that the hunter mistook this bear for a black bear, though that would not explain why he/she shot an animal that was clearly on private property.
The Ministry of Environment staff are in the process of implementing a Grizzly Bear Recovery Plan in our area. The hope is that a thriving population here will eventually spread into some of the areas further south where grizzly bears were known to exist in the past but are now very uncommon. This particular bear was captured by the Ministry at Geese Road last spring after raiding a chicken house. To avoid further confrontation with humans, he was moved out into the wilderness, made it through the winter and was apparently in fine health when sighted by numerous upper valley residents this spring.
This incident casts a ugly shadow on all forms of hunting. Please help the authorities track down those responsible or encourage them to come forward and accept responsibility for the bears death.

Pemberton Wildlife Association
"

[troutseeker]

" This incident casts a ugly shadow on all forms of hunting." I don't understand or agree with this statement. This was not hunting, poaching maybe, culling possibly.

Troutseeker

[Mr. Dean]

He's a known chicken eater... Maybe returned too his old ways.
BUT,,, even if so, it wasn't dealt with properly.

Being gut shot, he likely travelled some distance before succumbing. How big is this "private property"?

[Moosenose]

This incident casts a ugly shadow on all forms of hunting. Please help the authorities track down those responsible or encourage them to come forward and accept responsibility for the bears death.

Pemberton Wildlife Association
"

Why would the Pemberton Wildlife Association suggest that this was hunting? It may have been someone protecting their chicken house.
This bear undoubtedly pulled his big ass out of the den recently and went to work looking for breakfast. Using his long nose that can smell an ant fart at 1000 meters he may have picked up a scent that was familiar. Easy pickins, chicken for breakfast.
It is a difficult situation and I don't have the answers, but as long as people live in bear country, and vise versa there are going to be confrontations. There is a lot more to this story, and I hope the reason for this shooting comes out.
I know from experience that bears are going to be in your face once they get a taste of what people have to offer, whether it's their livestock, chickens, coolers, etc. Once conditioned to human scent, including garbage, dog food, or whatever is easy, they will come back. With a black bear, it's easy, get a tag and shoot them. Grizzly is a different story, best to get the CO's involved with that one. They can trap them and haul them away. If they continue to come back, well, then the CO's are faced with how to deal with them. How many chances do you give them?

When they do a bear-topsy on this one, will they find chickens in his gut?

[hunter1947]

I think the CO got it right when they said someone took this bear thinking it was a black bear. Its not a good thing to have happen ,lookes bad on hunters. If someone did shot this Griz buy mistake do you think he is going to come forwards and confess he shot it buy mistake ,NO.

[islandboy]

Sadly, PWA is right in saying it "casts a ugly shadow on all forms of hunting" simply because the general population (read: those who vote in the lawmakers) do not distinguish between poachers and hunters. It would be good press if a hunter was to have caught/exposed the shooter/poacher (see Merrit) and really bad press if it was a mistake due to a hunt's error in judgement.

[The Hermit]

A bear shot in the belly could have travelled miles and miles... not necessarily shot on private property. I also totally disagree with the sentimentalists that think having griz spread south to populated areas is a good idea and laudable goal... it will only cause more problems, and its an indication of a growing population... time for more tags!!!

[Aaron Blom]

There have always been griz in that area (as well as moose). I knew a CO many years ago who used to see them in the sides on the other side of the Squamish River from his house in Brackendale. We used to see tracks up behind Woodfiber as well. Cant wait to seee them eat fluffy in N Van. Hopefully then soem people may realize that there is a "very" healthy population within the province, and that gathering acurate bear population statisrics is not posible in BC.

[Steeleco]

The first bears I saw in the wild were a Sow grizz and two cubs at the top of the Hurley in the early 80's. The day before a family of grizz had killed a man while he picknicked with his family near Goldbridge. So they have been around a while.

I know what the report is trying to say with regard to us hunters , but it still doesn't sit right with me in the way it was written.

[Gateholio]

This was an email sent out to members by our secretary, not a press release. Wording coudl have been better. Unfortunately, the general population will often think it was "some damned hunter" and not "a poacher"- as we woudl prefer it phrased.

Anyway, the bear may or may not have been shot on private property. His den was near private property. The property itself is about 100 acres, IIRC. The land owners did not shoot the bear.

My gut huntch is it someone mistook it for a black bear, at a distance, and took a shot at it, and it tried to get back to it's den to hide.

Also, I fully support grizzly bear population increases, especially in southern BC. I'd like to see a grizzly LEH open up sometime soon in the Pemberton area, as grizzly populations keep increasing.

[RiverOtter]

Without knowing "exactly" how the bears demise went down, I'm not ready to condemn nor endorse the person who shot said bear.

I do know this, relocating problem bears is a joke, in most cases. If bears are hanging out in residential areas, it is almost certainly because other more dominant bears have already claimed the better areas. A bear don't forget where he got his last easy meal from and relocating a bear that is used to "hangin" with humans is a time bomb.

The irony is that a lot of the same people that condemn bear hunting are the worst offenders when it comes to habituating bears to humans, which ultimately leads to the bears demise.

RO

[Gateholio]

I do know this, relocating problem bears is a joke, in most cases. If bears are hanging out in residential areas, it is almost certainly because other more dominant bears have already claimed the better areas. A bear don't forget where he got his last easy meal from and relocating a bear that is used to "hangin" with humans is a time bomb.

RO

I agree with that- And it's been shown to be true several times with grizzlies relocated form that exact area. One bear was rapped and relocated somewhere near the US border and considerably further east. He made it back to the same spot.:shock:

[RiverOtter]

Also, I fully support grizzly bear population increases, especially in southern BC. I'd like to see a grizzly LEH open up sometime soon in the Pemberton area, as grizzly populations keep increasing

I agree to a point Gate, the only downside is that by the time they open an LEH, the bear population is usually a menace. Even then, they will only toss a cracker to the LEH hunters and release 1 or 2 draws for a huge area.

Case in point would be the new region 8 draw that opened this spring on the east side of Mable Lake. The ranchers have been losing cattle to Grizzlies for years in that area, but it took until this season to get a measily 2 tags allotted. I have seen as many as 4 different grizzlies in one afternoon, in said area, not including family units. A GOS on grizzlies is definately needed in a lot of areas, even if only on a year to year basis.

RO

[elkdom]

Without knowing "exactly" how the bears demise went down, I'm not ready to condemn nor endorse the person who shot said bear.

I do know this, relocating problem bears is a joke, in most cases. If bears are hanging out in residential areas, it is almost certainly because other more dominant bears have already claimed the better areas. A bear don't forget where he got his last easy meal from and relocating a bear that is used to "hangin" with humans is a time bomb.

The irony is that a lot of the same people that condemn bear hunting are the worst offenders when it comes to habituating bears to humans, which ultimately leads to the bears demise.

RO I agree 100% with you RO, bear relocationis mostly a futile exercise in public relations, so it seems this week score so far is (one for the G bear team) and (one for the Humanoid team) at this point the G bears are holding thier own!

[Gateholio]

I agree to a point Gate, the only downside is that by the time they open an LEH, the bear population is usually a menace. Even then, they will only toss a cracker to the LEH hunters and release 1 or 2 draws for a huge area.

Case in point would be the new region 8 draw that opened this spring on the east side of Mable Lake. The ranchers have been losing cattle to Grizzlies for years in that area, but it took until this season to get a measily 2 tags allotted. I have seen as many as 4 different grizzlies in one afternoon, in said area, not including family units. A GOS on grizzlies is definately needed in a lot of areas, even if only on a year to year basis.

RO

I don't disagree with you one bit. Politics is usually what holds grizzly hunitng opportunities back...

[elkdom]

The same story south of Dawson Creek, unit 7-20 ,Gbears are prolific,human encounters and predation on livestock very common,not to mention as many bears come to cow elk sounds when your hunting elk as there are elk responding to cow elk and calf elk mews,many ranchers in the area have been frustrated by dealing with MOE,now the solution has been solved by the the three SSS, solution,( shoot,shovel shut-up) this area see's 1 or 2 LEH tags for Gbear and 2 tags for the GO's, several G bears liked in same area ,buy road kill on oil and gas exploration roads! What a waste!

[twoSevenO]

damn shame to hear. I can't help but wonder if some poor soul passed up the FREE regs book and chose not to learn how to properly identify a griz vs. a black bear.

[rollingrock]

I know the mentioned area. That's a bear country. The shooter may not have heard of any grizzly activities in this area and mistook it as a blackie. S/he may even have bragged about missing a huge blackie. So folks, to be safe, always shoot a smallish blackie and you have smaller chance of screwing up. ;)

But this one facked up pretty good.