I was at Hurlburt from 1989 to 1995, and lived up there until 1998. Don't remember any reports of bears back then. It's amazing how the population of bears has grown in 13 years or so to the point they are a nuisance.
Mismanagement will do that every time. A sow will have on average of 2 cubs per year x 13 years = 26 bears from 1 sow over 13 years. Supposing there were 100 sows 13 years ago that is 2600 new bears + from the 2600 new bears, say 1500 were sows, well, you get the picture. .
Your math is almost as bad as PETA telling us how 1 cat can have a million kittens... 🙂
Almost, but not quite.
Black bears can reproduce at 3 years of age, so even if we assume that all 100 were breeding age in 2000 AND we assume that all 100 had 2 cubs on Jan 1 that year, with a gestation period of 235 days and raising their cubs for almost another year, none of them gave birth again until 2002 or so.
Assuming that any young sows reaching sexual maturity during that period were balanced by any deaths, even if all of our original sows had 2 cubs again as soon as possible, none of our Jan 1 cubs were giving birth till 2003 or so.
Hahahahahaha....I know, I know, I was exaggerating a little and just trying to make a point. There shouldn't be any reason why you don't have an active bear season. The gov't here finally got off their butts and realized the over population was not healthy and put a 3 bag limit in 2011. Where I hunt there are over 75 acres of blue berry fields and the farmer gave me his blessing to hunt on his land. I must have had at least 12 different bears hitting my 4 sites during the season. I do have to be careful as I do want to have a healthy population even though the farmer wants every single one gone.
Let me know when you need me to come help you healthify one!
Let me know when you need me to come help you healthify one!
No problems, just let me now when you are coming North and we'll see what I can do. My plan is to take 5-6 bears a year from sites as that is all the healthifying :rolleyes the area can handle. This keeps the farmer and surrounding camps happy. :clap
Politics ended our bear season in 1994, and politics is keeping us from having another any time soon
Politics ended our bear season in 1994, and politics is keeping us from having another any time soon
GD politicians :taz , they did the same here with our deer season. Since 1998 we have had a draw system for does with a very limited amount of tags being available. For the past 13 years most hunters have been taking whatever bucks they can get, so you can well imagine all the smaller ones have not grown up to become daddies themselves. The buck population has decreased substantially; however, the doe population has increased a little. They have virtually ruined it for kids as our kids cannot hunt until they are 16 years old and what kid has the patience to hunt deer this day and age at 16 years old? Our minister of Natural Resources is a lawyer for god's sake and most likley has never set up a pup tent let alone manage wildlife. Brother, don't get me going about ridiculous laws politicians pass when it comes to wildlife programs :censored
