State wildlife officials are probably going to seek to have a limited bear hunting season in southeastern Oklahoma in the fall of 2009. At the request of state wildlife officials, the House Sub-Committee on Wildlife Monday voted unanimously to pass HB 3077, which will allow the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation to sell a special black bear hunting license.The cost would be $100 for residents and $500 for non-residents. The measure now goes to the full committee for a vote.But state wildlife officials are considering proposing a limited season where no more than 20 bears could be killed, he said. Once the quota is reached, no more hunting would be allowed, he said. The black bear population is increasing in southeastern Oklahoma and state wildlife officials say the number of nuisance complaints from bears keeps rising. "We are getting more complaints on them, calls about damage, bears tearing into a side of camper or trailer,” Hatcher said. "We are getting some anecdotal evidence that they are reaching at least their social carrying capacity.” Students at Oklahoma State University have been researching the black bear population in southeastern Oklahoma for several years. At least 200 and as maybe as many as 500 black bears are believed to reside in the forests of southeastern Oklahoma. State Rep. Joe Dorman filed HB 3077 and hopes a hunting season would reduce the risk of human-bear interaction. I dont know exactly how all of this would work but it might end up being another big game species to hunt here in the state.
OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma hunters soon could be taking aim at new prey — black bears. The House and Senate already have approved overwhelmingly a plan to create a black bear hunting license, with lawmakers from southeastern Oklahoma saying increasing numbers of black bears are drifting into Oklahoma from neighboring Arkansas and posing a nuisance to campers and some rural residents. The Oklahoma Wildlife Commission is scheduled to vote Wednesday to create the state's first black bear hunting season, contingent upon Gov. Brad Henry signing the bill. More than two dozen other states allow such hunting. But some wildlife conservation officials fear Oklahoma is moving too quickly without having a firm number on how many bears there are in the state. "In my view, it's extremely unwise to create a culture of killing these species that is very difficult to unwind," said Spencer Lennard, program director for Oregon-based Big Wildlife, an international wildlife advocacy group. Lennard said such laws contribute to "empty forest syndrome" in which animal populations are wiped out across large swathes of their natural habitat. "For whatever reason we give for wanting to kill these animals ... we're ending up with a serious reduction in biodiversity. I'm completely opposed to it and I'm sure hopeful that people in Oklahoma understand that this is a bad idea." But state wildlife officials say they've conducted research into the black bear population in southeast Oklahoma and estimated the population at between 700 and 800, said David "Chip" Leslie, head of the Oklahoma Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at Oklahoma State University. "We were just working LeFlore County in the Ouachita Mountains part of the county from the Arkansas border, and we identified 161 individual bears in that specific area," Leslie said of the study conducted from 2005 to 2007. "From that study area and feeling very confident with the methodology ... we can only extrapolate beyond that." The bears were identified through DNA analysis of fur left on strands of barbed wire surrounding raspberry-scented bait. Black bears from Minnesota were reintroduced to forests in western Arkansas in the 1950s and 1960s, Leslie said, and the population has steadily grown and expanded into southeast Oklahoma. Leslie said he's confident a kill limit of 20 would not have any significant impact on the growth of the black bear population in Oklahoma. The state Wildlife Department plans to allow black bear hunting for about one month in October, beginning with a three-week archery season followed by a nine-day muzzleloader season if the 20-bear limit is not met, said Alan Peoples, chief of the agency's Wildlife Division. "We're not talking about an all-out, go shoot every bear you see season," Peoples said. "It's going to be very tightly regulated." The hunting of bear cubs or females with cubs would be prohibited, and Peoples stressed that the Wildlife Department held more than a dozen public meetings across southeast Oklahoma to keep people updated on their plan. The cost of a license will be $100 for residents and $500 for nonresidents, and if the 20-bear limit is met, the season will end and licenses won't be refunded, Peoples said. Under the proposed legislation, hunting without a license could result in a fine of up to $500 and six months in jail. Lynn Rogers, a researcher at the North American Bear Center in Ely, Minn., said he believes a 20-bear limit would not slow the growth of the bear population in Oklahoma, but he did express concern about the use of archery or primitive firearms, like muzzleloaders, for hunting bear. "If you're going to kill them, you want to kill them dead," Rogers said. "If you're using inferior methods to shoot them, you're going to have a higher-than-normal wounded loss, and by the time you reach 20, you might have 50 dead out there." Oklahoma's black bear population is concentrated mainly in and around the Ouachita National Forest region in LeFlore, Latimer and McCurtai
I've been keeping up with this proposal and wonder how it'll work. Nothing says it will be a "controlled hunt" per se, where only certain number of tags will be given. The way I understand it, they'll sell as many as they can and when 20 bears get killed, then the season is closed. Once that happens, are they going to personally contact all the tag holders and notify them the quota has been met??
I didnt quite understand the quota thing as well. I did see where it said refunds will not be given. It might take a few years to get all of the bugs worked out, but when they do it might make for a good in state bear hunt.
Me and Dubbya were talking this over earlier today. I told him about that exact statement you have highlighted in red, and we had similar feelings about Mr. Rogers. Sooner has the same thought I did. They will not refund anyone, but once the quota is met, the hunting must stop? What if 18 bears have been killed, then 5 get killed the next morning. There is no way they could let everyone know, especially if people are killing bears only minutes apart. They should either explain themselves more clearly or get that situation fixed before they launch this onto the public. It will be interesting to see how this works out.
Yes we did Will. I actually posted a comment on the website you sent me in regards to those comments that you mentioned to me earlier and Zach illustrated in red. The way they do the quota system in the states that I've been in is that you have to call the hotline in the morning before daylight. They either tell you "open" or "closed" and you can either hunt or you cant. At the point that the final animal is killed they change the hotline to say "closed." Any animals that are harvested on a day that is "open" are considered legal. Again I dont know how they'll do it here, that is just mt experience.
Have you guys heard what the stance is going to be on baiting? I used to live down there and still have a lease around Honobia and it's true there's a fair number of bears, but they're hard to hunt without dogs or bait.
As a bear guide, I can tell you that this is a huge misconception about bears. In all actuality, a bear will die much easier than a deer and I prefer my hunters to bow hunt instead of gun hunt.
Dan, I didnt know anything about how tough a bear was but heck they have been killing them w/ bows for a long time. I just thought that statement was a little bit uneducated. I mean since when was a bow or even a muzzleloader for this instance an "inferior method"
