The Mulchatna herd and bears...

[BRWNBR]

There’s so many variables to this situation…
Fish and game didn’t seem to consider other options. The bear removal
Program cost the state over 300k. But that area still has limited bear hunting regulations. There is a close season. A limit. Restrictions on shooting sows with cubs. Somehow they decided they needed to go have some chopper fun. Cause let’s me honest…brown bear from a chopper???? What a rush!!

Guys get upset about the guided requirement. I get upset about the car insurance requirement. I got no problem opening a small area up to unguided non resident hunters going in and shooting a bunch of three year old bears. Is it gonna help…no. Hunting already wasn’t helping.

What folks don’t realize is not every bear is a calf killer. We know this and have data on this. It’s fact. So not every bear needs to be killed. It’s the same thing fish and game did when the kid got killed by a black bear south of anchorage a few years back. They jumped in a chopper and shot six black bears before they finally said “we got THE ONE”. Wink wink.

Wolves on the other hand….

 

[kwackkillncrew]

What folks don’t realize is not every bear is a calf killer. We know this and have data on this. It’s fact. So not every bear needs to be killed.

do you know if the chopper was only targeting bears hanging out around the calving grounds?

 

[BRWNBR]

do you know if the chopper was only targeting bears hanging out around the calving grounds?

They said “calving grounds”. But I think thats a loose term. Caribou don’t always calve in the same
Place. I also wouldn’t saying “hanging around” for the bears. It was if a bear was there when they were there. They had no way of knowing if a bear was passing thru or not. It sounded like a brown and down kinda operation. But spring time in Alaska, above treeline. Bears live there. Even if caribou don’t. The whole deal really seemed like someone’s pet project and not a lot of thought for the ripple effect or other options for bear harvest to be handled by locals or hunters.

 

[Bluumoon]

Listening to stories of the Alaskan experience of shooting at the Fairbanks range or having lead flying over your head chasing 40 mile caribou, or subsistence hunters going ham w 55 gr range ammo on animals… The NR requirement for bears seems….

I am sure there are absolute studs running around guiding guys on bears, I’d also venture a guess there are some 19yo wet behind the ears guys being sent out by outfitters to guide.

 

[Larry Bartlett]

Remember the ADFG days of the real "Machine Gun Kelly"? Dave Kellyhouse was an aerial sniper of the 90's. Notoriously controlling wolf populations once DDT and cyanide-laced treats were outlawed.

 

[Alder_]

Quite obvious that no one on this thread has really looked into the program and have just read the news articles.

I heard an update about it in Wasilla a month or so ago. They had a long term calf study and the helicopter shot bears in 500 square miles or something.

 

[sticknbox]

Well that sounds great until a NR or three gets mauled to death recovering a wounded bear, then we're all saying whoa that's not good, and we're back to guide requirements because the industry says "see we told you this would happen.".

Bears kill a lot of animals, but lets say the Hoholitna or Noatak is opened to NR for brown bears and only a weak handful get shot by chance out of hundreds of NR hunters...the value isn't there and the price of a guided bear hunt is weaker if NR can get an OTC tag. State politics and APHA lobbyist would reject the F out of that proposal regardless of the tens of bears that were shot by NR statewide.

In the state's view, predator control needs to be a military style assault when timing and conditions are perfect for the flights...and ineffective left to secondary harvests by NR or R for that matter. To them it's like killing a squad leader or two from one unit of terrorists without dropping a drone strike on the whole brigade.

I don't see it making a divot or a dint in brown/griz pops statewide, region wide, or unit wide. And certaqinly predation is only a fraction of what's trending declining caribou populations.

Alaska residents get mauled regardless. Can happen to anyone. At this point I would be open to allowing NR to hunt brown bears on their own outside of drawing zones like Kodiak, etc. I'd be curious how many AK residents % wise actually target brown/grizzly bears whether in spring or fall compared to just being in the field and having target of opportunity.

 

[BRWNBR]

Quite obvious that no one on this thread has really looked into the program and have just read the news articles.

I heard an update about it in Wasilla a month or so ago. They had a long term calf study and the helicopter shot bears in 500 square miles or something.

Keep in mind. If fish and game has an agenda. And it’s their “studies”. It’s going to work with what they are trying to accomplish.
Like proving something with statistics….all depends on where and how you get your statistics.

The area they targeted was the headwaters of the wood tikchik lake system. Very remote. Kinda in the middle of everything.

 

[Turkeygetpwnd38]

Sure am glad y’all residents care so much about us! Thank goodness I don’t have to worry about getting mauled in Alaska or lost in the wilderness in Wyoming

I’m not saying dropping guide requirements on grizz would solve this problem, or any problems, but have seen several threads with AK locals asking other residents to shoot more bears in this or that area…. Seems like it couldn’t hurt. I know it’s not going to change but the “for your own protection” thing is a joke.

 

[Alder_]

It would be great to hunt Mulchatna again.

Let them shoot the bears. It sounded like it was working.
i stumbled around on the board of game website and found this from the last meeting.