Minnesota bear harvest lowest in at least two decades

[h2ofwlr]

By Dave Orrick
dorrick@pioneerpress.com
Posted: 11/30/2013 11:50:10 AM CST | Updated: 2 days ago
http://www.twincities.com/outdoors/ci_2 ... wo-decades

Minnesota bear hunters registered 1,856 bears killed during the fall hunting season, the lowest number in at least 20 years, according to state records.

That's no accident, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, which for several seasons has been trying to reduce the harvest to increase the bear population throughout the state's range.

Minnesota generally has between 20,000 and 30,000 bears, and the population appears to have stabilized over the past several years. That followed a number of years of kills of more than 2,500 bears as the state sought to reduce the number of human-bear conflicts by reducing the bear population.

"That's going back 20 years," said Dan Stark, the DNR's large carnivore specialist who oversees the bear-hunting program.

Then, the agency decided to let the bear population grow. For several years, the DNR has reduced the number of bear-hunting permits.

"Last year, we had a bigger harvest than expected (2,598), primarily because of poor food conditions," Stark said. "At this point, we really want to see several years of positive population growth to make sure it's working."

As a result, the DNR lowered the number of permits by about 40 percent. (The only significant cause of death for bears in Minnesota is humans, either by hunters or drivers. To increase the population, females must be spared, which is best accomplished by reducing the number of hunters. Bear hunters aren't required to determine gender before shooting.)

"We wanted to see fewer females killed, and we did. So by that measure, we appear to have been successful," Stark said. He said it was too soon to know how the kill might affect next year's hunting regulations because harvest numbers are preliminary.

For comparison, the high-water marks for bear kills in Minnesota were 1995 and 2001, when 4,956 and 4,936 bears were killed, respectively, according to DNR data.

The last time the harvest dropped below 2,000 was 1995, when 1,874 were killed, an outlier that was not intended by wildlife officials. Figures from before 1990 weren't readily available, but Stark said the last time the harvest was lower than this year and it was intentional "has to be back in the 1980s."

Mille Lacs walleye rules

Walleye regulations on Lake Mille Lacs will remain unchanged this winter, the DNR announced.

The regulations, among the tightest in recent years, allow two walleyes between 18 and 20 inches to be kept, or one within that slot and one longer than 28 inches.

The restrictive rules were intended to allow the walleye population to rebound after survey nets revealed few young fish surviving.

The effect of the regulations -- as well as the open-water walleye opener that featured little open water -- was pronounced. As of Sept. 30, the DNR estimated 137,000 pounds of walleye had been killed by nontribal members, well below the allocation of 178,750. That allocation was half of the previous year's allocation. Meanwhile, tribal officials reported only 15,000 pounds of walleye harvested. That's well below the tribal allocation of 70,000 pounds and the lowest kill since 1997, before the modern regulatory scheme was in place.

Wolf quota not reached

Minnesota wolf hunters failed to kill all the wolves they were allowed during the first part of the season.

Hunters killed 88 out of a possible 136 wolves.

The result will be more wolves available for hunters and trappers for the second stage of the two-part season, which started Saturday.

A similar pattern emerged last year, the state's first regulated wolf hunt. The major differences are that kill limit and the number of hunters were reduced this year after survey data suggested the lupine population might have fallen more than anticipated.

Dave Orrick can be reached at 651-228-5512. Follow him at twitter.com/OutdoorsNow.