Both sides of the debate - Should there be a spring bear hunt?

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Originally Posted by MikePal

From the MNR:

Ont Bear population estimate: 85,000 to 105,000

Tags sold last year: 25,000
Estimated harvest: 5,000 and 6,000

That gives a hunter success rate of between 20% -25%

In terms of a cull...harvesting 5,000 bears is about 5% of the overal population.

That means the number of cubs that could be detrimentally affected would be negligible.

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Your right, the last 5 years hunters have averaged 23% harvest rate.
The point I was trying to make is that's a lot of bears hanging to not have evidence of charges. If there were lots of charges out there, you can be sure the media would be all over it.

I'm in the camp of " we're not the top of the food chain" and without hunting pressure in the spring, bears will eventually lose fear of humans as demonstrated by the number of bear-human conflicts once the spring hunt was cancelled.
I'll be interested in seeing whether complaints drop dramatically over the next 10 years.

Last year was my first spring hunt and I was successful so that makes me 100% successful... lol

We are going again this season. Baiting starts on May 01st! :)

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Originally Posted by Fox

You are most likely killing "a while family" of bears by shooting a sow in the fall, she is most likely pregnant, not unlike shooting a any female big game animal in the fall in Ontario.

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Umm not really. A sow with cubs will not breed that year, it's every second year after she has given the yearling cubs the boot.

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Originally Posted by bellerivercrossbowhunter

Last year was my first spring hunt and I was successful so that makes me 100% successful... lol

We are going again this season. Baiting starts on May 01st! :)

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Then you'll be at 50% , then 33%, then 25%.

Don't worry about baiting.. Just get up before sun rise. You cook yourself a nice breakfast of eggs, Bacon, Toast and coffee( got to have the coffee smell).

Leave the dirty fry pan, dishes, coffee cups, and stuff on table and bag with the bacon package and egg shell on the ground beside it.
Find a nice spot( you should have a couple picked out already) to sit and wait about 10 to 15 minutes before legal shooting time. You should have a bear walking into camp with in a hour or two..:thumbup:

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Originally Posted by smitty55

Umm not really. A sow with cubs will not breed that year, it's every second year after she has given the yearling cubs the boot.

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If you shoot a sow that does not have cubs she is probably bred or would be bred so therefore you just killed her future cubs that year.

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Originally Posted by Snowwalker

Then you'll be at 50% , then 33%, then 25%.

Don't worry about baiting.. Just get up before sun rise. You cook yourself a nice breakfast of eggs, Bacon, Toast and coffee( got to have the coffee smell).

Leave the dirty fry pan, dishes, coffee cups, and stuff on table and bag with the bacon package and egg shell on the ground beside it.
Find a nice spot( you should have a couple picked out already) to sit and wait about 10 to 15 minutes before legal shooting time. You should have a bear walking into camp with in a hour or two..:thumbup:

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OR....deep fry a turkey....bears will show up pretty quick !

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Originally Posted by smitty55

Umm not really. A sow with cubs will not breed that year, it's every second year after she has given the yearling cubs the boot.

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That's right Smitty55 and i thought i read something the other day about a female won't breed until their 3rd year maybe 4th year, can't remember now, interesting though.

Black bear females do not reproduce until they are three to five years old but some may be as old as seven when they first produce young. Females normally breed every other year and have an average of two cubs, but can have one to five. Cub mortality is high, with an average of 50 percent dying in their first year due to natural causes.
Female black bears do not mate while racing young, so may only produce six litters in her lifetime

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Originally Posted by Snowwalker

Then you'll be at 50% , then 33%, then 25%.

Don't worry about baiting.. Just get up before sun rise. You cook yourself a nice breakfast of eggs, Bacon, Toast and coffee( got to have the coffee smell).

Leave the dirty fry pan, dishes, coffee cups, and stuff on table and bag with the bacon package and egg shell on the ground beside it.
Find a nice spot( you should have a couple picked out already) to sit and wait about 10 to 15 minutes before legal shooting time. You should have a bear walking into camp with in a hour or two..:thumbup:

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^^^^^^^ BINGO!! ^^^^^^^ This tactic can be used if hunting in an area where bait stations could be in violation of the distance rule to trails and bush roads. I have it on very good authority that it works,too.;)

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Originally Posted by rick_iles

OR....deep fry a turkey....bears will show up pretty quick !

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After I ate all that Turkey,sitting on a watch I'd be sawin' logs and miss the Bear altogether. LOL