MIKE SAJNA
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com
04/25/99
(Copyright 1999)

Could Pennsylvania's bruin population withstand a three-day, separate archery bear season this fall? Absolutely. Is it a good idea to implement such a season? Biologists in the Game Commission's Bureau of Wildlife Management do not think so at this time.

Those are the conclusions of a report by bear biologist Gary Alt on the feasibility of a proposed archery bear season to occur on Nov. 11-13. The report was requested by the commission at its January meeting. The conclusions are based on results from Pennsylvania and other eastern states that hunt bear. No decision has been made by the commission on the proposed season.

Currently, according to Alt, Pennsylvania has a population of approximately 10,000 bears. To keep that population stable requires a harvest of about 2,000 bears annually. A three-day archery bear season could be accommodated within that total, but the impact on the population and the state's bear management plan must be carefully considered.

Hunter success rates, the percent of hunters who actually kill a bear, are highly influenced by the hunting methods allowed, regardless of the types of weapons used, the report notes. In states like Pennsylvania and Arkansas that do not permit the use of bait or dogs, the success rates are the lowest in the country, between one percent and three percent.

At the other end of the spectrum, in states such as Wisconsin, where the use of both bait and dogs is legal, the success rate can exceed 60 percent. In remote areas of Canada, where bait stations are allowed, the success rate can surpass 90 percent, according to the report.

"Due to limitations of archery equipment, compared to high-powered rifles, bears need to be reasonably close and preferably still to assure a killing shot," Alt said. "This makes baiting the preferred method for hunting bears with archery."

Baiting and other efficient bear hunting methods, however, are being targeted by animal rights groups. Due to political opposition by the public, Colorado, Oregon, Washington and Massachusetts all lost the use of bait and/or dogs between 1992 and 1996. Because of such opposition, it appears unlikely that any state not already using bait or dogs would be successful in starting either method. Accordingly, the report notes, legalization of the use of bait to hunt bears in Pennsylvania is not a recommended option.

Of the 12 eastern states with a bear season - Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia - only Maine allows baiting. Only four eastern states - New York, West Virginia, Virginia and Georgia - have a separate archery season for bear.

Since archery hunting involves primitive weapons, the report continues, it often is assumed that bowhunters would take only a tiny percentage of the annual harvest, especially in states where baiting is illegal. However, bear harvest histories from eastern states that have separate archery seasons indicate that archers take a larger portion of bears than most hunters believe.

"During years of natural food shortage, archery hunters sometimes take from one-third to two-thirds of the total harvest," Alt said.

In West Virginia, for example, an average of only three percent of the bear harvest was taken by archers during the period 1972-1981. That total increased to 16 percent from 1982 to 1990 and to 36 percent from 1991 to 1997. Major mast failures in 1997 pushed the take by West Virginia bowhunters to 62 percent of the harvest.

"Though baiting is not legal for hunting bears in West Virginia," the report points out, "it is legal for hunting deer, and deer and bear seasons are concurrent. Accordingly, bait is probably a major factor in the archery harvest in West Virginia."

The archery harvest also has been increasing in Virginia. Although the average bear harvest in that state is only 14 percent, it has been steadily increasing. The four largest harvests occurred in 1987, 1990, 1992 and 1997, which corresponds with the four worst mast crops in recent years. During those years, Virginia bowhunters accounted for 25 percent to 37 percent of the annual harvest.

"Baiting is not legal {in Virginia}," Alt said, "but food placed out for wild animals is common there and is suspected to be one of the major contributing factors in large archery harvests during years of poor food availability.

"Most of Pennsylvania's bear range is heavily populated with people, many of whom feed bears and other wildlife," he continued. "This certainly would create thousands of baiting situations during the proposed archery season, increasing the efficiency of archery hunters and creating a difficult law enforcement problem."

Pennsylvania has both a large number of bear hunters and archery hunters. According to a 1995 national study, more than 116,000 of the nation's 368,000 bear hunters hunt in the state. Pennsylvania also sold 321,000 archery licenses in 1997.

With so much interest in both bear hunting and archery hunting in the state, Alt believes that "if we were to hold a separate archery season in the future, it must be tightly regulated." The number of hunters would have to be controlled and the additional harvest of bears would have to be reduced from the gun harvest, which essentially means that a limit would have to be placed on the number of bear licenses issued.

In evaluating whether to hold a separate bear archery season, Alt said, the Game Commission also needs to ask the question: "Is this what Pennsylvania hunters really want?" According to a survey conducted by the agency in 1990, 54 percent of the hunters who responded opposed a separate archery season for bears and 46 percent favored such a season. A 1995 survey showed the same results.

"In concluding," Alt said, "because of its possible negative impact on our current bear management program, necessitating further unpopular restrictions, the implications of rampant feeding of bears throughout the state, and the lack of support of the sporting public based on surveys, we do not recommend establishment of a separate archery bear season at this time."