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Thread: NC proposal to open bear sanctuaries

  1. #1
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    Default NC proposal to open bear sanctuaries

    Also bans target shooting on some state lands...

    Several bear sanctuaries in Western North Carolina may open to hunting in 2022 under a rule change proposed by the state Wildlife Resources Commission aiming to control a burgeoning bear population and curtail human-bear interactions.

    But Bill Lea, former assistant district ranger with the U.S. Forest Service in the Pisgah and Nantahala districts, says killing bears where they've been protected for 50 years won't solve the problem.

    Among the wildlife commission's proposed rule changes for 2022-23 is one to "allow permit hunt opportunities on Panthertown-Bonas Defeat, Pisgah and Standing Indian Bear Sanctuaries in the Mountain Bear Management Unit."

    The commission says the U.S. Forest Service has requested the change due to "increased human-bear interactions occurring on both forest service property and adjacent private property. The population management objective in the Mountain Bear Management Unit is to stabilize the population. Additional harvest using the permit hunt system in these areas will help with reaching that objective."

    State black bear and furbearer biologist Colleen Olfenbuttel says opening the areas to hunting, as the state does at other bear sanctuaries like Mount Mitchell and Daniel Boone, is focused more on meeting the goal of zero black bear population growth in the mountains.

    Accomplishing goals, or rewarding hunters?
    While Lea criticized the proposal as a handout to hunters whose license purchases sustain the Wildlife Resources Commission, and one that won't solve human-bear interactions, Olfenbuttel says bear populations are growing too fast, and highly regulated hunting in bear sanctuaries will help meet the commission's goals.

    The local bear hunting season for the Mountain Bear Management Unit closed Jan. 1, with a reported 1,230 bears harvested, according to the Wildlife Resources Commission, compared to an average harvest in the last three years of 1,310.

    The commission estimates between 7,000-8,000 bears in the mountains, a population growing at a rate of about 5% annually, and about 25,000 bears statewide.

    "Just going out and killing more bears does not address the particular problem bears, even if there are problem bears," said Lea, who's given hundreds of presentations on bear behavior.

    He wondered whether there even are any aggressive bears, saying people are often afraid of them and misunderstand them.

    More:Wildlife passage under I-40 in Pigeon River Gorge, 'excellent start' for bear, elk safety

    "Bears are most often killed for what people think they're going to do, versus what bears actually do," Lea said.
    Banning target shooting at DuPont, more
    Another proposed rule change would prohibit target shooting on Buffalo Cove, DuPont State Recreational Forest, Green River, South Mountains, Johns River and Pisgah game lands.

    The wildlife commission says that since McDowell County is set to finish constructing a shooting range within a year, and the availability of the Foothills Shooting Complex in Cleveland County, "users will be provided with safe target shooting alternatives that are located within proximity to these game lands."

    All of the locations listed are within 45 miles of the planned McDowell County shooting range, the Commission says.
    https://www.blueridgenow.com/story/n...NEWS-NLETTER01

  2. #2
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