The next decade of black bear management in Wisconsin will be determined in part by public opinion, and many have strong feelings about bear hunting techniques.
The public has had a chance to weigh in on the 87-page Wisconsin Bear Management Plan, 2019-2029, which was created by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Bear Advisory Committee. Four sections of the DNR and 11 other government and private groups created the plan, and a series of public meetings were held and online comments accepted through April 14.
Groups involved in the plan’s creation include the Wisconsin Bear Hunters’ Association, Wisconsin Bowhunters Association, Wisconsin Conservation Congress, Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation, Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Federation, U.S. Forest Service, USDA-APHIS- Wildlife Services, Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, Wisconsin County Forest Association, Safari Club International and Wisconsin Hunters Rights Coalition.
The goals of the management plan include using science and research to manage the estimated population of 30,000 bears, improve hunter satisfaction, educate the public about current hunting methods and address human-bear conflicts with a variety of tools, including euthanizing problem bears.
To read the full plan, visit: dnr.wi.gov/topic/Hunt/documents/BearPlanFinalDraft.pdf
A record 124,053 people applied for a bear permit or preference point in 2018. As the bear population continues to grow and expand, it will be necessary to expand hunting opportunities in order to control the bear numbers.
One proposed change would be dividing the current Zone C into three zones. Zone C, which includes the southern two-thirds portion of the state, currently does not allow hunting bears with dogs, but that would change under the new plan.
Hunters and non-hunters alike have strong feelings about hunting bears with dogs. In general, this method of hunting requires vast tracts of public land such as those national forests in the north. There are also large tracts of private land owned by paper interests that are open to hunting in order for these companies to get significant tax breaks.
Two people with strong feelings on the topic are Kevin Marquette, former Shawano County delegate of the Wisconsin Conservation Congress, and Brian Nicks, a bear and bobcat hunting guide from the Medford area who owns a dozen treeing Walker hounds.
While they did disagree on some issues, they both supported a longer season. Many bear hunters believe the season could be longer, in part to help the state achieve harvest goals. Marquette proposed a Sept. 1 opener and that the season remain open until Oct. 31 or until the quota for each zone is achieved, whichever comes first. The season in all zones ends this year on Oct. 8.
Marquette noted that in previous bear seasons many years ago, Wisconsin allowed the season to remain open through the end of the gun deer season in November, “so leaving (the) season open a few more weeks in these three regions shouldn’t cause a problem because again, the majority of land in those three southern zones is almost all private land anyway,” he noted in an extensively researched document he provided the Shawano Leader.
Marquette, who ran a timber business in Shawano County that put him in contact with many landowners and hunters over the years, said he “hadn’t met a bear hunter in the whole area yet who wouldn’t like to see bear season open earlier than the existing opener, as well as have it run a few weeks longer!” The Oct. 31 closure he proposed also coincides with the Chippewa Tribes season closure on ceded territories, he said.
“Running the season until the quota is met has worked for other species like lake sturgeon and wolf (when Wisconsin had a wolf season),” he noted. Marquette, who attended the Wausau public meeting on the proposal, said a member of the bear committee said an earlier opener was nixed because it could interfere with other Labor Day weekend activities. Marquette disputed that reason, saying that allowing dogs in Zone C would cause “significantly more hunter/landowner conflicts than a Sept. 1 opener and a potentially longer season in (other zones) ever would!”
Nicks, who has been a hunting guide for bear and bobcats for many years, said he favors expanding the use of dogs for bear hunting in Zone C west of state Highway 13 “because there is a lot of public land where people are already baiting and training dogs,” he said. The use of dogs around or on private land will lead to more trespassing complaints, Nicks noted, but “more bear control will definitely bring up the deer population. Hound hunters have better control on the size of bear killed and big bears are fawn eaters.”
Nicks continued: “Yes, season should open earlier. Many mature boars are sleeping (hibernating) before kill season opens! The DNR has known this for many years! Better for wildlife (by) removing mature boars,” he wrote to the Shawano Leader.
Marquette’s main objection to the use of dogs in Zone C (which includes Shawano, Waupaca and Langlade counties) is that the vast majority of the land is private, and Oconto County’s public areas are too small to run dogs.
Marquette also took exception to a comment a DNR staffer made at the Wausau meeting that because it was easier to get a bear tag in the current Zone C (less preference points), hunters wouldn’t put in as much time and effort (as reflected by a lower harvest rate). Marquette called that comment “borderline insulting to me, and blatantly showed how oblivious/ignorant DNR personnel are to the flooded tag situation in this zone.” He added that he believes the DNR is using that zone “as an ATM machine of sorts” to generate more revenue.
“It would be nice if they’d quit doing that, and make an effort to get the success rate higher instead of driving it into the ground, as their own statistics show!” Marquette added.
Nicks believes all baits should be registered with the DNR and hunters should have to pay to do so.