Manitoba’s spring bear hunt critical for bear management

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/06/2024 (473 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In a recent edition of the Free Press, Jessica Scott-Reid takes aim at Manitoba’s spring bear hunt (Manitoba spring bear hunt is unfair and unnecessary, June 12) but unfortunately, she badly missed the mark.

I am an outfitter, a hunter, an angler and a former agricultural producer with remaining ties to the industry. I live in bear country, with the bears. I grew up with bears and so I have a deep appreciation for them.

I also hunt them, as do our clients because it is our collective lifestyle choice to do so. Yes, we could get our meat from the grocery store like others, but we choose not to.

Bears provide some of the most nutritious and flavourful meat and offer high-quality fat that is rendered down for various uses including cooking, baking, leather treatment, as a moisturizer and for its healing qualities. In a recent virtual survey, my fellow outfitter colleagues reported that 98 per cent of their hunters are consuming both the meat and fat and the remainder is donated to local families who don’t have the access or ability to hunt themselves.

Scott-Reid and her animal rights activist colleagues suggest issues with the bear hunt, including that the spring hunt increases nuisance bear incidents by attracting bears to cabins and people. This is patently false.

In fact, I would argue the exact opposite is true. Outfitters avoid cottage areas and stay away from areas that are heavily used by people in general, as it is counterproductive to the hunt. Moreover, our experience has shown that bear hunting reduces nuisance bear problems, by keeping bear populations under control.

One wouldn’t think COVID could have had a direct impact on bears, yet it did.

With the inability of American hunters to travel north during COVID, there was little to no harvest of bears. Because sows often have up to three cubs, the bear population saw an explosive rise in our area. We saw increased human-bear interactions with hikers and bikers and increased complaints from rural communities. We heard more than the usual concerns from many farmers and cottage owners regarding damage to property and predation on livestock.

In 1999, under pressure from animal rights advocates, Ontario cancelled its spring bear hunt.

But in 2021, it brought the spring hunt back, with facts and science prevailing over emotion.

Local Ontario communities reported increased negative bear interactions after the cancellation of the hunt and were relieved when the hunt was reinstated. Bear hunting as a personal choice was valued, along with the critical economic impact of the hunt.

Unmanaged bear populations can have other consequences.

Deep concerns have been raised by hunters and conservationists about the declining health of the moose population in Manitoba. Bears are significant predators of moose calves. It doesn’t make bears bad, it’s just what they do.

But people living on the land know that balance in all things is important, and when bear populations get high, as they are now, it causes issues such as contributing to moose declines, causing crop damage and inflicting predation on livestock, especially calves.

Scott-Reid seems to suggest that cubs being sent to the Manitoba Black Bear Rescue facility were orphaned because of the spring bear hunt. Knowing many people who work in conservation, wildlife management and the Conservation Officer Service, we believe that cubs are orphaned by sows being shot in defence of property and other ways such as falling victim to car collisions, not the spring bear hunt.

Hunters have no interest in harming bear cubs, or any other young wildlife. Identifying a sow with cubs in the spring is generally quite easy as they will be right at foot or within a close visible distance.

Hunters, anglers, trappers and outfitters have a strong interest in conservation.

Without a doubt, these folks spend the largest amount of time and money ensuring the resources are sustainable.

After all, without the resources, their businesses would fail, and their way of life would not exist. Outfitters often get into the business because of their passion to be in the wilderness, and in many cases carry on a legacy passed on for many generations.

They now contribute to the economy, create local jobs, carry on family businesses and do something they love, while contributing to the sustainable management of our resources.

So, for many reasons, there has never been a worse time to mislead Manitobans on bear facts.

Melanie MacCarthy is president of the Manitoba Lodges and Outfitters Association.