Bill Cochran: New bear license has hunters growling
The Roanoke Times
Posted: Tuesday, September 8, 2015 4:55 pm
By Bill Cochran | Special to The Roanoke Times
Few things have divided outdoor sportsmen more than Virginia’s new $21 bear hunting license.
It has dominated the conversation wherever hunters gather, and has enlivened chat rooms with caustic comments. One Facebook group, titled Hunters Opposed to Virginia’s Bear Tag, has collected nearly 2,500 signatures from people who oppose the license.
The Department of Game and Inland Fisheries has gone into overtime mode trying to address the questions and concerns hunters have about the license.
Such spats can be harmful to hunting, a sport that already has enough enemies without creating more from within its ranks.
“You can’t have hunter against hunter,” said Leon Turner, DGIF board member from Fincastle.
Here’s my recommendation: Since the license already is in place for the 2015-16 hunting season, like it or not, let’s give the debate a rest. Let’s enjoy the hunting season. When it ends, DGIF biologists can carefully analyze the impact that the license had on the bear kill and on the agency’s budget. Stakeholders can have their say, then it can be determined if the license is worth the money, needs to be adjusted pricewise or should be rescinded.
It was haste that got us into trouble in the first place. The license was not a recommendation of DGIF biologists; rather, it was promoted by the Virginia Bear Hunters Association who found a strong advocate in newly appointed DGIF board member Watkins Abbitt of Appomattox. Abbitt served in the Virginia General Assembly for 26 years and is a bear hunter.
The board approved the license by a 5-to-4 vote.
“I did not feel that enough analysis had been done on the impact that a separate bear license would have,” said Bill Bolling, DGIF vice chairman and former Virginia lieutenant governor. Bolling, who lives in Mechanicsville, voted against the license.
If the vote were taken today, the outcome would be different, he believes.
“I would say that I think the board has heard loud and clear that most hunters aren’t happy about the separate bear license,” he said.
The issue could go before the 2016 General Assembly, Bolling said, but he hopes that doesn’t happen.
“The decision really should be made by the [DGIF] Board,” he said.
The Virginia Bear Hunters Association, a hound-hunting organization, has advocated a bear license for 15 years. Its president, David Steger of Catawba, believes the license offers two major benefits.
It elevates “the status of Virginia’s black bear to that of a primary target” and provides “better statistical data to DGIF to manage the resource.”
Steger also hopes the license will generate funds that can be used to teach Virginians how to coexist with wildlife, especially bears.While some foes see the license as an effort by organized bear hunters to hog the resource, others are just peeved that it is going to cost them extra money if they want a chance at a bear.
In the past, hunters have been able to buy a big game license that covered deer, bear and turkey. Now they must pay extra for the stand-alone bear license and the cost of the remaining deer/turkey license has not been discounted. It is $23, the same as last year when it included bear.
That raises a couple of questions:
Are deer hunters going to pay extra for a bear license on the outside chance they might come across a bear? More than half the bear kills in the past have come at the hands of opportunistic hunters.
If these hunters don’t buy a bear license will the bear population get out of hand?
Those are questions yet to be answered. Some DGIF board members believe the license will generate additional income for wildlife management, but if deer hunters don’t buy it, maybe even boycott it, just the opposite may be the case.
DGIF has acquired an outside agency to look at its license structure with an eye toward meeting future funding demands.
By last week, approximately 5,000 resident bear licenses have been sold along with 117 nonresident licenses, which sell for the fleecing price of $150. I’m guessing many of the early sales went to hound hunters, who already are involved in the chase season.
Jaime Sajecki, DGIF bear project leader, believes the license will result in a short-term reduction in the bear kill, which has exceeded 2,000 the past seven seasons. If that occurs, changes in management practices could be required, and DGIF is equipped to do that.
“Everyone really wants what is best for bears and bear-hunting recreation,” she said.
www.roanoke.com/sports/outdoors/bill-cochran-new-bear-license-has-hunters-growling/article_2eff1239-118f-500b-92ee-3a1517692a67.htmlThe licensing fees need to be analyzed to provide the most money and fair system for all the types of hunters. They should have reduced the deer/turkey license since it no longer included bear.
In high school, we hunted bear with the Campbell's, Small's and several other families that had packs of dogs. We hunted the Three Ridges area and part of what is now Wintergreen. There were lots of white oak trees in that area and the bears did very well. It was real music hearing the dogs chase the bear.
Early in the morning at day break, several people with dogs would check all the favorite bear crossings for scent. When a scent trail was found, standers were placed around the area where the bear was know to be. The pack of dogs were brought in and turned loose on the scent.
They averaged about 30 bear a year if I recall correctly. In years with heavy mass, the bears approached 400 pounds. In years when there were few bears, they just let the bear escape or called the dogs off. You always had to consider stock for next year.
It was expensive to keep all those dogs so a lot of the bear waste products were saved and frozen for dog food. Some of them paid as much as $2000 for a good bear dog which was a lot of money back then. It wasn't unusual to loose a few dogs due to the bears or lost during the hunt. You will always find a burlap bag laying in the area where the dog was released if the dog is lost in hopes that the dog would return.
I never shot a bear but it was one of the fond memories that you cherish. Around the early 70's, someone was buying up the mountain land for as little as $50 an acre. At the time, no one knew that it was to be Wintergreen. Still the Three Ridges area is protected since it is National Forest.
The bear hut where they skinned and butchered the bear was at the Campbell's in Beech Grove. Wish I had had a camera back then and taken pictures of the events. They are all gone now and traditions such as bear and coon hunting are slowly dying.
So why didn't they offer a separate deer and turkey license?? 