|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
by Lisa Jablow
It took a public records request sent to Vermont Fish Wildlife (F&W), but Vermonters now have a clearer picture of the 2023 bear hunt. The data that F&W published in their report was incomplete, likely because the public would be unhappy to know that hunters killed cubs, yearling bears, and a large number of females. Most of the bears that are hunted each year are bears that never caused a problem with humans.
The 2023 hunt resulted in another record high mortality rate: a total of 838 bears were killed, with 43% of them being female. This figure does not take into account: (1) bears that were killed by hunters but not reported; (2) bears killed by vehicle strikes; (3) bears killed “in defense of property”; (4) bears mortally injured but not recovered by the hunter; (5) first-year cubs that died because they could not survive after their mothers were hunted and killed.
F&W’s hunting data shows an alarming number of cubs who were shot and killed (approximately 47). I classified cubs as a bear who weighed 70 pounds or less (estimated to be up to a year old). The smallest bears who were hunted and killed were in the towns of Troy and Windsor and weighed just 34 pounds. The number of yearling bears, about 18 months old, that were hunted and killed is estimated to be 173 (I classified yearling bears to weigh between 71 and 100 pounds).
The data further shows that 364 female bears were killed. Even if only 10% of those females had two first-year cubs, that means that potentially more than 70 of those cubs also died. Cubs stay with their mothers for 17-18 months, and during this time they learn crucial life lessons such as where to den and what to eat. Unlike deer, bears have very low reproductive rates. Bear sows don’t become sexually mature until they reach about 3-4 years of age. Their ability to have litters is dependent on food supplies prior to denning.
Some might be surprised to know that F&W allows hunters to kill mother bears with cubs in sight. This disturbing fact became apparent after a Mad River Valley landowner’s trail camera captured a bear hunter killing a mother bear with two cubs in 2022. At least one of the cubs later died of starvation. The landowner subsequently submitted a petition to the Fish & Wildlife Board and Department to make this act illegal—tragically, his petition was denied.
Bear hounders, including those from out of state, killed 127 bears, including a 43-pound cub. In addition to the legal hunting season, June 1st marks the beginning of bear hound “training” season, making Vermont an outlier with the early start date. New Hampshire and Maine don’t start their training seasons until later in the summer. During this time, bear families are terrorized for miles by packs of hounds. This time of year bears are still trying to put on weight, and instead of being able to forage for food they are forced to waste fat reserves and hydration fleeing from hounds. During these pursuits sows are separated from their vulnerable cubs.
When bears come into conflict with humans, it is directly correlated to areas where food attractants are not secured. Bears are lured into residential areas by bird feeders, unsecured trash, and other items, and no amount of hunting and killing them will stop that. It has been well documented in peer-reviewed scientific literature that the hunting of bears does not reduce human-bear conflicts. Researchers found: “Human-bear conflict was not correlated with prior harvests, providing no evidence that larger harvests reduced subsequent human-bear conflicts. (Martyn E. Obbard, Eric J. Howe, Linda L. Wall, Brad Allison, Ron Black, Peter Davis, Linda Dix-Gibson, Michael Gatt, Michael N. Hall “Relationships among food availability, harvest, and human–bear conflict at landscape scales in Ontario, Canada,” (1 October 2014)).
Yet the bear hunt continues as a recreational activity for a subset of hunters, leaving in its wake vulnerable orphaned cubs and fractured bear families.
Discover more from Vermont Daily Chronicle
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Categories: Commentary, Outdoors
you should worry more about the human families and less about the bear families///////
I just read Lisa Jablow’s editorial. I GOOGLED Ms. Jablow, and amongst all her accreditations, (Musician, voiceover artist, animal advocate, vegan, wannabe fluent Italian speaker) nowhere did I see a degree in wildlife biology. I’m sure she is a completely adequate assistant conductor for the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, but that does not make her an acceptable voice for scientific wildlife manager.
Congrats on learning to Google, maybe next you can learn empathy
Neither do most people’s credentials on VDC make them scientific wildlife experts. At least she utilizes data and facts as opposed to “I have fun killing animals” statements. Yeah. Real experts. My husband has been hunting since he was 6. Wild game is healthier and obviously cost effective. Never has he derived perverse pleasure though from the taking of any life. Maybe see someone.
If only those male bear would grow horns, then hunters wouldn’t shoot the female bear. Maybe the females should wear skirts so those nasty hunters can identify their sex.😀😀
What about trans bears ??? Until you ask them their correct gender I.D. how is one to know ?
Lisa Jablow’ quote facts and about the F&G Dept. With all that data stated, The article would be more trustworthy if she noted link sources to be more honest It’s like the World’s coming to an end when Halley’s Comet returns. If she doesn’t like the F&G, then why quote their figures, noting paragraph 2.
I smell a RAT! Can’t we leave Vt F&W alone, they’ll never stop, this is a trash story!
Can’t F&W do their job? Or are they scared of some hillbillies with guns?
Good day,
Please be advised the community needs to be in balance. How many acres of land per bear is necessary for their habitat? When bears are coming into our orchards and farms and maiming and killing our citizens we have a problem!! Is the construction profession responsible for driving the bears out of their habitat? Is the population too large and requires down sizing? 365 female bears is too many for Vermont. These bears are attacking our people. My neighbors and friends!!!!
Ms. Jablow
The Vt. F+W strongly discourages shooting sows with cubs. If you actually took the time to look through the 2024 hunting guide (page 16) you would see that they address this very issue. If you spend ANY time in the woods you’d understand that a large sow looks very similar to a boar. Sometimes it’s not easy to tell them apart. Most hunters I know take the time to watch a bear and make sure its of a decent size and alone. Mistakes do happen but you people once again try your best to vilify anyone who hunts. Sad how humans are loosing the ability to understand living with the land.. it will be the end of us.
Why can’t the hillbilly hunters simply follow the rules? If there are no consequences then the manchildren will do whatever they want.
Hmmmm… methinks the commentors doth protest too much… usually happens when someone gets right over the target… thus, the problem of cognitive dissonance in a world where God created nature AND man… and we fail over and over, eons and eons again, to understand OUR place WITHIN it…not opposed to it.
I’m all for subsistance hunting. Not much of that in the lower 48 where a grocery store or farmstand is just a few miles away, wrapped in plastic, injected with hormones, preservatives and coloring…
But bear meat isn’t all that tasty. Most of the ‘bear’ goes to waste, and admit it guys, its about the ‘bagging of the bear’ –
And to you crazies who think black bears are attacking people… omg… what planet do you live on? Read Ben Killam’s Bear books for starters.
If you want to know what really being charged and eaten by a bear looks like, go to Alaska, and be sure to pack lots of dog food, and garbage in your belongings… and do a Timothy Treadwell. THAT’s being eaten by a bear.
Lived here all my life (except when I lived in AK), and NEVER been charged or eaten by a black bear, in fact hardly see them. I rarely see even scat in the woods and I’m in the woods a lot.
You’re showing your roots peeps…
Big guns and big… you get the drift… that is NOT subsistance and ain’t sporting…I HATE trophy hunting. Its so cowardly.|
And those paws… aren’t they worth more than turtles in China?
Love your brutal honesty. These “native” Vermonters couldn’t last a day on the wilds of Alaska or most of the Northwest. Their sick pleasure in killing anything that moves in the northeast is their FEAR. Nothing more than irrational fear and irreverence for creatures God created, yes, for sustenance and for pleasure – not for desecration and destruction. They wiped out the wolves, the Rattlers, the Catamount and others. Why? Golly, I’m a he-man and these fellow mammals might hurt me.
Pathetic. Small state. Small minds.
Bear meat is delicious!!! Have you ever tried it? The hides are luxurious. I’m not a “trophy hunter” nor do I hunt with dogs, but bear is my first choice meat (venison is second) and with the VT bear population at 100 year high, more people should try it.
You’ve proven my point..thank you. Bear meat, deer meat, moose meat etc.. etc.. all natural, no injected hormones, preservatives, colorings and we actually work for it. As Ive said before..unless you are a true full bore vegan and you kill nothing for your sustenance then you have no credibility when you attack hunters. I’m sure the thought of getting blood on your hands makes you want to go to your safe spaces.. next time you buy that juicy steak at Shaws remember that you took part in the death of that animal but paid someone else to do the dirty work for you. Sad state of affairs when people completely disconnect from life’s realities.
And Joan..I lived in Montana around plenty of Grizzly bears for years and grew to have great respect for them. That has absolutely nothing to do with why I choose to hunt black bear in Vermont. It’s never about “fear” or “irreverence for creatures”. Pathetic knee jerk comments..
Corned bear is my favorite!! Lots of meat available.
“When bears come into conflict with humans, it is directly correlated to areas where food attractants are not secured. Bears are lured into residential areas by bird feeders, unsecured trash, and other items, and no amount of hunting and killing them will stop that.”
I disagree, two years ago I had a large sow and teenager bear alternately visiting my property every day for a week. I don’t feed the birds, don’t have a greasy gas grill, and don’t have trash outside (it’s in the basement until dump day. Every day they came poking around, even ignoring barking dogs. Rubber shotgun pellets finally dissuaded them, but I would have used lead if need be.
Really a reply for all: I am 81 and was born here. Yesterday I was unloading groceries from my pick-up at my kitchen door. After the second trip I was confronted by a yearling who was helping me unload. He/she/it took a 16 lb bag of cat food 15′ away and proceeded to chow down. He/she/it also stole some bread and other items and for some weird reason pulled my laundry off the line on my front porch. When confronted by yelling it came towards me veering off ONLY when I fired a pistol shot next to it. It then DID NOT flee but ambled back to “it’s” cat food. Being disabled and unable to flee myself I then fired a shot into the bag of aforementioned cat food spraying he/she/ it in the face with kibble and it finally fled (probably not used to exploding food). My local bears have become bolder but, this one has been the worse. If I had not been armed would he/she/it have attacked to protect “it’s” food? I have lived here all my life and, for example, have no “attractants (excepting apparently, my laundry) and have done nothing to encourage or discourage the bears. This precursor to outright aggression is a sea change. The sight of this guy helping itself to goods out of my truck would be funny if not for the fact it then “fought” me for them for the next 1/2 hour. What’s next? Just saying.
Small State, small minds.
Case proven for posterity by the trappers & “sport” hunting posters on VDC.
And thanks to the unrelenting dedication of Protect Our Wildlife VT who make certain that the governing bodies see the lengths & depths of the desperation & the depravity that these animal-haters go to, in their very own words, to torment, torture, and kill with giddy glee the numerous animals of the woodlands all share – we will all be poised to continue on into another legislative session to eventually secure the safety & sanctity of all life.
In July of 2019 a bear was put down at Goddard shelter on the Long Trail. This is a remote location and Vermont Game Wardens had only one choice. Aggressive behavior warranted an aggressive solution. Apparently, over time hikers had been feeding the bear to prompt photo opportunities. Is it hard to believe some “saviors of the earth” would do such a thing to one of their furry friends? NO!