Black bear hunt is back on the table

Washington Fish and Wildlife commissioners will hear a briefing and take public comment this morning on a proposal to revive the state’s limited spring black bear hunting season.

Last fall, commissioners unexpectedly deadlocked on a vote to approve the annual hunt, thereby killing it.

Opponents of the hunt argued it’s unethical because they say black bears are especially vulnerable after emerging from months of hibernation. They also contend newborn cubs could be orphaned in the hunt, even though regulations forbid hunters from harvesting female bears with cubs.

At the time, the nine-member commission had one vacant seat. After that vote, then-commissioner Fred Koontz, a strong opponent of the hunt, resigned from the commission. Gov. Jay Inslee replaced him and appointed two other new commissioners. Several hunting groups petitioned the remade commission to reconsider the hunt.

Under the proposal from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife managers, the hunt would include 644 permits, including 158 in the Washington portion of the Blue Mountains. The hunt would begin May 1, an adjustment from the traditional start date of April 15 that would give the department time to conduct a permit drawing. The proposal better defines cubs, or offspring, as bears less than a year old or those less than 50 pounds.

According to briefing material the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife prepared for the commission, from 2011 to 2020, Washington hunters harvested 1,019 black bears during the spring hunt. That works out to about 102 black bears per year. In Black Bear Management Unit 8, which is essentially the Blue Mountains in the state’s southeastern corner, hunters harvested 241 bears over the 10-year span, or about 24 per year.

For context, Idaho hunters harvest about 3,000 to 3,500 black bears annually, with roughly two-thirds of those coming in the spring season and one-third in the fall season. In Idaho’s Unit 10, north of the Lochsa River, hunters killed 115 black bears during the 2020 spring season, and in Unit 12 on the south side of the river, hunters harvested 125.

In most of Idaho, the spring bear hunting season is conducted as a general hunt, meaning any licensed hunter can participate by purchasing a tag. Washington hunters must draw one of 644 black bear tags to participate in the spring hunt, which has a success rate of about 15%.

Bear baiting and hound hunting are allowed in much of Idaho and several backcountry units allow hunters to kill two bears per year. Jon Rachael, chief of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game’s Wildlife Bureau, said the agency tracks black bear populations largely through harvest data — both the number of bears taken by hunters each year and the age of those bears.

“In general we provide pretty liberal opportunity,” he said. “By all measures we have plenty of black bears despite the opportunity we do provide.”

Black bears are difficult to count but Idaho wildlife officials estimate the state has about 30,000 of the animals. That compares to an estimate of about 20,000 in Washington and an estimate of 25,000 to 30,000 in Oregon.

Like Washington, Oregon conducts its spring black bear hunt on a permit-only basis. However, Oregon offers significantly more permits — up to 10,000 per year. In 2020, a year in which many hunters turned in their tags because of COVID-19 travel issues, more than 5,000 hunters participated in the spring hunt and harvested 925 bears.

Today’s meeting will be conducted via Zoom starting at 8 a.m. Links to the meeting, an agenda and supporting documents are available at bit.ly/3Cv0vKr. Those who would like to provide comments can do so by registering at bit.ly/3KCOqWp.

The commission is scheduled to vote on the proposal at 9:30 a.m. during its March 19 meeting. That meeting will also include a presentation about the Blue Mountain Elk Herd. The herd is below the agency’s population objective and a calf mortality monitoring project has shown poor survival. Of 100 calves that were outfitted with tracking collars last spring, fewar than 10 are still alive. Mountain lions have accounted for about 70% of the deaths, according to preliminary results.

Barker may be contacted at ebarker@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2273. Follow him on Twitter @ezebarker.