As the spring hunting season in British Columbia comes closer, the controversial "trophy" grizzly bear hunt is brought up once again. When we begin to discuss the hunt something that needs to be understood is who "trophy hunters" are. Anti-hunting groups have used this term to create a misconception about real trophy hunters and hunters in general. Trophy hunters are those individuals who have taken their hunting and pursuit of animals to the next level. They have dedicated their seasons to proper game management and pursuing only the mature animals, the best specimens of a species. They do not harvest the young animals but instead look to harvest the older, more difficult animals to find. Many trophy hunters end the season without a tag cut because they did not find that perfect animal. Trophy hunters take more than just the head or the horns from the animal. They take the hide, the horns, the adventure, and the meat (much more meat is found on a mature animal than a young animal). These mature animals have had a chance to reproduce numerous times in their lives, compared to immature animals. Old, mature animals are less able to survive harsh conditions and more likely to be killed by predators. Due to reduced fitness with age, these animals are ideal targets for sustainable management. The individuals who simply cut the head or paws off an animal are not trophy hunters. They are not hunters, they are poachers. Poachers are the issue in game management in B.C. and they steal opportunities from everyone, nature enthusiasts and hunters alike.
The standard arguments against the grizzly hunt are as follows: 1) bears are impossible to distinguish sex and therefore female bears are often shot.
2) Wildlife tourism makes more money than hunting.
3) Grizzly bears are endangered and extirpated in many areas.
Some real facts about these arguments:
1) With proper field knowledge, education and time the sex of bears is easily distinguishable.
Secondly, grizzly bear hunting requires every single bear shot by hunters to be inspected by biologists. Mistakes do happen, but, if too many female bears (30 per cent of the total bears harvested.
That is no more than 30 per cent of a maximum six per cent of the total population in the area) are harvested then the allocations are reduced in subsequent years.
2) Wildlife tourism and hunting have existed together for many years. The vast majority of B.C. where grizzly bears are hunted are not accessible and are not used by wildlife tourism operations. Furthermore, the sought after bears for hunting are large, mature boars. These boars are difficult to find and often very afraid of people (reducing sightings), and they are notorious for eating cubs in order to breed that female again. Taking large boars can in fact potentially increase overall bear numbers.
3) Grizzly bear hunting is only permitted in about 65 per cent of the province. No hunting is permitted in any area that cannot support a large number of bears.
Hunting is only allowed where bears are abundant. All grizzly bear hunting is done by LEH authorization and is the most regulated hunt in B.C.
Some closing thoughts on the grizzly bear hunt is that most grizzly bear hunters are in support of removing meat from the animals that they kill. Yes, people eat grizzly bears. The grizzly hunt should be continued to be managed by science. If you have an ethical disagreement with hunting bears that is another issue; however I urge you to think about the ethics of catch and release fishing, where fish are caught for no other purpose than entertainment and a picture.
If you are writing to your MLA this spring urge them to put more resources into research for wildlife species in B.C. and more enforcement of wildlife laws.
Hunters, fisherman and nature enthusiasts should band together against poachers, not each other.
Matt Erickson
Prince George
