What would you do if this was your bear hunting area?

[bwana_d]

I had hoped when Lynn Rogers removed his collars early this year, it would all fade away. Seems he has come up with a new plan to protect "his" bears. As near as I can tell he adjusted to not having collars quite well, taking the people attending his classes to local feeding stations when bears are sighted. Now it appears he needs to protect those revenue generating bears and is enlisting volunteers to walk "well known" bear trails at morning and dusk from August 28th to September 14th. He is doing it in the name of research, but it sure feels like organized hunter harassment to me. Once upon a time he said he did not have a problem with hunters. His current actions are speaking volumes about his true intentions.

I am unable to put in the direct link because somehow it is protected from people coming from HSO.

Please go to -------------- www.bearstudy.org

click on ------------------ Daily Updates

look at the update for ---- August 16th

Includes statements about it being safe for volunteers because no one has ever been shot by a bear hunter, etc.

[Fishalittle]

I would contact your local Conservation officer in the area. Let him know the problem and see what happens.

[jerkbait]

Sounds like harassment to me. Well camouflaged harassment. Is a person allowed to feed bears all summer long?

[charliepete]

This is nothing more than well hidden hunter harassment. I don't know if it rises to the level of being legally actionable, but there is no doubt what the intent is. Given the nut jobs associated with this thing there is no way I would hunt anywhere near where those bears are. I wouldn't want to deal with the fallout if I were to shoot one. If I were Lynn Rogers I would tread a careful line about harassing folks engaging in a legal activity. If he pushes too far in crossing into gray areas of the law it won't be long before people start responding in kind with poisoned baits and the like so that the harassers won't have anything left to 'protect'.

[icehole10]

I am not familiar with this territory so I have one question. How close can you actually hunt to the are that he is feeding these bears? He mentions the "eagles nest community" just curious if you can hunt within this same area.

[Boar]

I would continue to hunt and document everything i could with trails cams/video and gather enough evidence and present it to C.O.

[laker1]

Talk to your DNR CO.

[jkcmj]

We hunt the area, not directly adjacent to him, but close enough where we occasionally would get his collared bears on our bait sites.

My guess is he's aiming for making them go nocturnal, and of course, pressuring hunters from staying nearby...nothing going to make hunters uncomfortable more than having all the bears go nocturnal, and knowing all your gear(scout cams, stands, etc) are likely to be found by the anti-hunting crowd that follows Rogers' research.

I'm guessing he's looking for the information on hunter bait site signs, as well as GPS locations on all those sites that he doesn't currently know about as well.

I notified the DNR of my concerns, and will be keeping an eye out as best I can. Apparently the CO job up there is an open position for them, so response time if there is a problem, isn't likely to be real swift.

[cherokee]

Hunter harassment at its best. Document it and call it in. Press charges if it comes to it.

[Bureaucrat]

Bowhunt deer opens on September 13th. Ironic they are going to quit the day after bow deer opens. I'd welcome it if they committed to doing it the whole season. It'd be real nice to have an army of fools pushing deer through the woods while on stand.

Whoever hunts up there, if you get a bear, I'd be sure to send in a photo to the paper with the story that the bear was spooked off a trail by walkers and right to you. Thank the walkers for the synergy in resource usage that helped you realize your dream of getting a bear.

[Bear55]

I'd bring a video cam and document any encounters with them. It might not be a bad idea to setup new bait sites away from any traditional sites you might have, let them think they are messing you up but hunt 200 or more yards away.

[bwana_d]

Interesting comments so far.

I have left a voice mail for the CO covering the area, as mentioned above it is a vacant position at this time. Video taping a person walking through a bait site, turning it over to CO and then waiting for it to play out in the legal system....not sure how effective that is going to be in the long run. In the short term it is not effective - seems like a major interruption to a hunt, could be what he is hoping to have happen.

At this point our group has seven baits established and plan on adding some more this weekend. I would like to know more about the specific area where he will be asking the volunteers to walk - basically the boundaries so we can plan accordingly for baits inside and outside that area.

He has stated on his blog in the past that the first two weeks of bear hunting are when the most bears get shot. Sure seems to be targeting this time frame.

There are some ways I think this could backfire on him, maybe just wishful thinking at this point:

• Concerned hunters could use similar tactics - coordinate volunteers to bait the area for licensed hunters next year, basically focus on that area, it could even be couched as research - Do more hunters in area where bears are receiving supplemental feeding at feeding stations through the summer and being hand fed increase hunter success or just increase the number of bears harvested in an area. Our group will not get drawn next year, but would be happy to help
• The DNR could prohibit feeding of bears outside of hunting season like it is in other states, that would effectively put end to the taming of the bears in the area
• Bear hunters could push for the use of snares like what are used in Maine, then it does not matter what time a bear is feeding. Could be done similar to wolf hunting - x number of bow/firearm, x number for trapping.