Grizzly Hunt on Global News at 6 Tonight

[Bull Barrel]

I got interviewed today in front of Bass Pro. They asked me my opinion on the grizzly hunt etc. They said it will be broadcast tonight on the news at 6, on Global TV Calgary (channel 7). Lets see how they spin it....

[Grizzly Adams]

They drag this dead cat out, every year, at this time.:D

Grizz

[sheephunter]

Must be about time for another informative article in the Sun from Michael Platt too.

[Bull Barrel]

Well, I got skunked. They didn't show it. And I had already packed my bags for Hollywood.......

[mad mountain mike]

They have been running a clip on QR77 all day today, somebody from the wilderness foundation claiming that the gov. needs to shut down the hunt for many more years. Funny they did'nt run any clips disputing this guys claims.

[greylynx]

While listening to numerous conservative type stations in the U.S., I have discovered that normal people, like AO members, are getting sick and tired of being told by Bully Environmentalists on how to live their lives.

Today, It appears the theme of Bully Enviromentalists hit the airwaves of 630 CHED in Bob Layton's editorial about turning your lights out last Saturday for some stupid eco nutso reason.

I think we should continue with our letters, emails, and talk to all concerned that we are getting sick and tired of being Bullied by a bunch of small interest groups. The novelty has worn off for these small interest groups, and it is about time we run them out of town.

We all know who these outdoor hating bullies are without having to post them on this forum.

[Rob Miskosky]

Must be about time for another informative article in the Sun from Michael Platt too.

Alberta's favourite hunter basher. Waste of paper.

[IAMBREAD]

Lets all go out and shoot some bears!

[Neil Waugh]

Actually this is media reaction to a campaign launched by the Alberta Wilderness Association yesterday. The AWA has been leading the antis with amazing result.
They did an e-mail out yesterday calling for an extension of the hunt moratorium.
By now their membership will be all reved up and the e-mails will be pouring in to the MLAs.
The Alberta Fish and Game Association brass, meanwhile, is not in the game.
With only 3,200 of their 22,000 members with e-mail addresses they are about to get their butts kicked once more by the antis.
This is not some random media type "trotting" something out again, it's a well organized and orchestrated campaign which in the past has produced excellent results.
My guess the AFGA isn't even aware this is happening.
Until they read it here.

[huntfishtrap]

Must be about time for another informative article in the Sun from Michael Platt too.


Talking about interviewing, I did not see your interview on the feral horses. Did they air it yet? If so was it portrayed correctly. Not trying to derail the grizzly issue ...pm me if you would like. thanks

[bruceba]

Grizzly population growing

Written by
MICHAEL BABCOCK
Tribune Outdoor Editor Filed Under
News
Local News
The grizzly population in northwestern Montana is growing at 3 percent a year, and a management plan is needed before the bear can be removed from threatened species status might go out for public review by the end of the year.

Last year, there were 941 grizzlies in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem, according to Rick Mace, leader of a team tracking the population trend of grizzlies in the ecosystem.

That is up from the 765 bears found in 2008 by fellow researcher Kate Kendall, who counted bears based on DNA testing of hair samples collected at scratching sites.

In 2009, there were 913 bears in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem, a region the size of Maryland and Delaware combined that includes Glacier National Park and the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex.

"For grizzly bears, 3 percent is good," Mace said Thursday. "It is not the very best we have ever seen globally, but in terms of brown bear populations, when you are within 2 to 4 percent (annual growth), that is almost as good as it can biologically get.

"This means there is a very high survival rate of females, and a relatively high reproductive rate. They are kicking out babies, and the females are surviving well," he said.

Chris Servheen, head of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's grizzly bear recovery effort, said 3 percent is a healthy growth rate.

Servheen leads the team writing a proposal to remove the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem grizzlies from threatened status under the Endangered Species Act.

He said that delisting is "a ways down the road," but the post-delisting management plan could go out for public review by the end of this year.

Mace, a Fish, Wildlife & Parks biologist stationed in Kalispell, leads a team made up of researchers from a number of state, federal and tribal agencies.

The team captures grizzly bears, attaches radio collars and releases the bears. Last year, Mace followed 40 bears.

The study focuses on females.

"We follow their fate with radio telemetry to determine if they are alive or dead, and whether or not they have cubs and the survival of the cubs," he said. "Those females give us everything."

Mace said the study shows an average survival rate for cubs of the year is 61 percent, and for yearlings it is 68 percent. Both classes of bears remain with their mothers.

Mace said subadult females have an 85 percent survival rate, and adult females — those age five and older — have a 95 percent survival rate.

"Those numbers were all generated within the designated recovery zone. We didn't study outside the zone, but we know they persist out there," Mace said.

Mace's study complements the work of a U.S. Geological Survey team led by Kendall, which established the first solid count of grizzly bears in the region based on hair samples collected throughout the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem.

"We have the base population from Kate and my trend estimate, and together they suggest that we have been successful in recovering this population since it was listed in 1975," Mace said. "Now we have to think about how we want to manage this in the future."

Mace said the options are to either manage the bear population so that it levels off, or allow it to grow at a determined rate.

"Whether that should be 3 percent or something less, we don't know," he said. "It is not our goal to make sure there are 10 million grizzly bears in Montana, but to come up with a plan to allow the grizzly to persist in suitable habitat throughout Western Montana."

Mace cautions that his data has not been accepted by the scientific community. His findings currently are under peer review at the Journal of Wildlife Management, in which it will be published if it survives the review process.

While the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem encompasses about 9,600 square miles of northwestern Montana, including Glacier Park, the wilderness system and a lot of federal and private land, Mace said Glacier Park is the key to the great bear's recovery in the ecosystem.

"A lot of these bears reside in Glacier Park," Mace said. "The distribution is not equal. There are fewer bears in the Bob and the Scapegoat than in Glacier. The park is the heart of the ecosystem, and the stuff driving the trend is Glacier National Park.

"In Yellowstone, the park is in the middle, and there is all that habitat around them," he said.

In other words, Glacier Park continues to play a huge role in the long-term survival of the species.

"We know there are bears everywhere else — of course there are — but there are more bears in the park," Mace said

Still, it is common knowledge that grizzly bears have wondered outside the boundaries of the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem for years, and at least passed through territory almost anywhere along the Continental Divide.

"There is no doubt the grizzly bear in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem is expanding its territory," said Mike Madel, grizzly bear management specialist for Fish, Wildlife & Parks on the Rocky Mountain Front and a member of Mace's research team.

Grizzly bears were documented last summer along the Missouri River near Carter and along the Sun River near Fort Shaw and Simms. The bears also routinely venture on to the plains east of Choteau.

Last year, a landowner killed a young grizzly bear that was raiding his duck pen on a property just north of Butte in Elk Park.

Researchers also are studying bear hair samples gathered along the Continental Divide between Helena and Basin.

The bear killed north of Butte was a Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem bear, according to Mace.

"We are getting bears right between the two ecosystems — Glacier and Yellowstone," he said. "Most are males, and those are the ones you would expect to take off and go on a walkabout. We have known about bears in the Stemple Pass and Rogers Pass areas. Heck, I walked that in 1976 and saw grizzlies."

Madel said there is talk of the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem bears linking up with bears from Yellowstone.

"We are talking about linkage zones now between Yellowstone Ecosystem and the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem," Madel said.

"As you get south of Rogers Pass and head down along Flesher Pass and south toward Helena, you have the opportunity to see grizzlies along the Continental Divide and along either side of it," Madel said. "Grizzly bears possibly are developing year-round home ranges south of Highway 200, and also bears may be moving up from Yellowstone."

Grizzly bears were classified as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1975. In 2007, Yellowstone grizzly bears lost their "threatened" status under the act.

Mace said Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem bear trend numbers are adequate for removing the bear from the threatened list from a biology standpoint, but not necessarily from a political standpoint.

"We are working on the details to get it started," Servheen said. "We are building the post-delisting management plan. That has to be in place and agreed to before we propose any status change.

"We will have it out for public comment by the end of this year," he said.

Servheen said the big obstacle to delisting the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem grizzly would be "the professional litigation groups" that probably will oppose it.

"We expect that, and we need to build a strong case that the bears will be adequately managed, that we have a commitment to their future, that we have covered all the concerns related to habitat needs; that we can adequately manage the population and that we have a strong system in place to ensure the future of populations," Servheen said.

Madel said removing the bear from the list of threatened species would be a good thing.

"It would free us up to implement other management practices," he said. "It might actually mean we would need to be more aggressive removing nuisance bears, males in particular, based on interagency guidelines."

Madel said delisting the bear might also lead to a restricted hunting season for the animal.

He said delisting would certainly mean more intensified cooperation with and counseling of landowners who own property where the bears might show up.

For the time being, people who venture into wild places anywhere along the Continental Divide should be prepared to encounter a grizzly bear, Madel said.

"Almost anywhere in Western and central Montana, it is good to be prepared. I do not take the bear spray off my daypack hip belt," Madel said. "I don't change if from side to side — I always keep in on my right side so I know it is there."

Reach Outdoor Editor Michael Babcock at 791-1487 or at triboutdoors@greatfallstribune.com.

[sheephunter]

Talking about interviewing, I did not see your interview on the feral horses. Did they air it yet? If so was it portrayed correctly. Not trying to derail the grizzly issue ...pm me if you would like. thanks

Yes it played last Saturday and people from both sides of the issue did get a chance to speak. I think I was on for about 20-30 seconds. Bob Henderson got the lion's share of time and I'd say the show was biased towards the views of WHOAS. Truthfully, IMHO, the show tried to cover too much in a few minutes and really it did a poor job or portraying the issue as a whole.

[roger]

They didn't show it. .....

they were burning film hoping to snag a gap-tooth, inbred, trigger-happy, no-sleeves-on-your-shirt-wearing country bumpkin who's lexicon includes delightful anecdotes like duhh!, yup! golley, shooot and uh huh! :sign0161:


probably figured you werent 'trigger happy' enough:)

[sheephunter]

Tis the season for sure. Just got a call from the Calgary Herald about my thoughts that the Alberta Government would not allow the hunting of grizzlies in 2011........like it was news.

[Grizzly Adams]

Yes it played last Saturday and people from both sides of the issue did get a chance to speak. I think I was on for about 20-30 seconds. Bob Henderson got the lion's share of time and I'd say the show was biased towards the views of WHOAS. Truthfully, IMHO, the show tried to cover too much in a few minutes and really it did a poor job or portraying the issue as a whole.

True. but I thought they avoided taking a stand, one way or the other. Didn't recognize you, cause you didn't look anything like your magazine pics.:lol:

Grizz

[sheephunter]

True. but I thought they avoided taking a stand, one way or the other. Didn't recognize you, cause you didn't look anything like your magazine pics.:lol:

Grizz

Ya I agree the reporter never took a stand but they sure gave a lot of time to the pro horse crowd....lol I said some way smarter things than the ones they used....lol

[fisher Gord]

Bull and Neil it takes 2 to fight,and then the media gets to pick over the bones,ruffling feathers oh selling newpapers. we know since the bear is now listed, that it will take years to get the right numbers counted, which is why we support the Wilmore bear count. Funny how none of THEM jumped up and down when the listed bison hunt started. Maybe Bison just do not generate enough emotion/money. and of course everybody loves wild horses sorry TJ Feral horses.

[huntinstuff]

they were burning film hoping to snag a gap-tooth, inbred, trigger-happy, no-sleeves-on-your-shirt-wearing country bumpkin who's lexicon includes delightful anecdotes like duhh!, yup! golley, shooot and uh huh! :sign0161:


probably figured you werent 'trigger happy' enough:)

Yeah sorry I was busy and couldn't be there.......:)

[Bull Barrel]

Hey, they finally showed it this morning on the news at 6:30. Here is the link:

http://www.globaltvcalgary.com/video/index.html?releasePID=BVuYm5KRz4b_sylJS8XATweiEyoZ sKnZ

Of course they edited a lot and didn't show what I said about special interest groups that seem to make government policy these days. At least they broadcast the part about letting real wildlife biologists make the decisions.

[marlin1]

saw it last night , good luck filling your black bear tag :)