Study: Presence of hunters attract grizzly bears

[spectr17]

Study: Presence of hunters attract grizzly bears

Elk, lions tend to stay away

ASSOCIATED PRESS

December 11, 2003

BOZEMAN, Mont. – Grizzlies are attracted by the presence of hunters because of all the goodies they leave behind, while mountain lions and elk see them simply as intruders, a new study suggests.

And wolves, according to the new study of wildlife in and around Yellowstone National Park, don't care if humans are around or not.

The findings are from 10 biologists who tracked grizzly bears, mountain lions and wolves in Yellowstone's northern range and the Absaroka Beartooth Wilderness Area, just north of the park. The scientists fitted the animals with collars that transmit their locations.

Bears, the scientists found, traveled from the park into the wilderness, where the hunters were. The mountain lions, on the other hand, left the wilderness during hunting season and headed for the park, possibly following elk herds that also head south.

The researchers, from government agencies and the private groups Wildlife Conservation Society and Beringia South, were not surprised by the bears' behavior.

Previous studies show hunters in the greater Yellowstone area discard as much as 500 tons of guts, bones and meat every year at about the same time the bears are in hyperphagia, a sort of feeding frenzy they enter before taking to their dens in the late fall or winter.

More than half of all grizzly deaths and human injuries occur during big-game hunting seasons, based on statistics compiled by the state fish and game agency.

 

[wildebeast]

What a waste of money....someone sitting in a warm truck tracking animals by way of satelite collar. Not sure if the lions are following a herd of elk south or not.

Grizzes, cougars and wolves don't give a hoot about humans...they avoid them if possible but don't go out of there way to avoid humans--exept possibly the wolves.

When they get hungry ( usually in the fall during hunting season ) they will eat the easiest food available...the left overs after cleaning the game.

I could sit at home and write the same report while watching TV.

What was the purpose of the study----does anything ever change or does it even matter.

Some person that knows nothing about wildlife can make a study on a subject that nobody cares about and make people believe that it is true.

The people on JHO's forums know more about wildlife and learned the old fashioned way by being in the woods.

cliff

I must add that 500 tons of animal waste a year by the hunters is quite a lot...
Every 5000 hunters would kill an animal and leave 200 lbs of gut pile, hide and bones. How many tags for that area?

 

[younghunter]

every 5000 hunter would kill an animal?

That is horrible odds. Actually many of those units success rate runs high, espically for elk. That area is littered with outfitters who typically have success rates of around 70 percent. Resident success there runs about 40 percent.

Do it your self hunters do quite well there too, just gotta hunt your #@$ off lol!


I enjoy hunting up there every fall, the bears haven't been a problem to us yet.....yet.

 

[wildebeast]

younghunter....you misunderstood...in order for 50 tons of waste to be left behind by hunters is equal to ----200 lbs of waste for every one of 5000 hunters. Is that area able to have 5000 hunters fill their tags.

If the success rate is on average of 50% that would mean that at least 10,000 hunters were in the area, not including the outfitters.

I am just questioning the statistics and the study.

cliff

 

[younghunter]

Ok i see what you were throwing out LoL, i just caught it now LOL