Published: October 18, 2008 11:15 pm      

Bear hunt begins

Maryland’s bear season begins tomorrow. This is the fifth such hunt in modern times. Before that, bears had not been hunted in the state since 1953.

This new series of bear hunts was born in 2004. The birth was a difficult one and had to wait until a Maryland governor who had a dim view of hunting and hunters was out of office.

Throughout that time, however, the scientific groundwork was being established so that plans could move forward once the political climate changed.

Both of those things happened. Then, a bear management task force, made up of a variety of people with various backgrounds and philosophical views of hunting, approved a hunt, as did a similar task force a full 10 years before.

The critter managers who work for the Maryland Wildlife Service, which is a part of the Department of Natural Resources, have been ultra conservative when it comes to the number of bears that may be killed. The harvest quota has crept up a little since hunt number one and now stands at 55 to 75 bears for this year.

Harvest quotas for the first four hunts have been reached quickly, taking one, two or four days. The hunts have experienced a wide range of weather conditions, from heavy late October snows to bluebird skies.

I am writing this column a full week ahead of the hunt. Right now, The Weather Channel is predicting an opening bear hunting day in Garrett County that will be in the mid-30-degree area when the sun comes up and reach 53 degrees on a partly cloudy day.

Then comes Tuesday with some showers predicted. Then comes Wednesday with some rain and snow showers predicted.

Never ever go to Garrett County without your sunscreen or your down jacket. You never know what you will encounter in the high country. The hunt is open in Allegany County, too.

A lot of folks I talk with are frustrated with the lottery system Maryland uses to distribute bear hunting permits. Landowners whose corn crops get hammered by hungry bruins each year put in for bear permits, but can’t get lucky.

They say the monetary compensation they get for damaged crops doesn’t come close to paying for the loss. They say they would at least like to shoot one of the bears they have been feeding all summer.

I have written before and I still believe that the state should soon open up a bear hunt of one or two days for anybody who has a hunting license.

It looks too, that with all the reports from down that way this summer about bears snacking on sheep and goats and alpacas to the east of us that Washington and Frederick counties should be included in the bear hunting season.

There are so many bears in Grant County, Tucker County and Preston County in West Virginia, all of which border Garrett County, that wildlife managers there opened up an early, week-long bear season in September this year that could be participated in by anybody having a hunting license and bear stamp.

Contact Outdoor Editor Mike Sawyers at msawyers@times-news.com.