Posted by Ed Cordes on October 7, 2007 at 10:07 PM
A few years ago my wife and I went to Katmai and loved the close interaction with the beautiful Brown bear. It was obvious that the bear considered the few humans they see each year as non threatening and kind of friendly. To hunt these animals under these conditions is a travesty. It is not hunting it is target practice on live targets. The "hunters" will go home and extol their exploits never hinting at the near domestication the animals exhibited.
The Alaskan Fish and Game Dept and the National Park Service should be ashamed of itself for allowing this to occur.
Me, I am proud of the photographic images I have hanging in my home that shows these wonderful animals. I am more proud that they were still alive and well when I left so others can enjoy their majesty, but most importantly the bear can go about having their "bear life" unhindered by me.
Posted by Steve Foss on October 7, 2007 at 10:23 PM
I am a hunter. I have never hunted bears. I watched the video and was saddened that people would hunt bears so acclimated to human presence. There's a black bear research station near Ely where bears are fed and are conditioned to people, and hunters often frequent the trails just outside the research station property to target animals coming to or leaving the station. Same thing, slightly different setting than the Alaska video. I do not consider either of these examples fair chase. It is not my place to harshly judge the actions of others. People have different standards of behavior, and such standards quite often change over the course of an individual lifetime. If I were a bear hunter at 20 years old, to be part of what happened in the Alaska video would have made me hesitate, but I'd probably have gone ahead. At 45, it definitely would shame me, and I want no part of that type of so-called hunting.
Posted by Kim Kaiser on October 7, 2007 at 11:45 PM
if you read the comments on the anchorage paper and on the site linked,,there are many hunters who find the practise, for lack of better word, unethical or not of fair chase,,and some even scold there more hard core, kill anything type hunters for the bad press so to speak that this will bring upon the so called "true" sportsmen. but some simply refuse to acknowledge that this is anything less than a regular ole bear hunt,, saddening!
Wasn't it Jim Watt, the former Secretary of Interior, who was awarded a trophy featuring a foot with a hole in it? The "powers that be" up here could qualify, the way they shot themselves in the collective foot with this one. Lots and lots of stirring within and outside the hunting community, with no end and no resolution in sight. But suffice to say, we haven't heard the end of it. I've been a hunter all my life, but this isn't hunting.
This is specifically why there are no formal bear viewing sites on Kodiak Island: None of the guides or biologists wanted to set aside surrounding terrain to prohibit hunting or to end up with press like this if they established a site but also allowed hunting in the same place during the "off" season, tourist-wise. The bear population on Kodiak is higher than it's ever been in recorded times, in spite of around 100 bears killed each year (out of a population far in excess of 3000). I'm not a bear hunter, but have no problem with carefully controlled hunting in healthy populations. Yet I feel nothing but repugnance for the individuals depicted in the video or the Katmai hunt in general. Bears habituate to people, and habituated bears don't know the difference between a tripod and a rifle or bow. Takes a real hero to go shoot one.
Like Steve I hunted, trapped beavers, bobcats and snared rabbits. All I might add that all were wild and not domesticated. My uncle who taught me to hunt and fish in Maine used to make fun of the outfit down the the road that baited blackbears with carrion and when they had one feeding they would call some 'fat cat' downstate who would come up and shoot it.
I might add that I used to fish in many places in Southern Quebec which no longer have fish due to poor mangement and excessively large limits. Both practices are improper and should not be allowed. I think we should judge harshly anyone who is doing this kind of hunting but more harshly anyone who allows or profits from it. It is public opinion which ultimately changes peoples behaviour.
I know longer hunt with anything more powerful than a camera and my uncle gave up hunting well before he died. We need to influence the young men in our world now that we are the older ones.
Rick T
Discussion
5 repliesvideo and text
The Alaskan Fish and Game Dept and the National Park Service should be ashamed of itself for allowing this to occur.
Me, I am proud of the photographic images I have hanging in my home that shows these wonderful animals. I am more proud that they were still alive and well when I left so others can enjoy their majesty, but most importantly the bear can go about having their "bear life" unhindered by me.
This is specifically why there are no formal bear viewing sites on Kodiak Island: None of the guides or biologists wanted to set aside surrounding terrain to prohibit hunting or to end up with press like this if they established a site but also allowed hunting in the same place during the "off" season, tourist-wise. The bear population on Kodiak is higher than it's ever been in recorded times, in spite of around 100 bears killed each year (out of a population far in excess of 3000). I'm not a bear hunter, but have no problem with carefully controlled hunting in healthy populations. Yet I feel nothing but repugnance for the individuals depicted in the video or the Katmai hunt in general. Bears habituate to people, and habituated bears don't know the difference between a tripod and a rifle or bow. Takes a real hero to go shoot one.
I might add that I used to fish in many places in Southern Quebec which no longer have fish due to poor mangement and excessively large limits. Both practices are improper and should not be allowed. I think we should judge harshly anyone who is doing this kind of hunting but more harshly anyone who allows or profits from it. It is public opinion which ultimately changes peoples behaviour.
I know longer hunt with anything more powerful than a camera and my uncle gave up hunting well before he died. We need to influence the young men in our world now that we are the older ones.
Rick T