Human Use and Enjoyment
Last Review/Updated: October 17, 2007
Enjoyment and use of bears in Alberta includes general appreciation, art, viewing, and hunting. When viewed from a safe distance, bears are popular with people who enjoy the outdoors. A visit to any art gallery will find bears immortalized on canvas, in wood or bronze, doing what comes natural in the wild places they frequent. The public is especially interested in the more spectacular and symbolic, but less-common grizzly, but many people enjoy seeing a black bear too. Governments want to promote bear, but this is not easily done. For example, hiking trails in Kananaskis Country were designed to avoid seasonally important bear feeding areas, and therefore may have limited the opportunities for people to see bears. However, the animals' security and avoidance of bear-human encounters are of greater importance. Maintenance of healthy wild populations will ensure future opportunities for people to enjoy bears in a natural setting.
It is important to maintain recreational hunting of both species of bear in Alberta has been an important opportunity for sport hunters. Hunting of black bears takes place in both spring and fall seasons; whereas grizzlies could only be hunted during spring, prior to a hunting suspension in 2006. Personal benefits from hunting include appreciation of nature, enjoying solitude (relaxation, peace of mind), practising hunting skills, exercise, spiritual and "trophy" values, and meat. Societal benefits are availability of unique recreational events at low cost, economic gains from the sales of hunting equipment and licences, and potentially, the management of other wildlife.
Demand for bear hunting in Alberta is high. Annual sales of resident black bear licences during recent years have varied between 7000 and 8000; non-resident licences between 1700 and 2000. In 2003, about 4171 residents applied for 101 grizzly hunting licences in a reduced hunt for this year. On average, these hunters have to wait 5 years to be drawn. Hunting of grizzly bears by nonresidents has been prohibited since 1988 and remains suspended since 2006 for residents.
Hunting of both species has been managed on a regional basis. In the case of grizzlies, this included annual comparisons of estimated populations, total man-caused mortalities and production of young. Since 1989, licences were restricted by a limited-entry hunt (where participation is determined by luck of a draw). Grizzly bears have low rates of increase; consequently, adult females were, by and large, protected. Because it is unlawful to hunt a grizzly that is part of a group of two or more, and females with cubs, and because adult females are accompanied by young about three out of every four years, most adult females escape harvest. Overall sex ratio of grizzlies taken during 1988-1996 was 72 percent males. Cubs and yearlings of less than two years of age are also protected. The annual hunting quota was limited to 2% of any regional population.
Successful hunters, who averaged only about 12 per year, had to register their kills. Average success of active grizzly bear hunters was relatively low (8 percent). Success was greatest in the more open southern alpine and foothill habitats, where it reached as high as 15 percent. Closely monitored and controlled, the details of this hunt were made available in the form of published reports.
Specifics of Hunting Management of Bears in Alberta
Feature |
Grizzly Bear |
Black Bear |
|---|---|---|
| Seasons | Hunt Suspended | Fall and spring |
| Annual Bag Limit | 1 (2)* | |
| Hunt Type |
|
General (no limit to number of hunters). Limited annual reviews. |
| Harvest Rate Goal | 5-15% regionally | |
| Bears Protected | Female with young. Young less than 1 year. |
|
| Baiting | Yes** |
*extra, supplementary licence available in some northern WMUs.
** not in grizzly areas.
Black bears can be hunted from the beginning of the antlered big game season in fall (usually early September) to the end of the season (usually late November). The spring seasons opens as early as April 1 and closes in mid-May (southern mountains and foothills), early June (agricultural fringe and central foothills) and mid-June (northern mountains and the boreal forest). Since 1953, annual bag limits have varied from 1 to 4; but presently, the limit is one per hunter with an additional, supplementary one bear per hunter allowed in some northern areas.
In
1987, baiting of black bears was legalized as a hunting method in certain
Wildlife Management Units. Baiting is intended to 1) increase harvests
where chronic depredations occur; 2) improve hunter selection for size
and color; 3) allow selection of mature males that are most likely
responsible for predation of livestock and moose calves; 4) improve
success and quality in bow hunting; 5) assist and encourage outfitter-guide
operations and nonresident hunting; and 6) improve the chances for
the taking of "trophy" bears. At present, baiting occurs in 46 WMUs
in northeastern and north central Alberta; baiting is prohibited in
the west (grizzly range) and in populated southern regions.
Harvest of black bears is determined through telephone surveys coordinated by government and carried out by volunteers with the Alberta Fish and Game Association; average annual harvest by residents is about 1200 bears. The take by nonresidents is about 900 per year, and is reported by hunting outfitters at the end of each season. Success in spring hunts for blacks (1 bear per 4 hunters for residents; 1 per hunter for nonresidents), when only bears are hunted and not taken incidental to the hunting of other game, is higher than in fall.
For more information of hunting bears go to Hunting
in Alberta.
". . . When in the middle of the thicket we crossed a breastwork of fallen logs and Merrifield, who was leading, passed by the upright system of a great pine. As soon as he was past it he sank suddenly on one knee, turning half around, his face fairly flaming with excitement. As I stood past him, with my rifle at the ready, there, not ten steps off, was the great bear, slowly rising from his bed among the young spruces. He had heard us, but hardly knew exactly where or what we were, for he reared up on his haunches sideways to us. Then he saw us and dropped down again on all fours, the shaggy hair on his neck and shoulders seeming to bristle as he turned toward us."
—Theodore Roosevelt, Hunting Tips of a Ranchman
