By: Richard P. Smith. Do you want to see more bucks or bears in Michigan during the future? Before you answer that question, some background information about both species of big game is important. Due to the use of a method in 2012 to estimate the UP bear population that is prone to errors, the DNR thought bear numbers were declining and reduced bear hunting licenses by 32% from 2012 through 2014 to allow the bear population to increase. The number of bear licenses issued to hunters in the Lower Peninsula (LP) were cut back … Read More
The DNR Has Michigan’s Bear Count All Wrong?
By: Richard P. Smith. If 116 Michigan residents, many of whom were bear hunters, either saw or had trail camera photos of 1,000 black bears in the state during 2015, how many bears do you think were seen and photographed by the thousands of other hunters and nonhunters last year? If I had to make an educated guess, it would be more than 50,000. Some of those bear would have been seen and/or photographed by more than one person, of course, but certainly not all of them. So how many bears were there in Michigan … Read More
Increase In Bear Licenses Essential
By: Richard P. Smith. Even though there are now more black bears in parts of the UP than whitetail deer and that lopsided situation could worsen if bear license quotas are not increased significantly, the DNR does not plan on recommending any change in the number of bear licenses issued during 2016 because bear regulations are on a 2-year cycle. In other words, bear license quotas are supposed to remain the same as in 2015. The only way to change that mindset is for concerned bear and deer hunters who want to see the fledgling … Read More
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