Colorado State Record Black BEAR... Controversy Help!!

E

elks

New member
Hi all. I just wanted to see if I can get some support for a guy I know. He is a great guy, good hunter and has always hunted hard. Now he is getting a lot of unwanted press and even worse the state wildlife agency is making things worse stating they are going to review laws and possibly make a change.

Long story short, in Colorado you can not bait, use dogs, or spring bear hunt. They things are you simply buy a license and go hope to see a bear. In this case the guy had tracked a large bear into a den site. He waited the bear out for a while. He says it was mid afternoon when he decided to go in after the bear. He crawled into the den and shot the bear. Now everyone is out saying how unethical it was etc.

To me it was a gutsy move. He went into a hole with a 703 pound black bear. Possibly the next state record. Now he is getting the 3rd degree from hunters and nonhunters.

Here is a link to the story on the local paper. Now there are people all over crying for change. I am on the opposite. I am tired of our state bowing to teh left and am trying to muster up support to keep this from changing. As iti s our state wildlife agents are killing more bears in dumpsters than hunters do each year. More limitations will only lead to more problems.

http://www.craigdailypress.com/news/2010/dec/04/craig-resident-nabs-703-pound-bear-possible-state-/

Overall please support his right to legally hunt and be aware that a bear in a den is not a sitting duck, but more of a life or death situation. Bears will come out of a full hibernation in seconds, this bear was not even in hibernation mode it was just denning.
 
I just posted about this in the Lions Bears and Houndsmen forum.

I support the hunter.

You Colorado guys need to call your Game & Fish Commissioners and voice your opinion about Randy Hampton and his comments about a legal take by a licensed hunter.
 
In Michigan (where I formerly lived) it's illegal to shoot a denned bear, hunt anywhere around a den, or do anything to entice the bear to leave it's den...so the state is not without precedent in changing the way it's doing things...

What being said...I hope it all works out for the guy...though IMHO crawling into a den with a large bear leaves me wondering if he just has a great big pair of brass ones that he pushes around in a wheelbarrow or whether he was smoking crack...
 
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If the hunter was within the rules then there is no reason he should get hassled for what he did. Plain and simple.
There might be different rules in other states, but this isn't in those states. It is sad to see how Colorado is becoming more and more of an anti hunting state. I grew up in Colorado and still have many friends who live and hunt there. Many of them can no longer hunt the areas they grew up hunting because the draw limits have become so tight. More and more regulations while at the same time more and more 'encounters' with 'problem' wildlife. I wonder what the relation could be....
 
Originally Posted By: Jayhawker27In Michigan (where I formerly lived) it's illegal to shoot a denned bear, hunt anywhere around a den, or do anything to entice the bear to leave it's den...so the state is not without precedent in changing the way it's doing things...

What being said...I hope it all works out for the guy...though IMHO crawling into a den with a large bear leaves me wondering if he just has a great big pair of brass ones that he pushes around in a wheelbarrow or whether he was smoking crack...

I know other states have such laws, but from what research I have done they are meant to protect bears in the spring. They are also meant to keep people from potentiually spending all winter out messing with bears already denned and in "hibernation". This to me was not that issue. Since Colorado does not allow a spring bear season at all, and our hunts end before the bears are truly hibernating, then there really does not need to be such a law.

Also it is not like we are killing a ton of bears in this state as it is. In many areas the DOW officers are killing far more bears in dumosters than the hunters. There is something wrong when tax payers and sportsment are footing the bill when the right type of hunting would allow for paying hunters to significantly reduce the population to where bears would not need to be in Aspen eating grey pupon.
 
Here in PA it is illegal to shoot a bear in a den.
THen again a guy killed one this bear season that went 875lbs! THen pics popped up of a local laying on his back and feeding him doughnuts.
As long as it's legal, who cares?
 
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