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Originally posted by 2LEYS:
Does that mean that you can buy leftover spring bear tags? Meaning you can have more than three tags???
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<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helv">I noticed that too, but didn't call anyone to verify the facts. That'd be impressive to be able to fill all those tags. After a hunter cleaned 2 or 3 bears, he or she might not want to clean another for a while, though!
It seems funny that you can get more bear tags than deer tags. In Michigan, where I grew up, it's not too hard to get 4 or more deer tags depending on the part of the state & whether you hunt public or private land. Usually 2 would be buck tags & the rest for does. Because of agricultural & herd management issues, I think you can now pretty much buy as many doe tags as you want for private land. With over a million & 1/2 deer, heavy agricultural damage, & expensive auto collisions, they have to manage the population somehow. Those fat, corn-fed whitetail can really tear up crops, & a car. My mom once ran over two at a time (luckily only yearling-sized & she didn’t get hurt)... the first ran across the road in front of her, followed by a second. The lead deer turned back & she got 'em both! Of course, you have to enter a lottery to get a bear tag, & they only exist "up north." I think you can use dogs & bait, though.
I suppose increased hunting opportunity is the silver lining on the cloud of no dogs & baiting. I wasn't in Oregon before they were banned... how hard was it to get a tag? Even if dogs & baiting returned, I'd like to see ODF&W keep a system with general hunts too. Perhaps they could issue draw tags for dog & bait hunting, but allow a "call off the dogs" general season coincident with the deer & elk seasons. The biologists could use their fancy math to figure out how many tags to issue & if & where they needed to set general season quotas (like the current cougar hunt) to prevent over harvest & still ensure everyone has a chance to hunt.
Steve Seeger
3 bears a year? How about 4?
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