WI bear harvest down 11%

[Lee Borgersen]

Wisconsin bear harvest down 11 percent.

Nov 4, 2018

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Preliminary registration numbers show hunters harvested 3,685 black bears during the 2018 Wisconsin bear hunting seasons. This represents an 11 percent decrease from the 4,136 black bears harvested in 2017.

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Scott Walter, large carnivore specialist with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, said the decline was to some extent expected as the agency reduced the harvest quota in three of four bear management zones to bolster the population.

 
While reports from hunters during the season were varied, hunter success was very similar to previous years across most of the state, with over half of hunters in most areas harvesting a bear.

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As  reported last month, Minnesota bear hunters took nearly 13 percent fewer black bears this year compared to 2017. Minnesota hunters killed 1,760 bears during the hunting season that ended in October, down from 2,035 in 2017 and down 33 percent from 2,633 bears shot in 2016. It's the fewest bears taken since 2013 when just 1,624 were shot