Bear Hunts Postponed for 2016

[Capt Ron]

Based on the number of young bears I see, the males start chasing them off the sows in Sept/Oct (these are 18 month old cubs). The sows get bred in fall/early winter and go into "hibernation" in Jan/Feb to give birth. I don't know when the cubs are totally weaned.

[MudDucker]

Anecdotally - Have you ever had a black-bear burger? A bit gamy, but delicious when done right.

I killed a medium size boar bear many moons ago from a tree stand in the former Suwanochee wma with an old smoke pole for a weapon. His glands pretty much tainted his meat. The guy hunting with had dogs he used to catch nuance bears with and he wanted the meat, so I let him have it all but one ham. I soaked it for 2 days and then cooked it on the grill. Tasty was not one of the words I would use to describe it. Not wanting to be wasteful, I made some real strong brown gravy and we plowed through it. I guess I didn't know how to cook it right. Might have been better if I had made hamburger out of him. He was so infested with ticks and such that his hide was worthless. If I ever hunt one again, I am going to go hunt one in the winter up in the mountains when their fur is prime.

[onefishtwofish]

Season dates and harvest numbers should be based on science. Closing the season was not. Opening it was. But they had a poor plan. I look for it to open again, with better control. There are plenty of bears to allow a properly managed season.