. Cabinet Mountains grizzly bear study. Wildlife management; Grizzly bear. sightings and nuisance bear complaints. An average of 62% of the annual harvest during 1978-1980, occurred during the spring season and most of that occurred in May. Black bears appear most vulnerable to harvest in spring because snow cover forces animals searching for food into limited areas of early green-up. Since females and particularly females with cubs tend to emerge from dens later in the spring than males (Hugie 1982, Beecham 1980, Waddel and Brown 1984), curtailing the spring season during May might be most ef
. Cabinet Mountains grizzly bear study. Wildlife management; Grizzly bear. sightings and nuisance bear complaints. An average of 62% of the annual harvest during 1978-1980, occurred during the spring season and most of that occurred in May. Black bears appear most vulnerable to harvest in spring because snow cover forces animals searching for food into limited areas of early green-up. Since females and particularly females with cubs tend to emerge from dens later in the spring than males (Hugie 1982, Beecham 1980, Waddel and Brown 1984), curtailing the spring season during May might be most effective in decreasing overall harvest and affording protection to reproductively active females. These factors prompted MDFWP biologists to reduce the spring season in districts 100, 101, and 103 to 2 weeks in late April beginning in 1981. After three years of curtailed harvest, the spring season was lengthened to four weeks in 1984. 1000 ' 800' 600 400 4 200 HARVEST 1- HARVEST 2- HUNTER DAYS. I 1975 I I B I I ' ' I 1980 1985 '60,000 •40,000 20,000 HUNTER DAYS Figure 6. Black bear harvest and hunter days in MDFWP Region 1, 1971-1984. Trapping activities have occurred in MDFWP hunting districts 103 and 121 (Fig. 7). These districts provide an opportunity to compare the effects of differing harvest levels on population statistics (Table 7). In 1976, collection of teeth from harvested black bears had begun in order to obtain information on age age of the harvest in district 103 varied from 2-4 years-old except in 1984 when it increased sharply to 6 years-old (Table 7). This sharp increase may have been related to a MDFWP request for voluntary tooth collection. Many hunters that bagged larger bears may have been more interested to know the ages of their kills than hunters who harvested smaller bears. Subadults ( < 5 years old ) averaged 69'/. of the harvest for the period 1976-1985. Only during 1984 did percent subadults in the harvest dip below 50 percent. Ma
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