The Kenai National Wildlife Refuge’s black bear bait hunting application period opened March 2.
Wildlife Biologist Todd Eskelin…
Eskelin: “In order to get a permit you have to turn in an application and we have one square mile exclusive areas where individual permitees are allowed to bait the black bear.”
He said black bear populations are not suffering from the same decline as the Refuge’s brown bear population
Eskelin: “Historically the black bear population is a lot higher and just their biology, they reproduce a lot faster than brown bears so this is a program that has been going on in the refuge since the early 90’s.”
Eskelin said individuals must have their state of Alaska hunting license and have to have taken the Alaska bear baiting clinic, which are offered in classrooms or online. Those who wish to bow hunt the bears must take an additional state of Alaska archery class to be a certified archer.
The application period closes April 10 and the refuge will do the random drawing on April 11.