Kenai Brown Bear are again the focus of the southcentral Board of Game discussions. The meetings began today in Anchorage.
Board Chair Ted Spraker addressed Wildlife Refuge staff directly, asking why they allow black bear baiting on the refuge, but…
Spraker: “But there’s something inherently wrong or fundamentally different about killing a brown bear over bait. And I don’t understand that. To me, they’re all the same.”
The issue became contentious after the 2012 Board meeting, held in Kenai, when the State Board increased the number of browns which may be taken on the Kenai, in response to complaints from the public that bears were making their way into residential areas. The federal Refuge closed brown bear hunting early that year.
Spraker had a pessimistic view of the Refuge’s future management…
Spraker: “You’re probably going to be looking at outlawing black bear baiting on the refuges down the road here. There’s more than one person seeing that coming. I hope I’m wrong. I hope there’s some difference between the two species that I don’t clearly understand that one gets a pass and the other one doesn’t.”
Refuge Managers said they’re trying to balance their legal obligations to allow for hunting, fishing, photography, recreation, and protection of wildlife populations.