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Katmai Bear Hunt: Outfitter Says It's No Walk in the Woods

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Scott Dickerson photo.

Trophy hunters didn't have to range far to find a brown bear to kill in Katmai National Preserve. Scott Dickerson photo, used with permission.

An outfitter whose clients at close range gunned down brown bears in Katmai National Preserve contends the hunt is not akin to "shooting fish in a barrel." And Jim Hamilton, who owns True North Adventures, claims those who filmed portions of the hunt ruined the hunters' experience.

"There are no mechanized vehicles used to locate or stalk animals, they are not fenced or held captive by any unnatural means," Mr. Hamilton said in a written statement he sent to KTUU TV.

The outfitter went on to say Monday, the first day of the fall hunt in Katmai National Preserve, was a "very sad day ... (the) hunters were participating in a perfectly legal hunt (and) had their entire experience ruined by others who chose to use illegal methods to harass and interfere with their hunt."

But Sean Farley, the regional biologist for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game who's responsible for the area where the hunt was conducted, agreed Friday that the hunt is "not fair chase."

"I feel personally remiss as the regional biologist that I haven't thought it out that this is what's going on out there," Farley told the Anchorage Daily News. "Not until I saw the video did I realize how bad it is. It's not appropriate."

Park Service officials, meanwhile, say the hunts are not threatening the Preserve's bear population.

"In recent surveys in August, we counted 330 bears in the preserve -- about a bear every square mile -- and that's a high density of bears," John Quinley, the agency's spokesman in Alaska, told KTUU. "That's what the law requires. Our management aims are for a high density of bears and we think we are achieving that."

But among the questions that need to be addressed is whether a healthy population justifies what has turned out to be a slaughter of arguably habituated animals taken only for their hides and skulls, not for subsistence.

You can find more coverage of this story here.

Comments

Explain your interpretation of "illegal methods", and how they apply in this specific instance. Admittedly, killing permits were indeed issued for use during a specified time frame. And your executioners were by some legal statute operating within the limits of those contracts. However, the photographing, filming, or other manner of documentation of ANY activities that take place on public landsis well within the scope of legality. If you don't want to be on camera, take your actions into the private sector. In the chance that camera crews placed themselves between preditor and prey, as extreme as those tactics might viewed, those recording the activities did indeed have just as much LEGAL right to be in the area as did those trophy-hunting low-lives lacking in skills and ethics to conduct a reasonably equtible pursuit of they intended quarry. Don't for a moment confuse these specimens with truly wild bears. If you ever had the opportunity to stare down a wild bear at a range of 20 yds., your first instincts would NOT be engaging in a moment of awe and appreciation, rather it would be quickly locating a place to discard of your soiled underwear. Sport hunting indeed.........who you crapping'?


Mr. Hamilton, I carefully read your story on the Katmai bear slaughter, and that's exactly what it is...a slaughter...even in the confines of the Alaskan game laws. However, I don't buy your sugar coated scenario what happened during this easy kill. You mentioned, there was "no mechanized vehicles" used during the hunt. So, therefore you (the so called hunters) drop kick the kill with relatively little ease, and with no intentions of bringing back the bear for it's meat, but only just let it rot in the open stream. Wonderful game tactics! Yes, my emotions run high on this tragic episode of ruse games laws that allows this kind of pathethic killing to continue. Not just in Katmai but else where in Alaska. I can remember stories about so called game hunters shooting bears from private planes...etc.. Alaska, in my estimation, only surrenders to the powerful fish & game lobby that allows and wants weak game management laws to be implemented...or not to be heavily enforced. From my close allies in the field of conservation have told me, it's not about game management in Alaska...it's about MONEY!


I've been selected to hunt one of Georgia's state parks to reduce the deer herd population. Hope I have such good luck!


Those bears fear nothing as they know they are on top of the food chain! Thats not a good thing and with that many bears there it wont be long till you start seeing Campers and Hikers start missing!


Lone Hike, these are the same bears that ate Timothy Treadwell and his girlfriend. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Treadwell Sounds like they are pretty wild to me.


The link he provided says the bears munching on Treadwell were killed right away. Didn't read his own link.


Same species doesn't qualify as same bears. Rogues exist across all flora and fauna. Indeed, even particular plant species qualify, though I hardly desire to present a 300-level biology lecture in this short space. Suffice to say in layman's terms they're generally referred to as mutants, at least in the microbial and plant taxa. Rogues are something science typically connotes with avain, reptilian and mammalian groups. Catch me another time, eariler in the day, for the same lecture I'd present to science majors in a formal setting.

Speaking of Mr. Treadwell and guest, not that I had anything directly to do with it, but I believe you'll discover them to be among the annual recipients of a Darwin Award, an honor (such as it were) bestowed upon certain lower forms of life on the evolutionary scale who have exhibited the intellect and common sense of a used grapefruit, and by doing so directly impacted their own demise via an unusually bizarre manner, which was typically completely avoidable, and never without what would be considered even a close to average demonstration of IQ. Whether in a moment of poor judgement, substance induced or not, a momentary lack of reason or more commonly by just plain over-the-top stupidity, these models of humanity made a conscious choice to remove themselves from the gene pool. And the rest of us are grateful for the opportunity to have these specific examples to point out to our own children and say, "Don't let this happen to you".

My sincere and most heart-felt sympathy to their respective families for having to endure their loss through such a gruesome manner. I'm sure they were both fine people in their own right. But this was something that was completely avoidable by observing even minimal precautions, and as such they should never have placed themselves in the position whereby this incident was allowed to occur.


A large, male grizzly (tagged Bear 141) protecting the campsite was killed by park rangers while they attempted to retrieve the bodies. A second adolescent bear was killed a short time later after it charged the park rangers. A necropsy showed that the first animal had consumed parts of the couple's remains. It is unclear if this bear killed the couple or if he ate the remains after their deaths. In the 85-year history of Katmai National Park, this was the first incident of a person being killed by a bear.[1]

So much for the same bear theory, eh?

This citation was lifted directly from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Treadwell

Anon, I believe these data and others noted with the Wiki story suggest my synopsis be slightly more accurate than they support your hypothesis. But thanks for the added details..........


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