Sanity Prevales: DNR puts kabosh on Rogers' bear "research"

[TylerS]

Can I be the first to say: ABOUT TIME!!!

Minnesota DNR pulling famed Northland bear researcher's permits

[Ice Shack Baby]

Beat me by 30 minutes. Good decision DNR

[Dave S]

I think you might have beat me as well. I started a post in Sillytown thinking any discussion on this subject will end up there anyhow

[crawler harness]

Thank goodness!!!

[TylerS]

I think you might have beat me as well. I started a post in Sillytown thinking any discussion on this subject will end up there anyhow

The thought had crossed my mind... but I figured I'd roll the dice and post it here first

[mrklean]

Glad to see this, the worse part is the anti's are gonna go even more nuts now

[cherokee]

About time is right.

[certified jumbo]

Very happy about this.

[jarod duane]

Ther is some sense left in the world after all.

[echotrail]

Looks like some of you have a running bet to see who can post a news release first......And it's TylerS by 30 minutes!

[Port.Winterhawk]

A BIG THANK-YOU TO THE DNR. But......Whats with the yearly drop in Bear Permits?

[mrklean]

Interesting article in the star today i enjoy reading the comments and most of them are pretty positive supporting the DNR.

[laker1]

A BIG THANK-YOU TO THE DNR. But......Whats with the yearly drop in Bear Permits?

Bear numbers have been dropping in certain area due to numbers declining.

[Port.Winterhawk]

"Bear numbers have been dropping in certain areas due to numbers declining"

That is a redundant statement. I have been in the game for a long time. Black Bear is abundant, alive and well in my area. I would like to hear from others if "Bear numbers are dropping"....[Due to #s declining] in your particular area. Although I may be one of the few that looks for sign in the "off season".

[leech~~]

Since there are two of these threads going I'll post the same thing on both!

I think his work has been of great value and a lot has been learn about Black bears. Not sure how much more he can learn from them anymore though since he has been doing this for so long?

I wish he would switch gears now and go sleep with some Moose and find out what the heck is going on with them!

[Port.Winterhawk]

Or go sleep with the red squirrels and teach me how they eat, sleep, etc. and how the bury winter "nummys" maybe i will fell "guilty" about spending a 4/10 shell.

[jarod duane]

I regularly hunt No quota an even thou the NQ tags went from 2 to 1 this year I am continuously seeing an increase in numbers in my area of NQ over the years of hunting. This last spring showed the most ive seen off and on camera. I don't think it will be to many years an we'll seeing a few areas of the NQ pushed into lottery. I agree with leech that research is good but its time for him to move on an sleep with cougars or something.

[jkcmj]

I've been down this road before, but in the past I've actually wanted his research to be able to continue, with extremely limited collar numbers...I've been working on this for some time. Anyone who has seen his videos of black bears in HD at the bear center, can see how cool and difficult to get this stuff is.

I've known him personally for many years. I've stayed at his research cabin, visited bears in winter dens, etc. I don't come by my decision on this lightly...the guy has invested a lifetime of effort into the bears.

The problem is that Lynn couldn't be satisfied to study the bears and utilize the videos in his education mission. He wanted them protected, and climbed into bed with anti-hunting advocates to push that...anyone in the country, no matter how anti-hunting they were, were supported and backed in their cause by Lynn Rogers... From the New Jersey bear hunt to the Tahoe Basin Bear League, he jumped at the chance to "protect" bears, despite the fact that populations were so high in many cases that they were breaking into homes, causing significant property damage, etc. His message is always "supplemental feeding" to keep them out of harm...basically, anything but hunting. Knowing the backlash where he studied, he always claimed he was not against hunting. Of course he tried many times to not only get legal protection for "his" bears, but also to ban hunting bears between Ely and Tower...

The final straw for me however, was the move into our children's classrooms. When you try to turn our children into fanatics for your cause, I have a real problem with it. A sideshow attraction up north is one thing, but to allow this cancer to spread into bear management stategies, children's classrooms, and our legislature is a real problem.

His Lily the black bear website has served as a rallying point for anti-hunting and trapping causes. With 148,000 fans of the site, his members have been able to gather together quickly to affect letter writing campaigns and legislative pushes whenever proffesional wildlife authorities have tried to add legal hunting to bear control stategies anywhere in the country. It has gone beyond bears as well.

The DNR has known this was a problem for some time...the expansion that had gone on with the money brought in via the F B page, the collaring of tamed yearling males to get them through hunting seasons, the brazen behavior of these bears since his highly profitable bear eco-tourism courses had reduced their fear of man, the harrassment campaign by his volunteers on the roads during hunting season, etc have all been building to this conclusion. The DNR has finally taken the step to end this nonsense, and I applaud their decision.

[jarod duane]

Very interesting stuff, A ggod victory for sure but I doubt it will stop the other nonsense of supplemental feeding, hunter harassment an targeting our youth in the class room. he'll find a way to continue somehow, legal or illegal.

[LindellProStaf]

So Jarod, I have a question for you. What age exactly does qualify to be considered a cougar. I have heard that turkey vultures are older than 70.

[jarod duane]

Boy Lindellprostaff, I'm not exactly sure what your questioning here an actual cougar or an older attractive woman. Myself I prefer older attractive women because I'm quite young an inexperienced. but that's not what's at topic here an there are other forums that cater to such nonsense an hogwash, but here I think we better stay on topic or risk getting in trouble with the administrative staff. Oh I see now, your were referring to my comment about Roger's should try sleeping with cougars. LOL! That's a good one LindellProStaff, real good one! I'll have to bring that up at our next saltwater aquarium meeting.

[LindellProStaf]

Back to being serious. Thank you DNR. What if everyone went out and did what he does making wild animals tame. We would have some huge problems. They did the right thing.

[Dock Boy]

As for bear numbers. I live in Northern Minnesota near the Canadian border. I have seen 50-60 wolves in the past 6-8 years and maybe 3 bears in that same time frame. Not sure what the bear numbers are, but I would expect them to be down.

[laker1]

I think bear numbers are down from 5 years ago,but higher than you observed with the wolf to bear ratio.

[laker1]

bear update

[Random guy]

Ouch... .

Quote:

The DNR says Rogers’ research bears in Eagles Nest Township near Ely have become habituated to human food and might be a danger to local residents. They also say Rogers' work with bears has failed to produce any recent scientific results.

I think the DNR is right on track with this deal. Bears are not pets.