Hunters Arrive
September 4, 2010 – 8:21 PM CDT
The reprieve we got during the first few days of the hunt is over. Hunters are actively hunting in the heart of the study area.
The radio-collared bears are still okay, but at least one hunter is crowding in to the property line. A friend found a trail cam at the WRI property line aimed down a game trail. The camera will give the exact time any bears use that trail.
We worry for the valuable study bears that are not wearing radio-collars. These are the bears that mate with the radio-collared bears and trust us enough to ignore us and show natural behavior. The information they give is unprecedented. Others of these non-radio-collared bears are neighbors of the clan members. These are bears we recognize when we are walking with radio-collared bears and witness territorial interactions that help us understand their social organization. Each of these trusting, recognizable non-radio-collared bears has a history of interactions with the radio-collared clan members. The history helps us understand future observations and put them in perspective.
How can we politely ask hunters to respect the research enough to not crowd in and kill bears on the property line? Can something be legal but not ethical? The next few weeks will be long.
June’s GPS stopped transmitting during the night. We tracked her down this morning and found her collar had spun around so the GPS unit was under her chin. We spun it back and took the opportunity to install fresh batteries in the GPS unit to keep her ‘on the map’ as she continues her movement toward a den. We walked with her as she traveled, foraged, groomed (see picture), and rested. She fed on clover, peavine, jewelweed, and interrupted fern. Her fresh scat was full of vegetation and a few mountain ash seeds.
Lily and Hope are together and doing fine. We saw Ty and Jack tonight after legal hunting hours, so we know they are okay.
A big thank you to the Lily fans and the WRI fundraising team that are showing such good support in this hard time. We don’t know what to say except thank you. And thank you, too, for your hard work trying to come from behind in the school competition.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center