Cleaning pens at NABCAs far as we can tell, guided hunters are the only ones crowding close to Wildlife Research Institute (WRI). We have seen no others. The hunter who killed Hope and his 3 friends are respectfully staying at least a half mile away.
A guide told us to stay away from the area that is adjacent to WRI to the east and not to use the forest road there. He said hunting takes precedence over other activities in the forest during hunting season. We said we would cooperate and move our day’s work to the west side of the property and would appreciate it if they would let us identify any bear they kill.
Cleaning pens at the NABCOn the west side of WRI property, another guided hunter was parked, so we shifted a quarter mile south to avoid disturbing him. At 8:10 PM, he shot a bear which the guides tracked down this morning. We held off our trail mapping until they finished tracking and left. We heard that the head guide is considering letting us see the bear due to our cooperation.
Today, guides and hunters were farther south in the area we had working in yesterday, so we held off mapping. At mid day, no one was hunting east of WRI, so 5 teams moved in there and mapped for as long as 4 hours and 10 minutes per team with no bear sightings. The team that walked the trail to the cub carcass intended to photograph it again and re-measure the maggots. Mid day 2 days ago, the maggots were tiny, thin, and 4 mm stretched out. Today, they were full size, fat, and 11-12 mm long. Something had carried off the main carcass. A few remains held the maggots for the team to measure.
Thank you all for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
All photos taken today unless otherwise noted.