A report on bringing back the spring bear hunt

Dr Mike Commito of the Northern Policy Institute is the author of a report  on the impact of  bringing back the spring bear hunt permanently. He says  the black bear population could withstand additional hunting pressure but the 11 week fall season would have to be reduced somewhat if the spring hunt was re-introduced permanently. Dr. Commito says there are between 85 and 105 Thousand Black Bears according to the latest statistics cited by the provincial government and they didn’t look at whether there are more black bears today than there were when the hunt was cancelled in the spring.

As for the finances: . Dr Commito wouldn’t give a figure on the financial benefit of bringing back the hunt in the spring.

But he says  in 1997, a provincial survey found that the non resident hunters spent 25 million dollars on spring and fall bear hunting.