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Oklahoma's first bear hunting season brings in 19 animals

Joe Russell of Nashoba poses for photographers with the first black bear killed in an Oklahoma hunting season at Pushmataha Wildlife Management Area. KELLY BOSTIAN / Tulsa World
 
By KELLY BOSTIAN World Outdoors Writer
Published: 11/2/2009  2:26 AM
Last Modified: 11/2/2009  6:30 AM

 Oklahoma's first bear season ended with a total of 19 reported killed as of Sunday night, a little more insight into the state's black bear population and only one surprise.

The hunting season ran one month, opening Oct. 1 and closing Nov. 1. It was open for archery hunting only until Oct. 24, when hunters could use either a muzzle loader or bow and arrow in the hunt. A final tally is pending, but the state biologist monitoring the hunt estimated between 150 and 200 hunters purchased the special $100 bear hunting tags.

The one surprise came with the makeup of the harvest. It was assumed bears that had a habit of rubbing people the wrong way would show up and get in trouble during hunting season. They didn't.

"It was kind of surprising that we didn't get any tagged bears," said Joe Hemphill southeast region supervisor for the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation. More than 100 bears in the four-county area open to the hunt had been tagged for research or as nuisance bears, and none of them turned up among the 19 killed, he said.

The lack of tagged bears also reflects on the number of bears in the area, Hemphill said. The limit of 20 was set as a conservative harvest, 10 percent, of the most conservative population estimate, 200. "With well over 100 marked bears out there, that tells me there is a large amount of bears if we harvest almost 20 and don't get a single one," he said. "The upper end of that population estimate was 700. In my opinion, there's a lot more than that."

Of
those killed, 11 were in LeFlore County, three were in Pushmataha, three were in McCurtain and two were in Latimer, he said.

Biological information from the harvested bears, especially age information from teeth taken from the animals, will help biologists make decisions about any future black bear hunts, Hemphill said. "We'll be pulling that information together quickly," he said.

Joe Russell, a bow hunter from Nashoba, killed the first bear of the season on the opening morning. Like all bears killed during the season, a tooth was taken from the bear, and hair and tissue samples were taken for research.

Also, an Oklahoma City taxidermist created a life-sized mount of the bear for Russell, and the full skeleton of the historic animal was donated to the Oklahoma Biological Survey at the University of Oklahoma. Russell's family has been enjoying the meat.

Kristy Russell said she heard lots of negative stories about bear meat and was leery of it to begin with, but she said family and friends haven't been able to tell the difference between bear meat and venison.

"It's pretty good. We like it," she said. "A friend of ours is entering a chili cook-off, and he wants some for that."

Hemphill labeled the hunt a success. "People had an opportunity to hunt a bear in Oklahoma, and I don't know how much more exciting it can get than just that right there."

Kelly Bostian 851-8357
kelly.bostian@tulsaworld.com
By KELLY BOSTIAN World Outdoors Writer

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Kilgore.Trout, Tulsa (11/4/2009 1:10:36 AM)
Joe Hemphill flies by the seat of his britches. He certainly does not believe in doing any research or using the scientific method to gather information.

I knew a number of people who hunted and they all used bait stands. They hunted from a tree stand about 20-30 yards away from where a 50 gallon drum was chained to base of a large tree. On either side of the drum they had logs piled to present the bear directly in front of the barrel & lined up for a perfect shot from the hunter. At the bottom of the barrel there is a small hole cut out so the smell is prolific. Also, the bear can only get out small amounts of bait. Bear is presented with a great view and shot angle and never knows what hit him until he has an arrow or .50 caliber ball in him.

One of the problems some states have with this method is it teaches bears to go where they smell humans and food, bait. OK has had NO problems from bears and people. It will be interesting to see if this continues. A ranger in Colorado thought our state was insane to open bear hunting up with the risk vs. reward and poaching that will follow.
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Kilgore.Trout, Tulsa (11/4/2009 1:20:21 AM)
Joe Hemphill flies by the seat of his britches. He certainly does not believe in doing any research or using the scientific method to gather information.

I knew a number of people who hunted and they all used bait stands. They hunted from a tree stand about 20-30 yards away from where a 50 gallon drum was chained to base of a large tree. On either side of the drum they had logs piled to present the bear directly in front of the barrel & lined up for a perfect shot from the hunter. At the bottom of the barrel there is a small hole cut out so the smell is prolific. Also, the bear can only get out small amounts of bait. Bear is presented with a great view and shot angle and never knows what hit him until he has an arrow or .50 caliber ball in him.

One of the problems some states have with this method is it teaches bears to go where they smell humans and food, bait. OK has had NO problems from bears and people. It will be interesting to see if this continues. A ranger in Colorado thought our state was insane to open bear hunting up with the risk vs. reward and poaching that may follow.
 

 
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