DNR Increases Bear-Kill Quota By 17 Percent

Update – 3:45 p.m.: The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Board has approved the 17-percent increase in the bear-kill quota from last year. Details from the story that aired at 3 p.m. have been added into the article below.

The state Department of Natural Resources wants to let hunters kill 17 percent more bears this year than last year. The proposal goes before the DNR Board on Wednesday.

DNR officials said the black bear population in Wisconsin is down a bit in recent years, but still around 22,000 and strong enough to propose raising the bear kill quota from 4,000 to 4,700. That quota is several hundred short of a modern-day record, but the agency wants to be able to sell an all-time high of about 10,500 bear hunting permits.

Not all of the state’s four bear hunting zones would see more kills, but Hunting Unit D in the far northwest could see a big increase. The DNR’s Tom Hauge said a lot of bears have been damaging crops in that area, and in a few cases, encountering humans.

“So to try to curtail some of those negative aspects of an abundant bear population, we are seeking to reduce that bear population by raising the quota,” said Hauge.

Said the DNR’s Todd MacFarland, “We have conflicts around the state, but again, in other portions of the state managers have indicated that those are tolerable levels. In Unit D, they’re not.”

Hauge said the DNR also wants more kills in Unit C — approximately the southern three-quarters of the state — to limit the number of bears where more humans live.

Supporters of the DNR’s plan are scheduled to comment at Wednesday’s DNR Board meeting, but critics are also speaking out.

Elizabeth Huntley, of the Wisconsin Wolf Stakeholders Caucus, would like the board to hold off on approving the higher bear quota.

“I almost feel like there’s something going on here,” said Huntley. “We’re appeasing a group of people that love to hunt bears.”

Huntley also said the state appears to be rewarding the hunters who use dogs to hunt bear, as she says the state did when it allowed hunters last December to use dogs to hunt wolves.