The Bear Facts
The final statistics have been released by the Michigan D.N.R. concerning the 2007 bear season. For the seventh year in a row bear harvest figures have topped the 2,000 mark. That being said the 2007 figure of 2121 bears tagged is the lowest final tally of those seven years! Sometimes weather plays a huge roll in the number of bears harvested, and it certainly played a roll last season. For most of the bear season the weather was unseasonably warm which kept the bear from being real active. Also there were quite a few severe storm’s that “raked” the Upper Peninsula, along with generally heavy rains statewide! This situation kept alot of hunters out of the woods.
There were around 55,000 bear hunter applications last year with 11,250 tags handed to the “drawing” winners. Michigan boast a population of between 15,000 and 19,000 black bears with 90% of that population being in the U.P. The success rate for Michigan hunters seems to stay right around the 25% range, which isn’t that bad of a statistic! The Newberry unit had the highest harvest rate of any unit, and is usually right there at the top of the successful units list!
My brother and I (camera man) ran into the heat, and also the rain and wind. It can be a cool sunny day, but if that wind is blowing like crazy, those bear are very “spooky” and wait for the wind to die down, before they make any serious forages. We had three baits being hit, but seen nary a black bear. At least we know there are still bear in the area for next year.
Just a few more facts concerning Michigan’s bruins. Mature females usually weigh in between 160-250 pounds, and males between 150-400 pounds according to the D.N.R. The Ansel brothers have topped that statistic on three occasions, with the bear in the above picture weighing in at 500 pounds. Brothers Darryl and Dean also have taken bear over the 400 pound mark. A bear can live to the ripe old age of 30, but of the more than 40 bear we have harvested, the 13 year old (pictured) is the oldest! A female reaches breeding age at 3-1/2 years old, and she can have 1-4 cubs. We have seen cubs weighing around 40 pounds, but a few times have had little 8-10 pounders in our baits. One mother we observed had four little furballs with her, and she didn’t look much bigger than the cubs. Here is a statistic that comes strictly from our observations-of all the bear (hundreds) we’ve seen, only three have had the white chest “V!” Where we hunt color variation is virtually non-existent! Only one bear we ever harvested had any markings rather than jet black. Mark Davison (family friend) arrowed one with some brown mixed into his thick black coat several years ago.
Don’t forget the bear application period will be May 1st. through June 1st. And oh by the way “Merry Easter!” Daughter Meghan just called and they have 12″of snow in her northern Chicago suburb. We are expecting about 8″ here. Not a good way to start “Spring!” Seriously I hope your Easter is blessed.
Mike
March 24th, 2008 at 8:01 am
I think that bear hunting would be awesome, and I still have it on my list of things to do:)