(Photo 28440047 © Lawrence Weslowski Jr | Dreamstime.com)

By Nicole Reis

Fall Black Bear Hunting

Black bear hunting season open with secondary licence, density increasing

Aug 27, 2020 | 5:31 PM

The fall bear hunt began this week for Saskatchewan residents and hunters now have two opportunities to hunt for bear in the parkland and forest fringe.

This year, a second black bear hunting licence is available to Saskatchewan residents in Wildlife Management Zones (WMZ’s) 17, 30, 32 to 50 and 52 to 55, including Duck Mountain and Greenwater Lake provincial parks, Round Lake Recreation Site (portion within WMZ 48) and Fort a la Corne Wildlife Management Unit. Meadow Lake falls under WMZ 55.

A single licence allows an hunter to harvest one bear where a secondary licence could allow for two.

Joann Skilnick, manager with Wildlife Unit within the Ministry of Environment, said hunters have an additional opportunity for a second licence within specific wildlife management zones due to increased density.

“A secondary license offers an extra hunting opportunity for hunters,” Skilnick told meadowlakeNOW. “Areas where we have plentiful bear populations, densities in the far north may be insufficient to support additional licenses, but in the areas that we offer this license, we have higher bear densities.”

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President of Saskatchewan Trappers Association, Wrangler Hamm attributes black bear density to the current pandemic.

“Potentially the impact we could see with regards to bear issues in Saskatchewan is a direct result of limited amount of tourism and hunting with guides as a result of COVID-19 and spring bear hunts,” Hamm said.

Hamm noted the association is working on a proposal to increase education and awareness for trappers to properly prepare pelts for market to generate a better revenue stream.

Lyle Munro, outfitter and director with Saskatchewan Trappers Association attributes the density of black bears could be attributed to the closure of the U.S. border and mentioned the population of black bear has been increasing over the last few years.

“We’re not seeing many U.S. clients come up to hunt with outfitters and that would be the most amount of bears harvested through the outfitters,” Munro said. “[The secondary licence] will probably will take a few more bears out of the population but I don’t really think it will make a big change. I think our best bet is to get the borders open again and get the outfitters back in business.”

Meanwhile, Munro said the number of of bear hunters are down as the bear’s trophy-draw isn’t as high as an elk or a light-tailed deer. He hopes to see an increase in interested hunters.

Saskatchewan hunters can purchase black bear licences online with a HAL account if they have a blank, unregistered seal. Unregistered seals are free and can be obtained in a seal pack.

Seal packs are available from any Saskatchewan licence issuer, Ministry of Environment office, 10 provincial parks, ordered online or by phone at 1-800-567-4224. Unregistered seals can be used by any person and in future years. For additional resources on local hunting, visit here.

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nicole.reis@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @nicolereis7722