State Regulatory and legislative Info
In order to provide bow hunters information on our sport of bowhunting we feel it is important to keep bowhunters abreast of regulatory and legislative issues that affect our sport. This information is provided without comment, to provide that info.
DNR NEWS #8 - IN THIS
ISSUE February
19, 2002
Bear season opener will return to Sept. 1
Ice fishing shelter removal dates approaching
DNR seeks watercraft inspector applicants
Minnesota Firearms Instructors Academy set for April 5-7 at Eagle Bluff
ELC
Long-time Hibbing snowmobile safety instructor honored
Spring Becoming An Outdoors Woman workshop scheduled
DNR's Dave Pauly receives NWTF Wildlife Manager of the Year
Wild turkey leftover licenses again available
DNR NEWS - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information, contact Steve Merchant, DNR Forest Wildlife
Program leader, (651) 296-1325.
Bear season opener will return to Sept. 1
The 2002 Minnesota bear season will open on Sept. 1, the
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) announced this week. DNR
officials noted, however, that the Minnesota Legislature is currently
debating a bill that would delay the opener until the day after Labor
Day (Sept. 3 this year).
The Minnesota bear population is about 30,000 and has been
estimated to be increasing at a rate of 6 to 7 percent each year.
Through managed hunting, the DNR is trying to stabilize the bear
population to minimize the potential for unacceptable levels of
bear-human conflicts, many of which involve actual property damage.
In 2000 and 2001, the DNR experimentally opened the bear season
approximately one week earlier in an effort to increase bear harvest and
stabilize the population. (Openers in those years were Aug. 23 and Aug.
22, respectively.) Because opening the season one-week earlier in 2000
and 2001 did not measurably increase the bear harvest, and because more
than 50 percent of surveyed bear hunters did not support continuing the
earlier opening date, the DNR has decided to return to the historical
Sept. 1 opener.
In 2001, the bear limit was increased to two bears per hunter in
a further attempt to stabilize the population. The two-bear limit has
the advantage of increasing potential harvest without increasing hunter
crowding. A final decision has not yet been made about whether to
continue with a two-bear limit in 2002. Details on the 2002 bear season
and application materials will be announced by April 2. The application
deadline will be Friday, May 3.
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