WI DNR recommends more bear hunting licenses

Call it another win for the state's influential Wisconsin bear-hunting lobby and its hound-driven 'harvesting.'

The Wisconsin Natural Resources Board will take up a DNR recommendation at its January 29th meeting to increase by 830 the number of bear killing licenses the department can issue to more than 11,500.

A DNR-designated hunting zone covering roughly the southern two-thirds of the state would get most of the added permits.

The 'harvest' quota statewide of 4,750 would remain the same under the recommendation; Wisconsin leads the nation in bear kills (4,198 in 2015), though the quota of 4,750 was not met in 2015, the department says.

More information from department communications, here: 

The complete January board agenda is available by searching the DNR website, dnr.wi.gov, for keyword "NRB" and clicking on the button for "view agendas." 

The meeting will begin at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 27, in Room G09, State Natural Resources Building (GEF 2), 101 South Webster St., Madison.

Bear photo from a DNR webpage for kids, in part:

Bears have been an important part of history in Wisconsin. The Native Americans honored the bear as a supernatural being and treated the bear hunt with great ceremony and respect. They prized bear skins for robes and the meat and oil for cooking, fuel and medicines. The settlers also placed great value on bear meat and especially sought the bearskins with which they made clothing and bedding. As more settlers moved into Wisconsin, however, there was conflict between people and bears. Bounty systems were set up to encourage killing of the "noxious pests" and fur traders paid high prices for bearskins. This large-scale killing caused the numbers of bears to decrease. Logging and settlement also reduced the bear's habitat and numbers. In 1930, people began to protect the bear and limit hunting. Today, wildlife biologists study bear populations and their habitat. Management plans are developed to ensure that nuisance bears are relocated and that population levels remain healthy.