The Senate Committee on Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks was advised to wait on a establishing a black bear hunting season. They also heard a pitch for a program for hunters to share venison with families in need.
The Senate Committee on Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks has been advised that as black bear populations in Mississippi increase, the state may need to consider implementation of a hunting season in the coming years. The lawmakers also heard a pitch on the creation of a venison sharing program to help families in need.
Black bear populations slowly rise
Anthony Ballard, Black Bear Program Leader for the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, told the Senate committee that historically black bears were plentiful in the state. In the 1900’s hunting black bears for meat, fat and hides led to a population decline in Mississippi.
By 1932, the black bear population in the state was estimated to be only a dozen animals due to overhunting and habitat loss. They are currently on the state’s protected species list as a result.
However, state and federal regulations now in place have allowed the black bear population to bounce back. In 2012, the population was estimated to be between 150-250. Ballard believes the population is closer to 400-500 bears today, mostly in the western part of the state, along the border of Louisiana where larger populations have been seen.
According to a graphic Ballard shared with lawmakers, some black bears have been spotted along the Gulf Coast as well.
Since most people in Mississippi are unaware black bears roam the lands, Ballard said his agency is tasked with informing the public of their presence, while also monitoring the growing population. Black bear populations are monitored through hair snares, or traps, that use barbed wire to collect hair samples. Those samples are then genetically tested to identify individual animals.
“We know they’re there. We know there’s some population, but it’s not a really high number quite yet,” Ballard added.
While the number has grown to about 500 today, Ballard said the population growth is slow, in part due to the breeding cycle of the species. Black bears are not capable of breeding until they are between 3 to 5 years old and only procreate every other year, birthing only two to three cubs on average.
“You’re dealing with a much smaller reproductive potential as you are with something like white tail deer,” Ballard said.
Within six years of breeding, a pair of deer can bring up to 64 deer into a population, while black bears in that same timeframe have the potential to birth only eight cubs. Ballard said that low breeding potential is why over harvesting of black bears should be avoided.
While noting the population is somewhere close to 500, social media posts and news reports can make populations seem much larger. Ballard explained that is due to the mobility of the animals.
An example Ballard used was of one animal nicknamed “Pear Bear.” The bear earned the nickname because every time the public saw him, it was eating pears under trees. Yet, markings on the bear and other identifying information proved it was the same animal.
“So if you were just an average observer, looking in north Mississippi you would think there were bears growing up out of the ground up there. There’s just bears all over the place, but it’s actually just this one,” Ballard explained.
Since black bears are currently on the state-protected species list, legislative action to remove them from that list would be required to set a hunting season. Once the population is large enough for that consideration, MDWFP would be tasked with the creation of the specifics of a season, including the number of tags to be issued.
States that reenacted black bear hunting seasons typically waited until the estimated population was about 1,000. As such, Ballard advised the Senate committee that there is no hurry for Mississippi to create a black bear hunting season.
“Time is on our side. The more we wait, the more data we’re going to have to be able to justify our management decisions, the more the population is going to build and to able to issue more tags to the public,” Ballard said.
Waiting also allows time to properly educate the public. But at some point there will be a need to establish a season, since too many bears can be destructive.
When a season is determined to be needed, Ballard suggested setting the start date in mid-December so breeding age females are already in dens. He also anticipated the need for weight and gender restrictions, and prohibiting the harvest of sows that have cubs.
“All of those regulations are kind of to steer away from breeding age females and towards adult males, which is what you want to take out of the population without risk of population declines,” Ballard described.
Mississippi DOEnation Program
The Senate committee also heard from William McKinley, Deer Program Coordinator for MDWFP, who pitched the idea of a venison sharing program in the state, called the Mississippi DOEnation Program.
“And don’t let the name fool you, we’ll take bucks as well. We’re not limited to does,” McKinley added.
Deer hunting is a popular activity in the state, contributing more than $1 billion to the economy through the harvest of 12 million ponds of venison annually. McKinley said that is enough meat for 48 million meals.
Since hunters typically share their venison with neighbors and friends, a program where hunters could share excess meat with those who need food assistance could convince the state’s more than 170,000 licensed hunters to harvest more deer to cull its ever-growing population.
“It has been increasing at a very rapid rate by an average of over a 100,000 deer per year for the past five years,” McKinley said, adding that at the same time harvest rates are declining.
Larger populations of deer result in smaller adult body sizes, destruction of private property and crops, and increased potential of deer and vehicle collisions.
Research into why hunters are not harvesting more than one and a half deer annually determined that 33% of hunters do not “have an outlet to donate extra deer carcasses.”
“They get their one, or their two. They put that in the freezer, they share it with some friends and that’s where they stop,” McKinley described.
If a program existed where hunters could share extra deer carcasses, it would provide an outlet to address the state’s number one problem, hunger. Food banks typically provide the essentials, but do not always have enough protein.
To address that problem, McKinley suggested setting up the DOEnation Program. It would involve the use of refrigerated donation trailers where hunters could donate field-dressed carcasses. Trailers would be parked in areas where communities report high deer damage rates. Once a week, those carcasses would be brought to currently shuttered meat processing facilities at the Hinds Community College and Jones Community College. Both colleges have meat lab facilities that are not being used due to low enrollment in those programs.
“But yet they have the equipment. We’ve already spoken with them and with their presidents. They want this to work,” McKinley said.
After the trailer is picked up once a week by MWFP personnel, it would be brought to facilities where the meat is tested for CWD before it is processed and ground. Frozen ground venison would then be picked up by the Mississippi Food Network, and distributed to those who need it.
If the program were to collect 1,000 deer in a season, it could provide enough protein for close to 200,000 meals, McKinley estimated.
One-time funding to help get the program started is being sought through Accelerate Mississippi, Mississippi Land Water and Timber Resource Board, and the Soybean Promotion Board.
“This is to get it started. It will need funding to be sustained over time,” McKinley added. “This program takes something that Mississippi has too much of and puts it where Mississippi has too little.”
To buy trailers and renovate the college facilities McKinley said it would require an initial investment of between $500,000 to $600,000, with annual costs to maintain the program being much less.
-- Article credit to Jeremy Pittari for the Magnolia Tribune --
