Spring bear hunting

Spring is almost here. If you’re planning a spring hunt for brown or grizzly bears or thinking of doing some baiting for black bears, now would be a suitable time to start getting organized. Making sure your snowmachine is in excellent running condition and getting your winter camping gear in top shape will make your early season hunt more comfortable. Sighting in your rifle for that new bear load you worked up would also be timely and the extra shooting practice will only help on your upcoming hunt.

Depending on where you plan to hunt, you might need a brown/grizzly tag. Several units are exempted from the need for a resident brown bear tag, so check the current hunting regulations book for exactly which units or subunits fall into this category. The drawing permits for this spring’s hunting have already been issued. If you didn’t draw a permit, you will need to follow the general season regulations and hunting areas.

If you are planning to hunt black bears over a bait station, you will need to attend one of the black bear baiting seminars the Alaska Department of Fish and Game has scheduled this spring. Clinics are available in person or online at http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=bearbaiting.main. Bait stations may be registered in person at an ADF&G office 15 days prior to the start of the season. This seminar will explain the laws and regulations governing baiting black bears and will provide some instruction on how to tell a black bear from a grizzly. In some units and subunits, it is legal to take a grizzly on a bait station but being able to tell the difference between the two species is still important.

By law, you must register your black bear bait location with Fish and Game. To do so, you will be asked to provide proof that you have attended and successfully completed one of the department’s black bear baiting seminars. You will also be asked for the specific location of your bait site. You are allowed to register up to two bait station locations per hunter and GPS coordinates of each site are preferred.

That method of site location will work to your benefit because someone else will not be allowed to register a site right next door. Using GPS coordinates also allows the wildlife troopers to patrol the location. Having the troopers occasionally visiting the site could, in fact, provide you with some security against vandals or other hunters illegally using the location in your absence.

With the snow conditions improving almost daily for snowmachining, now might be a suitable time to get out and scout for potential bait site locations. If you can locate your bait sites across the Susitna River in Unit 16 or up north in Unit 14B, you will be doing the moose populations in those units a favor by taking a bear or two this spring. Access into these areas can be tough. With the baiting season dates running from April 15 until June 30 in several Southcentral game management units, hunting in units on the other side of the Susitna River or other waterbodies after breakup will require a riverboat or airplane.

If you need to attend a black bear baiting seminar, give Fish and Game a call for scheduled dates. The Palmer Office number is 746-6300. Also be sure to get a copy of the current regulations booklet and study the section on bear baiting. Regulations have changed over the years and what you might remember from ten years ago may not be correct now. Save yourself the headache of receiving a ticket because you didn’t know the current regulations.

In the continuing saga of my health situation, I now have a firm date for the ankle joint replacement surgery to correct the problems I’ve had for the past seventeen years with my left ankle. I got a call from the surgeon’s office last Friday asking which day in May would work best for me. May 18th at Regional Hospital in Anchorage will see the deed done. I need to check in at 5:30 AM, which, despite the early timing, will work best physically for me.

Much to my surprise, the surgery will only involve one day – I go in in the morning and return home later that same afternoon. The person who called to set the appointment told me I would be getting a prescription for a “knee scooter” to make getting around easier until I can walk on the leg.