There are years in which I have seen 30 or more bears, which seems like a lot for someone who has never hunted bears. That said, I can count on one hand the number I have ever seen while hunting deer or elk. My past experience would not encourage me to purchase a bear license if the price was reduced or the regulations simplified. And you sure as heck wouldn't catch me messing with bears if I had a deer tag in my pocket. I think the lack of a spring season will always severely limit CPW's ability to meaningfully increase the bear harvest.
On another note regarding the leftover and reissue sales, I was surprised to hear comments at one of the recent commission meetings (perhaps Wray) from McDaniels that the secondary draw would likely nearly eliminate all the issues with the sale of reissue licenses because they would be drawn in the secondary draw. I was a bit stunned to hear such a misunderstanding of the current situation from likely the most avid hunter on the commission. And then Bray wondered aloud why CPW would not take preference points from successful applicants in the secondary draw, as if he perhaps he didn't know that they currently don't take them in the leftover draw. He made a comment to the effect of believing if people got the license in the draw then they should lose their points. Based on those comments I would not be surprised if we have not seen the end of the tweaking to the system.
On another note regarding the leftover and reissue sales, I was surprised to hear comments at one of the recent commission meetings (perhaps Wray) from McDaniels that the secondary draw would likely nearly eliminate all the issues with the sale of reissue licenses because they would be drawn in the secondary draw. I was a bit stunned to hear such a misunderstanding of the current situation from likely the most avid hunter on the commission. And then Bray wondered aloud why CPW would not take preference points from successful applicants in the secondary draw, as if he perhaps he didn't know that they currently don't take them in the leftover draw. He made a comment to the effect of believing if people got the license in the draw then they should lose their points. Based on those comments I would not be surprised if we have not seen the end of the tweaking to the system.