AK to Restrict DIY NR Black Bear Hunters

[icb12]

I agree 100% with you on that one boss. But that crap would never fly now would i32t ? Just like NON-Residents shouldn't HAVE to hire a guide for a guarentee tag shouldn't fly either.

Agreed

As far as learning something, why even ask a dumb question. We all learn every year. I'm sure even EliGrimmet (Our Expert) still learns every year. We should always be learning. That has nothing to do with "Having" to go with a guide to kill a bear.

Agreed.. we should. Learning shouldn't come at the expense of the bear population though..

Maybe AK is different but a crap load of the guides that I've seen and met are just joe shmo's trying to make some money hired by the outfitter that "knows" the actual stuff. Many are guys that couldn't find their tent if you turned them around twice.

Agreed.. Though as I've mentioned the guides in SE seem to be better to me

Do you think going once and being baby sat by a guide makes that person a better hunter then someone that hunts on their OWN and is responsible for their own success ? Most people that use outfitters that don't have to are lazy A$$ Clowns.

Agreed.. and no I don't.. not a better hunter, but a lot can be learned about the target critter.

Do you honestly believe that people going to AK to hunt bears are "FIRST TIMERS" ? My guess is that the "FIRST TIMERS" are using the guides not planning an OYOA.

In my experience.. quite a few ARE first timers... or very inexperienced.

My point is just because someone is Local doesn't make them a better hunter and incapable. The law is gonig to be set up to benifit the outfitters though and line some pockets. That's my "beef".

I do hope the numbers stay up on bears for all of our sakes.

Agreed.

 

[Moosie]

GROUP hug.... I still thin kthe Law blows Musk Ox nutz.

I'm moving on though now.

 

[belly-deep]

Useless statistics. 30% of hunters. What percentage guided? What percentage non res were repeat hunters? Was that 40% all dinks?

I'm not seeing how you determined that NR were better at hunting from these statistics...

My point was that your typical resident is more familiar with the resource than the typical non resident.
How many black bears have you looked at in your lifetime? Actually shot? Care to take a guess at how many I've looked at? How many I've shot? Which of us to do you think has the better grasp of what constitutes a big mature boar?
Reverse it. How many elk have you looked at? Me? I'll bet that you know waay more about elk hunting than I do, and are much better able to successfully pull off an elk hunt in Montana than I. They are all just big damn critters to me.

There's a lot more to "having a clue" than a couple useless harvest statistics. Bears especially.. they don't have the antlers as great big obvious clues...

They were all DIY.

The point is, if you're willing to pay the extra $$ and travel the miles, you're probably a bit more serious than the average local hunter.

And by the way, we have black bears in MT and some of them do get large.