REGIONAL— It appears that hunters registered the lowest number of bears in five years, based on harvest data compiled by the Department of Natural Resources on Oct. 18. The 2022 bear season ended Oct. 16, although final bear registration numbers won’t be issued until sometime this winter.
The preliminary totals show the harvest was down about 25 percent over last year and a whopping 30 percent over the totals from 2020.
Most DNR wildlife managers had expected fewer registrations this year as hunters dealt with the effects of a bumper crop of wild foods, which make hunters’ baits less attractive to bears. As is typical in productive food years, the female harvest declined substantially. Females are typically more cautious around baits than male bears, but can be drawn in when natural foods are scarce.
Statewide, hunters had registered 2,232 bears, 63 percent of them male, which should help improve the reproductive potential of the bear population heading into next year. The DNR has been attempting to boost bear numbers in recent years, after sharp declines a decade ago due to high hunter harvests.
Locally, hunters registered a total of 177 bears in permit area 25, which encompasses all of northern St. Louis County outside the Boundary Waters along with eastern Koochiching County. Of those 112 were male, while 63 were female. In permit area 31, which includes much of eastern St. Louis and all of Lake and Cook counties outside the Boundary Waters, hunters registered a total of 197 bears, 137 (or 70 percent) of which were males, with 60 females.