> If opportunities should arise to expand recovery, FWP is committed to utilize all or a portion 

 of any harvestable surplus by live removal and relocation of bears to other areas within or 

 outside Montana. 



Regulated harvest of wildlife is one of the major tools that allows the recovery and maintenance 

 of predators and prey populations in Montana and elsewhere. Persons who participate in that 

 harvest are pivotal to recovery of prey and the predators that depend on it. In addition, regulated 

 harvest of predators builds tolerance by those most negatively impacted by their presence. It is 

 therefore intended that regulated harvest of grizzly bears will be a part of Montana's program and 

 commitment to grizzlies, when and where appropriate. By managing grizzly bears as a game 

 species they are provided recognition as a valuable wildlife species, protected from illegal 

 harvest, afforded population monitoring and research, and all of the other benefits managed 

 species receive. 



Regulated hunting as a management tool for grizzly bears has a long successful history in 

 Montana. Regulated hunting allows FWP to select against unwary bears or bears that associate 

 and habituate to people. This approach was also recognized in the 1975 USFWS rule listing the 

 grizzly, which stated that isolated taking of nuisance bears is not sufficient by itself to prevent 

 numerous depredations, threats to human safety, or selection for wary bears. In contrast, a 

 regulated hunt does select against unwary bears and creates a behavioral response in bears 

 causing them to avoid people in time and/or space in a manner different than unhunted 

 populations. This instills wariness in individual bears and the population, potentially keeping 

 them from becoming problem animals and promotes the long-term survival of the bear 

 population and of people who come into contact with bears. Without benefit of a regulated hunt, 

 FWP response to some conflict situations can only occur after they have developed. 



Because wildlife populations produce surplus animals, some can be removed, and the population 

 can still increase. Population estimates and trend data for the GYE as well as other data indicate 

 this is the case. It is important to make the distinction between regulated removals as we now 

 know it and the unregulated mortalities that occurred in the past. Current highly managed and 

 regulated hunting programs can promote population increases and recovery. At the turn of the 

 century, the situation was unregulated. Bears were persecuted and killed without provocation, 

 license, limit, or season and in excessive numbers. 



The State of Montana's grizzly bear management program uses hunting as only one tool among 

 many to promote the long-term conservation of the grizzly bear. The regulated public hunt must 

 therefore be evaluated in the context of an overall bear management program and its efforts to 

 promote management and ongoing recovery of this species. Hunting programs or 

 recommendations will be conservatively applied. 



Because of this, hunting pressure exerted on this population should be too limited to result in loss 

 of access by bears to substantial portions of their habitat. Hunting may alter the timing and 

 nature of use of some habitats for short periods of time, but any negative impacts to the 

 population are negligible when considering the size of the ecosystem and the limited amount of 

 hunting anticipated. 



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