Hunters: Black Bear hunting regulations have changed for 2010
Hunting regulation changes can be found online
by Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks
April 1, 2010
There has been some confusion on the regulation changes for the 2010 black bear hunting season in Montana, particularly for the upcoming spring season hunt. The new regulation requires spring black bear hunters to validate their licenses if they will be hunting in Bear Management Units 100, 102, 103, 104, 105 AND 108, OR to validate for hunting in the rest of the state EXCEPT the aforementioned BMU's. In years past, the validation requirement was for BMU's different than those listed for this year.
Montana’s 2010 black bear hunting regulations are available online for hunters eager to brush up on some of the important changes this year. Montana’s spring black bear hunting season begins April 15.
New for the spring hunt only is a change in the black bear hunting license validation. Hunters must validate their license at the time of purchase, choosing to:
• hunt the entire state—except Bear Management Units 100, 102, 104, 105 and 108, or
• hunt only in BMUs 100, 102, 104, 105 and 108—and nowhere else in the state.
Those who plan to hunt black bear in northwestern Montana should also note that BMU 108 has been broken into two units, with a boundary change for BMU 108 and the remainder of the area designated as BMU 200.
Of interest to bear hunters who plan to hunt the fall season is a new archery-only season for black bear that runs Sept. 4-14 in all BMUs. Archery hunters will need an archery license to hunt bear during this new bear archery season. In BMUs with a quota, black bear harvest during the archery-only season will not exceed 20 percent of the BMU’s total quota.
Hunters who purchase black bear licenses after April 15 must obtain them over the counter at a Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks office and cannot use them for five days after the purchase date. Bear hunters must also successfully complete FWP’s bear ID training at least once in order to purchase a black bear license.
FWP urges black bear hunters to refresh their bear identification skills every year to be able to distinguish a black bear from a grizzly. Grizzly bears, a federally protected, threatened species, are not hunted in Montana. To locate the online FWP bear ID test, go to Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Bear Identification Program (http://fwp.mt.gov/education/hunter/bearID/).
To review the online 2010 black bear regulations, go to the FWP Web site at fwp.mt.gov and click on the Hunting page and then Regulations (http://fwp.mt.gov/hunting/regulations).
Questions about this new regulation? Contact the FWP Region 1 office, at 406-752-5501, or your local FWP Warden/Wildlife Biologist.
|
