01x11 - Episode 11

[bunniefuu]

- Black bears are North

America's most familiar

and common bears,

but when it comes to

conserving the species,

there is no one size

fits all solution.

Black bears are one of

the most photographed

of all wildlife species,

and there is little doubt

that bears have

captivated the curiosities

of hunters and

non-hunters alike.

(bright music)

My aim is to understand how

different approaches can work

in different parts

of the country.

(compelling music)

Hunting has become a

controversial practice

in modern times.

My name is Dan Cabela, and

I'm traveling the globe

to explore the true impact

that hunting is having

on our remaining

wild landscapes.

This practice goes as far back

as human history can remember,

but does it have a place

in modern conservation?

(lion growls)

(compelling music)

(bright music)

(birds chirping)

Bear hunting is deeply

rooted in our history,

and the hunting of American

black bears has taken place

since the initial

settlement of the Americas.

They range from northern

Mexico through the US

to Northern Canada,

and are the smallest

of the three bear species

found in North America.

There are over 300,000 black

bears in the United States,

and their conservation status

is listed as least concerned

by the International Union

for Conservation of Nature.

While many states have

an abundance of bears,

certain states have faced

critically low numbers.

While black bear populations

are healthy as a whole,

their distribution varies

across different states,

and a unique

approach is required

to their conservation

in different contexts.

Robust science is the foundation

for conservation management

decisions, and in states

like Oklahoma and Arkansas,

a lot of work is being done

to better understand the

black bear populations.

(upbeat music)

I'm heading to Oklahoma to

meet a team of researchers

and participate in an

initiative to study

their growing bear population.

Black bears are sensitive

to habitat loss,

so as human

encroachment increased,

black bear populations

became patchy

to non-existent in Oklahoma.

The impacts of

urban development,

unregulated hunting,

and habitat fragmentation

further caused

black bear decline in the state.

Through sound

conservation practices

and initiatives that were

funded by hunters' dollars,

the black bear

population has rebounded,

and the first hunting season

took place in Oklahoma in 2009.

(bright music)

I am going to be joining a

team of researchers in Oklahoma

to study their black bear.

The only catch is that we'll

need to crawl into a den

to tranquilize a sow

while she hibernates.

(birds chirping)

(peaceful music)

Since you've started doing this,

has the population increased

or just been stable, decreased?

- So when we jumped back

into this area back in 2014

to start studying again to see

how the hunting season had

affected the population,

(bright music)

- [Dan] Black bears create

their dens in the ground

under a windfall or in

a hollow tree or cave.

Once a den is located, the

female with cubs is immobilized

and put to sleep with

the use of a jab stick

containing a dart

loaded with anesthesia,

and the cubs are then

removed, weighed, measured,

and sex is determined before

being returned to the den.

(bright music)

(bright music)

(indistinct chatter)

- [Researcher] Two point five?

- [Researcher] Two point five.

(bright music)

- [Dan] Because they're too

small to apply ear tags,

each cub will have a microchip

inserted under the skin

which will be used to

age bears into the future

if one is harvested or

dies of natural causes.

(cub squealing)

(bright music)

- Everybody loves the cubs.

It's really easy to

like those little guys,

but to me, it's the moms

that do all the hard work,

and so I tend to

spend as much time

with those girls as I can.

She's still got her ear tags.

We've already checked

the lip tattoo

that they gave to her

during the summer.

Then Courtney will climb in,

and we will adjust her

collar if it needs adjusting,

and we're going to

replace the cotton spacers

that we built into the collar.

(uplifting music)

- It's like something I

never could've imagined,

really cool, I mean,

this is awesome,

hard to describe, beautiful.

Mom's waking up, so we're

putting the cubs back

in the den, and I think we're

about to wrap it up here.

(cub squawking)

(uplifting music)

All right little guy.

- This was a fantastic day.

You know, we do a lot of

planning, and you always hope

that it's gonna go right, and

this is one of those times

but she presented

a good shoulder for

us, and we were able

to get a good jab, and she

went down very quickly,

and everybody stayed healthy

throughout the process,

which is always our primary

concern, making sure

that she's healthy while

we're working with her here.

And the cubs are

in great condition,

so we couldn't ask for a

better day in the bear woods.

- After a successful bear

denning, I'm off to Arkansas

where conservationists

have been working hard

to restore their

bear population.

(bright music)

Arkansas was once known

as the bear state,

with pre-settlement estimates

of up to 50,000 bears.

Once settlers arrived and began

to clear and farm the land,

suitable bear habitat

became scarce.

In the 1930s, it was estimated

that Arkansas only had

50 black bears left.

Bear hunting was

officially banned in 1927,

and the ban

continued until 1980.

In the 1960s, Arkansas

Game and Gish imported

over 250 black bears

to reinvigorate the

state's population.

This repopulation is one of

the greatest success stories

of wildlife management

in the United States.

The latest estimate is

around 5,500 bears statewide.

The project I am participating

in aims to monitor

the population growth

rates in Arkansas

by equipping adult females

with tracking collars

across the bear range,

which will also be used to

monitor reproduction rates

as well as provide valuable

harvest information,

enabling the state to make

informed conservation

management decisions.

Myron Means and his team

are taking me to check

on the bear traps

they have been using

to attract a suitable candidate

to fit with a GPS collar.

- So you know, we'll

put the sardines in here

on the bait hook,

bait 'em in there,

and so when the

bear comes up to it,

they can't stick their nose

in there because it's too big,

so they're gonna back up.

Theoretically, they're gonna

stick their hand in there,

and when they do pull

the bait hook down,

this throwing arm

assembly will come up

and cinch this snare cable here

that we have inside

the bucket like so,

and it'll go tight

around their foot,

and they'll be

tethered to the tree.

You know, right now, we're

kind of battling Mother Nature.

We're battling a pretty

good blackberry crop.

Bears are just that way.

You know, when Mother

Nature provides,

sometimes it's hard

to replace that.

- [Dan] And that's

why we're gonna give

'em a little dessert

this morning.

- That's right, we're gonna

give 'em a little sweet.

You know, if they're

used to eating sweet,

we're gonna give

them a little sweet.

So we're gonna mix some

raspberry jello packets in here.

We're gonna mix some

vanilla extract,

which has a really good,

strong aromatic smell.

- [Dan] Well, let's hope

that makes a difference.

- Let's hope. (chuckling)

(peaceful music)

- Myron and the team

have been struggling

for weeks to catch bears

due to the abundance

of blackberries in the area,

but with a stroke of luck,

an hour after setting the trap,

a bear has been

spotted on the bait.

(uplifting music)

- [Myron] It's the very

beginning of a great project.

- So excited for sure.

- Yeah, this will be

the first GPS collar put

on a bear in the Gulf coastal

plane, you know, ever, so.

- Yeah, that's pretty cool

when you think about it.

- It is, it is.

- [Dan] The bear is in the

trap, and the team prepares

the dart g*n and

equipment needed

for the collaring

and sampling process.

- The drug c*ck that we're

using on this bear is BAM.

It's a really good drug,

that we found, on bears.

Once he's darted, it'll probably

take him five minutes or so

before he's, you know,

manageable, handleable.

So this particular dart

assembly is a side inject port,

in other words, it

doesn't inject out the end

like most darts do, because

it doesn't wanna blow the dart

back out the animal.

It doesn't use a chemical

charge or a powder charge.

Has a stopper here

and a plunger here,

and this chamber is

filled with air pressure,

and the ports on the needle's

covered with the sleeve,

so as it goes into the

animal, pushes the sleeve off

of these ports, and therefore,

the pressure in here pushes

the plunger forward and

delivers the drug out the side.

It isn't barbed, so it's

less trauma to the animal,

but you gotta charge

'em with air first.

(dart clicking)

This particular dart projector's

a CO2 charge projector.

It's extremely accurate

because you can dial

the charge rate up and down,

and plus we have a laser,

if you can see the

laser on the tree.

(projector popping)

(bright music)

- So we've moved her

uphill so that the pressure

of her organs are

off her diaphragm.

It'll make it easier

for her to breathe,

and we're setting her up

on anesthesia right now

with supplemental oxygen.

AJ's putting eyedrops

and bandaids on,

because while they're

under anesthesia,

they can't protect

their eyes and blink,

so this will keep 'em

from getting injured.

(bear sighing)

Yeah, sister, you can

do all that you want to.

(bright music)

We will look at,

we'll bank the blood,

look at viral exposures.

- [Researcher] I put that too.

- [Jennifer] These will be

kind of our control population

compared to our population

that's affected with mange,

to see if there's any

relationship there

between viral exposures

that could make them

immunosuppressed and the

development of clinical mange.

(bright music)

- [Dan] Each bear is fitted

with a GPS tracking collar.

Their vitals are checked

and measurements taken.

Blood is drawn, and

they are weighed.

(bright music)

- [Jennifer] Zero,

yeah, you're good.

(bright music)

- [Researcher] Ready?

(cable clanking)

- [Jennifer] 149.

- [Researcher] No way.

(bright music)

- There she goes.

Hey, baby.

(bright music)

Easy.

Hey.

- Things change in a hurry.

(both chuckling)

- Do they ever.

(both chuckling)

- After seeing some of the

incredible conservation work

being done to bring bears

back across the country,

I'm traveling to Maine,

where there are already

healthy numbers of the species.

Maine has the largest

black bear population

of the lower 48 states.

If bear hunting were

to stop in Maine,

it would have a devastating

effect on prey species

such as deer and moose caps.

It would also be

detrimental to the economies

of rural communities.

Bear hunting income for many

family owned businesses is 40

to 50% of total income.

(bright music)

- By hunter harvest, prevent

the bears from getting

to a density that's so high

that's unhealthy for them,

and I certainly want

to see bears thrive

and not struggle to survive.

I mean, that's the thing that

I always wanted to be sure

that we were managing

the bears in such a way

that they never got

into a situation

where they were having

trouble producing cubs,

having trouble raising cubs,

starving, k*lling each other,

or really the worst of

all, dying of disease.

(waves lapping)

(bright music)

- [Dan] Maine is home

to pristine habitat

for black bears,

and we head out in

search of a suitable male

for me to harvest.

(bright music)

Hunting for a black bear

in these dense woods

is not a simple task.

It requires many days

of hiking, driving,

checking trail cams,

and following tracks

before getting an opportunity.

(bright music)

Trail cameras help us to scout

the vast area in the hopes

that a boar may have

been passing through.

- [Hunter] Got any boars?

- [Hunter] Was it six o'clock

last night or this morning?

- [Hunter] This morning.

- Looks like a pretty good

bear, I don't know, 250, 300,

was in here at three

o'clock in the morning.

We're gonna go get

the other houndsmen

and try and get 'em

combined together

and see if we can't

get this done.

(compelling music)

(compelling music)

(dogs barking)

- [Tom] Come back real

quick till we're ready.

Give him a second.

Let him start to

get the thing down,

but that bear starts to

come down, you sh**t it.

(dogs barking)

- [Hunter] Right now?

- [Hunter] Just left

of that big tree.

(g*n firing)

- There is a mix of

emotions that come

over you when you successfully

harvest an animal,

but no matter your

feelings on the topic,

the fact is that

well-regulated hunting is

an effective conservation tool,

and it generates a

large amount of funding

that is in turn used

to protect the species.

(peaceful music)

There is a misconception

that black bear meat is

not utilized by the hunter.

Black bear meat is

fantastic eating,

and it's particularly

great in stews, chilies,

and sausages because of

its high fat content.

Native Americans utilized

black bears each season,

and the meat of the black bear

was a preferred food source

of the American frontier.

(boat motor humming)

(bright music)

Today, Nathan from OMM

Outfitters is taking me

to taste some black bear meat

and find out more about

how it is processed.

(bright music)

I think there's definitely

something special

about harvesting your own food.

You know, I think that has a

core meaning to every hunter.

- Yeah, field to table, I

think, is very important,

especially in this day and age,

and knowing where

your food comes from.

- You got hot Italian,

sweet Italian.

This is summer sausage,

and this is blueberry

apple breakfast sausage.

- [Dan] Okay, wow.

- So this is all bear meat here.

- A lot of people might

not realize the variety

that you can get

through these sausages

and different meat

cuts out of a bear.

- I mean, the pepperoni,

you could really cut the

pepperoni up, put it on a pizza,

and you wouldn't

notice a difference.

- Not all conservation

conversations are the same,

and as I learned by visiting

the three different states,

black bear conservation

is complex,

and requires a unique

approach in each landscape.

The hunting of black

bears plays a role

in population management, and

the business model associated

with it generates

funding for bear research

and the conservation

of the species.

(bright music)

Allowing hunting going

forward will help to keep

their habitat wild,

and in combination

with understanding their

populations through science,

ensure that black

bears remain common

with enough habitat to

thrive into the future.

(bright music)