Reducing the distance…

ERO number

019-0022

Comment ID

28036

Commenting on behalf of

Individual

Comment status

Comment approved More about comment statuses

Comment

Reducing the distance between public rights of way (including motorways and trails) and bear bait traps to 30m seems like a sure-fire way to increase not only the rate of human-bear conflicts but also the likelihood that one of these creatures could venture on to a highway and cause an accident.

200m is an appropriate distance to keep non-hunters, who are using a trail, far enough away from hungry bears, thereby minimizing human-bear conflict.

The proposed 30m rule reads like it was intended to help out lazy hunters and hunt guides/outfitters who want to increase their kill-rates for hunting groups by never having to leave the well-marked trail or roadway to ensure that every outing leads to a kill. Moreover, might the proximity to trails and motorways lead to higher rates of accidental shootings of humans? Keep the distance rules in place. We don't need to ease the hunting experience this much and these changes only heighten the risk for accident and injury to both humans and bears.

What's next? Drive-by shootings from the comfort of the passenger side window?