For the first time in state history, wildlife biologists have a good picture of how West Virginians feel about bear hunting.
For the first time in state history, wildlife biologists have a good picture of how West Virginians feel about bear hunting.
Long story short, they like it.
Seventy-seven out of every 100 Mountain State residents support bear hunting. Chris Ryan thinks that's remarkable.
"That's an extraordinarily high number," said Ryan, game management services supervisor for the state Division of Natural Resources. "West Virginia is a hunting-friendly state, but that's high even for a state with such a strong hunting tradition."
According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, roughly 15 to 17 percent of West Virginians identify themselves as hunters. That means most of the support for bear hunting comes from non-hunters.
Ryan discovered the statistic when - as part of his work toward a Ph.D. in Forest Resources Science - he analyzed the results of a poll conducted by a Virginia-based public research firm. The firm, Responsive Management, is nationally recognized for its polling work on outdoors-related issues.
As enthusiastically as Mountain State residents appear to support bear hunting, they don't love it unconditionally. Support for the pastime dropped significantly when poll questions became more specific.
For instance, poll respondents clearly didn't care for the practice of shooting bears over bait. Only 16 percent supported hunting with firearms over bait, and only 15 percent favored bowhunting over bait.
More people favored the perfectly legal practice of hunting with dogs, but not as many as Ryan expected. Only 23 percent of respondents favored hunting with dogs.
Support was highest (77 percent) for bear hunting with firearms and without dogs or bait. A slightly lower percentage (60 percent) favored bowhunting without dogs or bait.
For the first time in state history, wildlife biologists have a good picture of how West Virginians feel about bear hunting.
Long story short, they like it.
Seventy-seven out of every 100 Mountain State residents support bear hunting. Chris Ryan thinks that's remarkable.
"That's an extraordinarily high number," said Ryan, game management services supervisor for the state Division of Natural Resources. "West Virginia is a hunting-friendly state, but that's high even for a state with such a strong hunting tradition."
According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, roughly 15 to 17 percent of West Virginians identify themselves as hunters. That means most of the support for bear hunting comes from non-hunters.
Ryan discovered the statistic when - as part of his work toward a Ph.D. in Forest Resources Science - he analyzed the results of a poll conducted by a Virginia-based public research firm. The firm, Responsive Management, is nationally recognized for its polling work on outdoors-related issues.
As enthusiastically as Mountain State residents appear to support bear hunting, they don't love it unconditionally. Support for the pastime dropped significantly when poll questions became more specific.
For instance, poll respondents clearly didn't care for the practice of shooting bears over bait. Only 16 percent supported hunting with firearms over bait, and only 15 percent favored bowhunting over bait.
More people favored the perfectly legal practice of hunting with dogs, but not as many as Ryan expected. Only 23 percent of respondents favored hunting with dogs.
Support was highest (77 percent) for bear hunting with firearms and without dogs or bait. A slightly lower percentage (60 percent) favored bowhunting without dogs or bait.
As West Virginia's bear population has expanded, some sportsmen have begun calling for a springtime hunting season. Public sentiment seems opposed to it. Fifty-six percent of the poll's respondents said they were against creating a spring season.
Even people who considered themselves hunters weren't sold on holding a spring season. A slight majority (52 percent) opposed it.
Opposition also exceeded support for the state's current year-round training season for bear dogs. Sixty-one percent of respondents said the season was too long. Only 28 percent of respondents voiced support for the current setup.
Asked if they considered the state's bear population too high, too low or about right, a plurality of those polled (38 percent) chose "about right." Seventeen percent said it was too low, and 11 percent said it was too high.
Those were the statewide numbers. In the mountain counties, where bears are relatively abundant, 23 percent believed there are too many. In the Eastern Panhandle and the central counties, where bears are still relatively scarce, people who responded "too many" numbered just 6 percent.
"Also, people in areas of highest bear concentration were much more likely to want the population reduced," Ryan said. "The number was around 25 percent. If one in every four people says something, that's pretty profound."
Ryan added that DNR officials "would probably refer" to data from the survey when making future bear-management decisions.
"This gives us a pretty good snapshot of how people feel about bears and bear hunting," he said. "And we also know how important people consider bear management to be. With this knowledge, we can better match our management to the wants and needs of the public."
Reach John McCoy at johnmc...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1231.
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