Wisconsin bear hunters will see more opportunities to get a license this year statewide, but numbers will be similar to last year in the north.
The Natural Resources Board approved recommendations that included over 15,000 licenses statewide.
“Overall, the harvest target this year, what we're recommending is a slight bump from last year, but the big change here is in the number of licenses,” DNR Large Carnivore Specialist Randy Johnson told the board.
“Over 15,000 licenses would be the most we've ever issued. Again, most of that increase is in the southern part of the state, where there's low success rates, allowing us to provide this opportunity, and hopefully will result in a little bit higher harvest in some of those zones to help us level off some of that population growth.”
In Zones A and B in northern Wisconsin, harvest recommendations and license numbers will remain about even with last year.
Waiting to get a license in the north can be as much as ten years.
Last year, 3,724 bear were harvested in Wisconsin, which Johnson said was a bit below average.
