Bear-kill boost upsets critics
State: Sandia population bigger than thought; hunt increased
Anew study that indicates the number of bears in the Sandias is nearly double previous estimates — revised up to 132 — is prompting state officials to recommend an increase in the number that can be killed by hunters from the current five to 11.
One critic, who calls the new estimate bogus, says that such an increase in kills combined with other record losses in recent years could eventually mean “no bears in the Sandias.”
Before the new study, New Mexico Department of Game and Fish biologists had put the Sandia’s bear population at 46 to 72 bears. The new three-year study employed genetic testing of bear hairs snagged on strands of barbed-wire and showed a much larger population.
Based on the new estimate, department officials will recommend that the state Game Commission increase by six the number of bears that can be killed in the Sandias, department spokesman Dan Williams said.
If approved, the new limit would be for the 2016 bear hunting season, which typically runs from early September through mid-November. Bear hunting in the Sandias is limited to bow hunting.
Since 2006, hunters have killed a total of
seven bears in the Sandias, according to department records.
Jan Hayes, founder of Sandia Mountain BearWatch, says Game and Fish’s estimates are meaningless.
“(Game and Fish) is claiming that there is approximately 132 bears currently living in the Sandias — this after approximately 130 bears were trapped/relocated or killed in the years of 2011, 2012, 2013. It is not biologically feasible to still have 132 bears left in the Sandias after the largest loss of bears, especially producing sows, ever recorded in this small mountain range,” she said.
Hayes said the organization, whose stated mission is to help ensure a stable bear population in New Mexico, had requested a reduction in the number of bears that can be taken by hunters statewide, citing what she calls “record bear deaths from all causes over the past four years.”
The department, which has revised its statewide bear population estimate from between 6,000 and 7,000 to 7,989, wants the statewide limit for hunters increased from 640 to 804.
“If that’s what they want — no bears in the Sandias — this will do it,” Hayes said.
Hair samples
The new bear population estimates are derived from bear hair samples collected from “traps” set up in prime bear habitat. The hairs, collected from single strands of barbed wire surrounding a pungent scent lure, were sent for DNA testing.
The results provide game managers with a wealth of information, including the identity of individual bears, their sex, genetic variations among bear populations, where they go, and even how the bears are related. Over time, the data can give game managers a more accurate estimate of bear population than what’s currently available, department officials have said.
In the Sandias, biologists collected 177 bear-hair samples. They came from traps set in “primary bear habitat” throughout the mountains during the summers of 2012 through 2014, and from wire strands placed on structures — such as trees, utility poles and sign posts — that bears are known to rub against.
Sixty-one of those samples, or about 35 percent, came from individually identifiable bears, according to Game and Fish officials.
“This is the best technique top bear researchers have come up with to estimate bear numbers,” said Rick Winslow, large carnivore biologist for the Department of Game and Fish. “It’s noninvasive and gives us on-the-ground data from specific areas, whereas estimates from previous studies were extrapolated from surveys in various areas of the state.”
Although previous surveys indicated that Game and Fish’s Game Management Unit 8 — which includes the Sandias — had 351.6 square kilometers of “primary bear habitat,” a more recent survey increased that to 719 square kilometers, Williams said.
Earlier estimates
Previous bear population estimates were based on a comprehensive eight-year study completed in 2001 and computer modeling that factors in variables such as availability of food, overall bear health and reproduction and bear mortality. Estimates take into account bear births, bears migrating from other areas, and relocated bears that make their way back to the Sandias — a relatively common occurrence, game managers have said.
Using the older model, Game and Fish biologists had estimated the bear population in the Sandias at between 46 and 72 bears age 1 year or older.
Population estimates help set an annual “sustainable harvest limit” — the number of bears that can be killed and still maintain a sustainable bear population within specific areas.
Based on the new estimates, Williams said, 132 bears is a “sustainable bear population” for the Sandias.
If the new recommended hunting limits in the Sandias are adopted by the Game Commission, hunters will be allowed to kill a total of 11 bears, but no more than four of those can be females, Williams said. Once four females are killed, the hunt stops, regardless of how many bears have been harvested up to that point.
Besides the Sandias, the three-year study covered four other areas in the state with populations of black bears — the northern Sangre de Cristo Mountains, southern Sangre de Cristos Mountains, northern Sacramento Mountains and southern Sacramento Mountains.
The results indicate an increase in bear populations in the Sangre de Cristos, Sandias and the northern Sacramentos, but a decrease in the southern Sacramentos. Those can be reviewed on the department website, www. wildlife.state.nm.us.