Effort and success of brown bear hunters in Alaska

Understanding hunter motivation, effort, and success is crucial to manage t he harvest of wildlife populations, especially for large mammals with compa ratively low intrinsic rates of increase. We conducted a survey of hunters based on 3,241 respondents who pur chased hunting tags for brown bear (Ursu s arctos) in Alaska during 1985-86 to document hunting effort and identify variables correlated with hunting trip success. Success was greater for non residents (55.9%) than for Alaskans (8.7%). Based on statewide sales of bro wn bear tags and sealing data, success of nonresident (51.3%) and resident (9.3%) hunters did not differ from what was reported in the questionnaire. Stepwise logistic regression identified differences in primary motivation, use of professional guides, and regional distribution of hunting effort bet ween successful and unsuccessful hunters. With other factors held equal, hu nter success was lower in regions with greater human populations and higher in regions with fewer people. Hunters who used airplanes and chartered boa ts were more successful than those who did not do so, indicating the import ance of access to remote locations. Hunting trips conducted in spring were more successful (20%) than autumn hunts (9%), because a greater proportion of hunters specifically sought brown bears in spring. In addition, a greate r proportion of trophy bears was harvested during spring (4.3%) than autumn (1.6%). Because trophy criteria differ between grizzly (Ursus arctos horri bilis) and Alaskan brown bears (U. a. middendorfi and related subspecies), the greatest proportion of trophy bears came from northwest and interior Al aska. Trophy hunting likely reflects motivational differences in hunters; i ndividuals hunting in northwest Alaska, where harvest of trophies was great est, sought principally brown bears. Such baseline data are useful to asses s future demands for services related to hunting brown bears, documenting a nd tracking hunter motivations, and potentially better understanding bear p opulation dynamics in relation to harvest in Alaska and elsewhere.