Sex and Age Characteristics of Harvested Brown Bears in the Oshima Peninsula, Japan

Abstract

To manage brown bear (Ursus arctos yesoensis) populations, it is necessary to monitor harvest and evaluate sex and age characteristics of harvested bears. I investigated characteristics of an indiscriminate brown bear harvest in the Oshima Peninsula, Hokkaido, Japan, by interviewing hunters and determining the sex and age of bears killed from 1983 through 1987. Harvest structure differed by seasons and methods. Females with cubs were killed during den hunts 10 times more often (P < 0.001) than during postemergence hunts in spring (Jan-May). A higher (P = 0.028) ratio of males (excluding young bears) was taken in traps when compared with those pursued and shot in summer and autumn (Jun-Dec). There were reproductive, status-related differences in the proportions of adult females taken in spring harvest and those taken in summer and autumn harvests. During spring, the proportion of females with cubs was lower (P = 0.043), whereas the proportion of females with yearlings was higher (P < 0.001) than during summer and autumn. Den hunting should be prohibited to protect females with cubs