I Can't Resist Ihave to pose a question to the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Mismanagement Service: A week ago, there was a three-page story in the Ouray Plaindealer about the problems bears were having with humans. The article went on to tell the sad story of an elderly lady who had perished at the claws of a bear. According to the article, unfortunately she had invited the attack by habitually feeding the bears and other wildlife. Later in the article, it went on to say that Coloradans had been training the bears to misbehave and the wildlife officials had had enough. It had a picture of the CEO district manager playing with a bear-proof trash can that wasn't property secured to keep the bears out. One of his enforcers stated all she gets done is responding to bear conflicts and sightings in the area she patrols. Wildlife officials and others have had to dispatch 89 bears this year that have gotten into mischief. There have been nearly 5,000 incidents this year involving bears they had to respond to. The answer now could be to fine $1,000 for intentionally feeding bears. Tickets can be written for not securing your bear-proof trash can, or leaving a bird feeder out. I believe mostly likely this will need to be done. At these times we live in, we must be responsible and try not to invite bears to get into trouble. However, having said that I have to wonder what did the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Mismanagement Service expect would happen when they let the bear population nearly double in the last 10 years? With all of the "book learning" they have had it seems common sense has flown out the window! They sit back and point fingers at us saying it is all our fault. My family moved to Loghil in 1969. My mother, God rest her soul, kept three hummingbird feeders filled all summer long until she and Dad moved back to Montrose in 1999. We never had a bear on the porch not one in 30 years! This summer I have chased two different bears off that same porch - one of them three times, and I don't have a bird feeder out. It doesn't take a genius to do the math on this. An estimate of twice as many bears is going to cause more bear-human conflicts. I guess I don't understand how unelected bureaucrats get to decide what the proper bear population should be. The wildlife biologists are failing at their job for letting this get this far out of hand. Once again, I have to wonder if the over-population of predators has anything to do with the demise of our deer herd and the downward spiral of elk numbers in this area. I don't believe it is a coincidence. It is a cause and effect situation. Obviously the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Mismanagement Service has started to wake up. They are now selling bear tags to non-residents for $100 instead of $350. A little slow on the uptake as far as I can tell. Perhaps hearing from us heathens that haven't had "book learning" would help the poor rascals. Cmon folks, give them a call and holler a little. If enough of us do it, they may catch on! (970) 252-6000 Jack Flowers Log Hill Mesa Ouray County I Can't Resist Ihave to pose a question to the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Mismanagement Service: A week ago, there was a three-page story in the Ouray Plaindealer about the problems bears were having with humans. The article went on to tell the sad story of an elderly lady who had perished at the claws of a bear. According to the article, unfortunately she had invited the attack by habitually feeding the bears and other wildlife. Later in the article, it went on to say that Coloradans had been training the bears to misbehave and the wildlife officials had had enough. It had a picture of the CEO district manager playing with a bear-proof trash can that wasn't property secured to keep the bears out. One of his enforcers stated all she gets done is responding to bear conflicts and sightings in the area she patrols. Wildlife officials and others have had to dispatch 89 bears this year that have gotten into mischief. There have been nearly 5,000 incidents this year involving bears they had to respond to. The answer now could be to fine $1,000 for intentionally feeding bears. Tickets can be written for not securing your bear-proof trash can, or leaving a bird feeder out. I believe mostly likely this will need to be done. At these times we live in, we must be responsible and try not to invite bears to get into trouble. However, having said that I have to wonder what did the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Mismanagement Service expect would happen when they let the bear population nearly double in the last 10 years? With all of the "book learning" they have had it seems common sense has flown out the window! They sit back and point fingers at us saying it is all our fault. My family moved to Loghil in 1969. My mother, God rest her soul, kept three hummingbird feeders filled all summer long until she and Dad moved back to Montrose in 1999. We never had a bear on the porch not one in 30 years! This summer I have chased two different bears off that same porch - one of them three times, and I don't have a bird feeder out. It doesn't take a genius to do the math on this. An estimate of twice as many bears is going to cause more bear-human conflicts. I guess I don't understand how unelected bureaucrats get to decide what the proper bear population should be. The wildlife biologists are failing at their job for letting this get this far out of hand. Once again, I have to wonder if the over-population of predators has anything to do with the demise of our deer herd and the downward spiral of elk numbers in this area. I don't believe it is a coincidence. It is a cause and effect situation. Obviously the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Mismanagement Service has started to wake up. They are now selling bear tags to non-residents for $100 instead of $350. A little slow on the uptake as far as I can tell. Perhaps hearing from us heathens that haven't had "book learning" would help the poor rascals. Cmon folks, give them a call and holler a little. If enough of us do it, they may catch on! (970) 252-6000 Jack Flowers Log Hill Mesa Ouray County