Details
Bears are large mammals in the order Carnivora. Although there are only eight living species of bear, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Northern Hemisphere and partially in the Southern Hemisphere. The IUCN lists six bear species as vulnerable or endangered, and even "least concern" species such as the brown bear are at risk of extirpation in certain countries. The poaching and international trade of these most threatened populations is prohibited but still going on.
Because of their imposing size, elusiveness, sharp senses, and ferocity, bears are among the most favoured big game animals. Where they are hunted frequently, bears become purely nocturnal.
Bears have the ability to dramatically lower their heart rate when hibernating and will readily do so if injured, as a defense mechanism against blood loss. Hunters carrying firearms tend to favour calibres large enough to inflict as much tissue and bone damage as possible, as Grizzly and Brown Bears can generally withstand a number or direct shots to the limbs or torso without ceasing their attack. To successfully subdue a bear by firearm, one may have to shoot it several times, so as to leave wounds that will cause the bear to hemorrhage to death as quickly as possible. Hunters pursuing the animal deliberately might use a caliber larger than they would for the deer that commonly co-inhabit the same area. If they intend to keep the hide, and to ensure a quick and humane kill, they may prefer to use a large bullet that will break the bear's shoulder and continue through the vital organs, ideally leaving an exit wound large enough to leave a blood trail to assist locating the downed animal. For these reasons, bears are hard to hunt, as they generally live in dense forests or thick brush. They are however easy to trap.
Once a general area is identified, a bear hunt usually begins by looking for claw marks on trees. Scores in bear hunts are based on the width and length of the skull.
In Finland, 136 bear hunting permits were made available for the 2012-2013 season.
Read more about this topic: Bear Hunting
Famous quotes containing the word details:
“Patience is a most necessary qualification for business; many a man would rather you heard his story than granted his request. One must seem to hear the unreasonable demands of the petulant, unmoved, and the tedious details of the dull, untired. That is the least price that a man must pay for a high station.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)
“Different persons growing up in the same language are like different bushes trimmed and trained to take the shape of identical elephants. The anatomical details of twigs and branches will fulfill the elephantine form differently from bush to bush, but the overall outward results are alike.”
—Willard Van Orman Quine (b. 1908)
“Then he told the news media
the strange details of his death
and they hammered him up in the marketplace
and sold him and sold him and sold him.
My death the same.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)