Ten days ago I picked up a retired smart fisherman from Mount Iron, Michigan. he was just back from Washington state where he had been stream-fishing with his brother and friend.
He described to me what is was like to fly-fish in the inland streams of Alaska amongst grizzly bears.
He said it was scary and risky to fish among them in federal parks where they are not hunted. There they are much more agressive and come much closer to fishermen, making a potential attack much more likely.
A few miles away, where grizzly hunting is allowed, the grizzly bears mostly avoid humans, and may flee hunters that they see.
These are very smart creatures. Some level of hunting keeps population control functioning, and keeps the bears, puma and wolves from going after humans.
Like deer and waterfowl that quickly discover where they are safe from hunting and stay close to those refugees, bears figure out where they can push humans or not.
My recommendation: some modest, controlled hunting of big predators saves human lives, so let us engage in it.
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