# Why the Gap?



## 300 Wby (Aug 14, 2008)

Just looking at the bear hunts in the bookcliffs (south) why the gap from Aug 24 to the 1 Oct opener when the La Sal's and other units hunts go on through Sept and Nov?

I looked at the harvest statistics as well and see the bookcliffs are really only about 30% successful yet seem to get a lot of press. Any thoughts on these two observations?


----------



## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

The only thing that the Book Cliffs has going on at that time that the others don't is the Wild Horse Bench bison hunt. 

Quite a few years ago when I had my LE Elk tag for the Book Cliffs in September I complained about the outfitters that were chasing bears in the canyon that I was hunting in. They turned their dogs loose at 8am and they were barking up a storm and chasing everything out of it. But that was 17 years ago


----------



## Kevin D (Sep 15, 2007)

Bear/elk hunter conflicts is the primary reason. Where there is a tough to draw premiere limited entry elk unit in an area with a high bear population and lots of permits you are bound to have some problems between the elk hunters and the hound doggers. The DWR jockeyed with the season dates to try to avoid these conflicts.

In other areas of the state where there aren't as many bear permits offered and the probability of conflict is lessened they continue to allow the limited entry elk and bear seasons to overlap.


----------



## 300 Wby (Aug 14, 2008)

Kevin D said:


> Bear/elk hunter conflicts is the primary reason. Where there is a tough to draw premiere limited entry elk unit in an area with a high bear population and lots of permits you are bound to have some problems between the elk hunters and the hound doggers. The DWR jockeyed with the season dates to try to avoid these conflicts.
> 
> In other areas of the state where there aren't as many bear permits offered and the probability of conflict is lessened they continue to allow the limited entry elk and bear seasons to overlap.


Thanks for the info. Maybe they should let the multi season tags go through September as there are only 4 tags.


----------

