Bear hunting
In addition to being a source of food, in modern times they have been favored by big game hunters due to their size and ferocity.
In the case of the American black bear, hunting is encouraged by some authorities to ameliorate past management issues.
Historically protected, by 2016 and 2023, higher-than-projected reproduction rates have resulted in over-population and public safety concerns in some areas.
Grizzly bear seasons open in the spring or autumn depending on local regulations and jurisdictions.
These bear are hunted mostly in the Caucasus, by stalking, where the harsh terrain offers a greater challenge to the hunter.
[6] The Kamchatka brown bear (Ursus arctos beringianus) is a large subspecies found in far eastern Siberia.
It lives east of the Yenisey River in most of Siberia (though absent in the habitats of the Kamchatka and Amur brown bear.)
The outer guard hairs are much thicker, longer and coarser, and while they also insulate, they primarily serve to protect the body from dirt, debris and insects, as well as to repel water.
The Inuit of Greenland use polar bear fur for clothing in areas where reindeer (caribou) and seals are scarce.
Polar bear hide is wiry and bulky, making it difficult to turn into comfortable winter garments.
[10] Bear meat, with its greasy, coarse texture and sweet flavor, has tended to receive mixed reviews.
[citation needed] Bear meat should be thoroughly cooked as it can carry a parasitic infection known as Trichinella and is potentially lethal to humans.
[13] Bear fat has been used historically in Europe to treat baldness, being mentioned in the writings of numerous physicians such as Nicholas Culpepper.
The logo of perfume brand Atkinsons of London is a bear, in reference to their popular 'bears grease' product.
In Tyrol and Piedmont, the village communities had to hand in a set number of bear paws to the local lord every year.
[13] Between 1850 and 1920 grizzly bear were eliminated from 95% of their original range, with extirpation occurring earliest on the Great Plains and later in remote mountainous areas.
Grizzly bear managed to survive this last period of hunting only in remote wilderness areas larger than 26,000 km2 (10,000 mi2).
Black bear in East Texas were seriously reduced to scattered remnant populations or eliminated altogether in many areas largely as a result of indiscriminate and unregulated hunting by the time the first organized survey of mammals took place from 1890 to 1904.
[13] Hunters carrying firearms tend to favour calibres large enough to inflict as much tissue and bone damage as possible, as grizzly and brown bear can generally withstand a number of direct shots to the limbs or torso without ceasing their attack.
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 pursuing the animal deliberately might use a caliber larger than they would for the deer, elk and caribou 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.
[21] In the Russian Far East, a lasso-like rope loop is hung across a path which bear are known to frequent; its end is tied to a tree.
[9] He did however mention big half-breed hounds sometimes used in the Alleghanies of West Virginia, which were trained not merely to nip a bear, but to grip the grizzly by the hock as it ran.
[9] These big dogs can only overcome such foes by rushing in a body and grappling all together; if they hang back, lunging and snapping, a cougar or bear will destroy them one by one.
With a quarry so huge and redoubtable as the grisly, no number of dogs, however large and fierce, could overcome him unless they all rushed on him in a mass, the first in the charge seizing by the head or throat.
