Courtesy Photo A black bear located within the Red Oak Bear Management Unit.

ALPENA — Alpena has had fewer hunters harvesting bears this season, potentially because of an increase in available acorns.

Alpena falls within the Red Oak Bear Management Unit, which covers about 16 counties in the middle and northeast parts of the state. About 90 percent of the black bears in the state are found in the Upper Peninsula, with a rough estimate of 3,000 in the Lower Peninsula, said Kevin Swanson, the management specialist for bear and wolf with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

According to Michigan’s Black Bear Digest from the DNR, black bears were not protected until 1925, when they were allowed to be hunted as part of a bear management plan. The management plans are used as a way to control the bear population, as well as bear interactions with people, and gathering information for research.

In order to obtain a license to hunt bear, a preference-point drawing system was enacted in 2000. Hunters earn a point each time they apply for a license, and those with the highest number of points are drawn for the lottery first. The drawing-and-point system is based on the licenses available for each hunt. Hunters must apply once every five years to retain earned points, and, once a license is issued, the points are reset to zero. During the 2017-18 licensing cycle, seven to eight preference points were required to be drawn in the lottery.

The Bear Digest indicated for 2016 and 2017 in the Red Oak Unit, there were 630 and 700 license quotas, respectively. After the season, there were 248 bears registered in 2016 and 278 registered in 2017 (based on preliminary data for 2017).

In 2018, there were also 700 license quotas, with the season running from Sept. 16 to 24. There will also be an archery season from Oct. 5 to 11. During the archery season, no firearms are allowed to hunt bears.

“There are a lot more people interested than what we have licenses for,” Swanson said.

While more hunters may be interested in bear hunting, it appears to be a challenge in Alpena this season.

Henry Kreger from Advanced Wildlife Designs said there has been a large number of acorns falling this year, which he believes has contributed to a lack of bear harvesting in Alpena. He said there were a lot of hunters that saw bears on trail cams at bait piles until the acorns fell.

“People saw multiple bears hitting bait, then boom … bait stopped hitting,” Kreger said.

Bears eat acorns and may be attracted to them over other bait.

He said it is very unusual. Last year at this time, he had between 60 and 70 bears harvested by hunters, but he only has about 36 right now. At the end of 2017, Kreger said he had more than 100, but he doesn’t think he will get that many this year.

Bear baiting is a legal practice in the Red Oak unit, and people typically bait with sweets such as granola and pie filling. However, Swanson, with the DNR, said it is illegal to bait with chocolate or cocoa derivatives, which can kill bears and other animals.

Montmorency and Presque Isle counties have not seen much of a decline this year. The Bear Registration Stations in Atlanta and Rogers City have reported about 18 bears so far this season, which is similar to previous years.

While the numbers seem to be lower in Alpena this year, it may play a role in the next licensing cycle. This year is the end of a two-year cycle, with the 2019-20 season licenses determined by multiple variables, including hunter success.

How the previous season went will factor into how many licenses will be issued in the next two-year cycle.

Kaitlin Ryan can be reached at kryan@thealpenanews.com or at 358-5693.