Summary

Description

Polar bear harvests in Alaska coastal villages from November 1980 to April 1982. Hunters from 13 villages killed polar bears during this period. The documented minimum polar bear harvest for 198081 and 198182 hunting seasons were 106 and 90, respectively. A minimum of 21 bears were harvested from January 1 to July 30, 1980 ADFG records and have been included in the pooled sample of 217 killed bears. Of this total, 134 61.8 were bears for which complete sex and age information was obtained; 52 23.9 were bears for which adequate sex andor age class information was obtained; and 31 14.3 were bears known to have been killed for which sex and age information was unknown. The sample of 134 known sex and age bears consisted of 27 percent litter members cubs, yearlings, or 2year olds, 31 percent females greater than 3 years of age, and 42 percent males greater than 3 years of age. The sex ratio was 81 60.4 males to 53 39.6 females. The sex ratio of bears captured from 196776 in a tagging study Lentfer, 1977 was significantly different. The mean age of males and females was 7.3! 4.8 years. Male mean age was 5.8 3.9 years and female was 9.0 5.4 years. A significant inverse relationship was determined for harvested female cubs less than 3 years, female subadults, 45 years, and females age 610. A significant positive relationship was determined for harvested females 10 years or older, subadult males, and adult males 6 years or older. From January 1980 to April 1982 an average annual removal of 38 females occurred. This figure excluded 31 unknown sex and age bears. If the percentage of adult females of known sex and age bears is applied to the 31 excluded bears then the average annual female removal was 44 bears. Polar bears were harvested during each month of the year except September. Of 197 bears sampled, 123 62.4 were harvested during November, December, and January. Fortyfive bears 22.8 were harvested in October and November, primarily in the North Slope villages. Recent harvest chronology differs markedly from that of the sports hunting era when most bears were taken from February through April. Of the 124 hunters who killed 217 polar bear during 198082, 37 29.8 killed more than one bear; of these, 27 73.8 killed more than 2 bears. Snowmachines 89.5 were the most common hunting transportation form used, small boats 6.8 ranked second and other means accounted for the remainder of the harvest.