Lynn searching for Jewel - Oct 11, 2011Everything was status quo with the usual four (Lily and Faith, Jo and her cub, Braveheart and her 3 cubs, and June and her 2 cubs), so we checked on Jewel. We haven’t walked with her much in the last two years—partly because she ‘pulled a Hope’ and refused a collar last fall. We managed to collar her again last spring—but she quickly slipped it and remained uncollared for the summer. We hardly saw her. Recently, we got a collar back on her.
It takes time to catch up with Jewel because she has to make absolutely sure it’s us before she will show herself. She knows our voices from hearing them when she was with her mother June in 2009 and prior to family breakup in May 2010. While she was still with June, we got a radio-collar on her, but when we tried to join her after family breakup Jewel would have none of it. Today was more of the same. We both said “It’s me, bear” until we were ‘blue in the face’ and never seemed to get any closer to her. We gave up and started heading out. It was getting dark and we knew we had some dense tangles to get through before we reached the road and the van. Then the signal sounded stronger near some white pines she evidently went to for refuge. Then the signal was moving around us as she checked our back trail. Then she hurried to us (picture). Along the way out, we found a place where she probably started digging a den and gave up when she encountered a big boulder. She didn’t have any dirt on her nose, so she likely hadn’t been digging in the last couple hours. We tried taking a heart rate but she said “No.” She is quite reserved. A firm stroke down her back is okay, but touching elsewhere is something she hasn’t gotten used to yet.
Jewel - October 11, 2011
She is a valuable research bear no matter what. She is Lily’s younger sister vying for territory with Lily and June—all part of the mix we’d like to document with GPS collars on all. Jewel is the only one lacking a GPS unit on her radio-collar and we hope to remedy that in the spring.
Today we got a call from one of the sponsors of the $5,000 reward to the hunter who wins the drawing if no radio-collared bear is shot. He told us he had gotten a call from the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, Alcohol and Gambling Enforcement Division, saying the Department had received a complaint that the drawing was illegal. The Senior Special Agent who contacted him said the Department had no choice but to follow up on the complaint. The sponsors were in violation because a purchase was required to enter the contest. The entrants had to buy a bear hunting license to participate. The Agent said it made no difference that the money was going to the state rather than the sponsor, the entrants each had to pay for a license. The Agent had a solution. He said the only way out of the legal morass was to throw the contest open to everyone. The sponsor said it wasn’t fair to change the rules in midstream. He wanted the money to go to a hunter. As it turned out, he had no choice. If he didn’t get a lot more entrants soon, he could be arrested. We don’t know who complained or why. We only know that the new rules on their website now say:
- Drawing open to anyone. No purchase necessary. Having a valid 2011 bear hunting permit will not improve your odds of winning. Odds of winning depend on the number of entries.
- Entrants who have a bear permit may email a copy of their signed permit to
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Anyone may enter by mailing their name, address, and phone number to bearhuntersjackpot.com, P.O. Box 10051, St. Petersburg, FL 33733-0051. All entries must arrive by midnight, October 16, 2011 to be valid. - If any collared bear is shot during hunting season, all entries become invalid. Contest is valid ONLY if all the collared bears in areas 22, 24, 25, and 31 survive hunting season.
- Winner will receive $5000 in the form of a cashier’s check.
Jewel - October 11, 2011That means anyone can mail (not email) their name, address, and phone number to this address: BearHuntersJackpot.com, PO Box 10051, St Petersburg, FL 33733-0051. But it must be done immediately to make the October 16 deadline. If we read it right, just write your name, address, and phone number on a piece of paper and mail it to that address so it arrives by October 16 and you’re in the drawing. He said the name and city of the winner will be announced.
To see the new rules for yourself, go to bearhuntersjackpot.com and click on Rules. To see more, click Links and then on the sentence asking if you want more information.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center