file:///C:/Users/wolfc/Downloads/Spring-Bear-Hunt-2022-FINAL.pdf

Wildlife Commission Action Kit
November 2021
On November 19, 2021, the Fish & Wildlife Commission voted 4-4 not to approve the rule that would
have established a 2022 spring bear hunt. Thousands of people had weighed in during the rulemaking
process to oppose the trophy hunt, and more than a hundred people showed up to the rulemaking
hearing to give testimony. Commissioners who voted against the hunt emphasized that Department
managers failed to substantiate the purported “management need” for the hunt; and that
management’s rationale contradicted the Department’s own published science, annual game reports,
and game management plan.
December 2021
Following the vote, a number of trophy hunting organizations launched a vicious campaign against the
Commissioners who opposed the hunt, specifically targeting recent appointees Fred Koontz and
Lorna Smith. Those attacks demanded that Koontz and Smith be thrown off the Commission, called
for them to be “hung,” and claimed…