More and more bears are being spotted in Minnesota over the past few years.  Glen Schmitt from Outdoor News joined me on WJON.  He says that more bears have moved into to Central Minnesota but it is also possible we are seeing them more because of trail cameras and people seeing them on properties and snapping a picture of them.  Schmitt says a friend of his took a picture of the bear you see above on his property a couple of weeks ago between St. Augusta and Clearwater.

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Schmitt says the bear hunting harvested numbers through Monday from the DNR indicate 1,715 bears that have been registered.  He says the expectation is that they won't make it to 2,000 bears registered this season.  The bear hunting season closes October 16.  Last year almost 2,900 bears were shot while in 2020 3,200 were shot in the state.  Schmitt says the reason for numbers being down is bears were less willing to come to baits because the natural forestry was plentiful this year which includes berries, wild crops and acorns.

Schmitt says despite a small bear population here this is a no quota zone for bear and he isn't aware of anyone hunting bear in the St. Cloud area.

If you'd like to listen to my conversation with Glen Schmitt it is available below.

 

 

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