Hunters are part of the solution, and the DNR assists with the majority of the options
Traverse City beekeeper Larry Hilbert recently discussed the destructive effects of bears on commercial beehives and made a despairing plea to protect his own apiary.
“Don’ t I have a constitutional right to protect my property?” Hilbert, the owner of Hilbert’s Honey Bees, said in a Free Press report published July 9.
The answer is “yes.” Options abound, both lethal and benign.
Michigan’s Department of Natural Resources assists with the majority of the options, and hunters are part of the solution. Hunter dollars fund the assistance to beekeepers, according to DNR wildlife biologist and northern Michigan bear specialist Mark Boersen, based in Roscommon.
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Here are the ways beekeepers and livestock owners can protect their property:
Livestock owners may shoot the bears without a permit as long as they report it within 24 hours. Section 9.4 of the Michigan Wildlife Conservation Order outlines the legal killing of carnivorous animals in cases when a livestock owner’s property is being damaged. Bees are considered livestock by the state of Michigan.
Beekeepers don’ t have to wait until the animal is damaging the hives. “Department policy is that a bear doing or about to do damage to a beehive can legally be taken, ” said DNR Wildlife Division chief Russ Mason.
According to the DNR, an apiary owner in Marquette County took this route in 2016, shooting a bear about to damage his bees.
“If they do it that way, then we take the bear to record information about it for research purposes and donate the meat to a needy family, ” said Kevin Swanson, a wildlife specialist who heads Michigan’s large carnivore program. “They do not need to get any special permit.”
If the beekeeper isn’ t keen on handling a firearm, he or she may designate an authorized agent — a friend who is an experienced hunter, a professional sharpshooter; you name it — to come and take down the bear. The same protocol — notifying the DNR within 24 hours — applies.
Swanson said the DNR started a program partnering hunters and landowners in 2014. The DNR will make an exception to let a volunteer licensed hunter pursue a bear out of season on a property of concern if there is a threat to livestock. Last year, eight bears were taken by hunters under this program, according to the DNR. The meat goes to the hunter or landowner or both.
The DNR traps and removes the bear, releasing it as far as possible from the apiary. “Sometimes they come back, but why not let us get a shot at it, ” Swanson said. “We want to help.
“At least give us a try. I’ ve had excellent luck in trapping or removing bears, ” Boersen said. He attributes his success to consideration for the territory the bear has to cross to return. “I think that if you take them across 50 miles of farm fields, they can return easily. But if you bring them to a place that will be good habitat where they will have to go through swamps and forests to return, they will find a new home. This is what we do.”
“There’s a lot of literature that says they go right back to where they started, but I’ m not aware of any studies in Michigan. That’s not been my experience.”
Boersen said bears from apiaries in the northwest part of the state are regularly relocated successfully in the northeast, where there are fewer hives and people.
Boersen lends an electric fence to livestock owners being harassed by bears. “I loan it out, like a library book.… These are almost 100% effective if configured a certain way, and that has turned out to be true. I can even help them set it up. If they like it, they can get their own. Sometimes they can’ t afford it right away, so it helps to offer a loaner.”
He also provides a kit to scare off bears. Depending on the nature of the bear, he said it works well in some cases.
Hilbert, in the July 9 article, said his appeals to protect his hives have been met with deaf ears; he can’ t be at every one of his 150 locations at once. He reported tens of thousands of dollars in fencing material to help keep the bears out, but said the system hasn’ t been fool-proof. Some landowners, he said, are cornered into a “shoot, shovel and shut up” approach.
Other apiary owners have requested the option to trap and shoot the animals themselves, but this can’ t be done without a special permit from the wildlife chief.
If the landowner does trap the animal, it is no longer considered an emergency because it is no longer a threat to livestock. It would be unlawful to shoot it. Section 9.4 of the Wildlife Conservation Order states, “In emergency cases carnivorous animals may be killed or taken by the owner of property or his authorized agent, without a permit, when his property is being damaged by any such animal.”
Landowners needing assistance with bears that have been damaging any type of livestock, as well as hunters wanting to sign up to assist those landowners can e-mail swansonk@michigan.gov.
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