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Difficult To Take European Brown Bear In Romania
Published: November - 2005
Still on the subject of bears, anyone interested in taking a European brown bear may find it increasingly difficult to accomplish that goal now that Romania has closed hunting for this species. We received the news early last month from Srdja Dimitrijevic of International Safaris in Italy. Due to Romania's efforts to be accepted into the European Union, government officials have caved under pressure from Union members to suspend brown bear hunting. As you may know, European brown bears are protected throughout Western Europe where you rarely find them, but in Romania a conservation-minded management program has kept brown bear populations at huntable levels. Nevertheless, European Union members have insisted that Romania stop hunting bears before being accepted to the Union.
Where does that leave international hunters interested in this species? There are few options. Western Russia has some brown bear hunts, but we are told success rates are iffy. Bulgaria offers some limited brown bear opportunities, as well as Slovenia and Bosnia. Croatia has decent populations that survived the civil war there, but we understand the bears may run about 30 percent smaller than those in Romania, although gold and silver medal quality exists.
There are also a number of operators who book bear hunts in Croatia. Dimitrijevic is one of them. He says the hunting period is October/November and March/April during periods of the full moon. Hunts are conducted at night, baiting the bears at established bait sites where tracks and sightings by gamekeepers indicate a large bear is present. Hunters are placed in elevated blinds over the baits and shoot bears under the moonlight. Dimitrijevic says hunters may see two or three bears a night. Other species available in Croatia include free-range mouflon sheep and Balkan chamois.
(Postscript: At press time, for another perspective on the bear closure........(continued)
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