Minnesota DNR Urges Hunters Not to Shoot Tagged Bears

DULUTH, Minn. — With the Bear season opener September 1st, comes a reminder to hunters not to shoot tagged, radio collared bears.

The Minnesota DNR are monitoring 50 radio-collared black bears across the state.

These bears provide important data to inform management decisions.

Their coat often hides the collar, but they also have large colorful ear tags for identification (3 x 2 inches).

Most of the tagged bears live in or near the Chippewa National Forest, Camp Ripley, the Brainerd/Baxter area, and Duluth.

However, the bears can range widely from these sites and hunters should exercise care.

The DNR knows sometimes the tags may hard to see, so taking a tagged bear isn’t illegal.

If a hunter takes a tagged, collared bear, the DNR asks that hunters report it and return the collar as well as look for a small silver heart monitor implant, found under the skin on the left side of the chest.

This device contains valuable information stored in memory and looks like a small, silver capsule that is approximately the width of a paper clip.

If a hunter finds this device while skinning the bear, they should submit it to the DNR with the collar.

Hunters might also see bears with smaller ear tags (1 x 1/4 inches).

Those bears aren’t collared but may be part of other ongoing research projects.

It’s legal to take these bears, but the DNR asks hunters to report the tags.

More information can be found on the DNR’s Website.