Reply #74: Carrying capacity is finite regardless of whether or not an animal is

[yellowcanine]

a "herd" animal. It is interesting that you seem to claim more knowledge of wildlife biology than trained wildlife managers (whose salaries are paid by taxpayer money not hunting licenses - so there is NOT a conflict of interest). Your population guesses are just that - guesses - not based on any real understanding of bear biology. The wildlife managers are also obviously "guessing" to a certain extent as well - but at they presumably understand bear biology and have some population surveys to support their "guesses." In 1970 there were NO bears in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania where I grew up. Now they shoot 10 - 15 bears a year there in a three day season. Do you have any idea how many bears there must be for that many to get killed in a three day period? I certainly don't but think about it. As you said, bears are solitary animals. That means they are more difficult to find for a hunter than deer. So we can safely assume that bears have to be fairly plentiful for a hunter to find one to shoot in dense woodland where one could pass within a dozen yards of a bear and not know he was there.