Summarizing Colorado's black bear two‐strike directive 30 years after inception

Abstract

ABSTRACTColorado Parks and Wildlife implemented a new statewide management policy in 1985 for nuisance black bears (Ursus americanus), known today as the 2‐strike directive. It allowed wildlife managers to assess the repeatability of nuisance bear behavior after translocating them to quality bear habitat away from human food sources. We evaluated this directive using 30 years (1987–2016) of nuisance black bear capture records. Statewide, 53% of 1,093 bears caught, marked, and moved (1st strike) were never reported again, while 25% were killed for a 2nd strike, and hunters harvested 17%. Subadult males committed 2nd strikes more quickly than adult males and females. Although time between strikes was greatest for adult females (496 days), they had the largest probability of committing a 2nd strike among all cohorts. We found that the number of 1st strike captures, from late summer through fall was greatest during years of poor mast production. We suggest that the 2‐strike policy has been an effective management tool for nuisance black bears in Colorado, USA, because of low rates of nuisance behavior following 1st‐strike translocation. If a state or local management objective is to increase black bear populations, wildlife managers may increase tolerance of adult bears that have received their 1st strike in years when fall mast crops largely fail because they are less likely to commit a 2nd strike. Lower tolerance of subadult males may be warranted in bad food years, especially in areas where reductions in bear populations are desired, because they tend to repeat nuisance behaviors more quickly than other bears. © 2019 The Wildlife Society.