Michigan teen bowhunter takes record 448-pound bear

yahoo.com ^ | Tue Sep 28 2010 | Cameron Smith

[saganite]

Jessica Olmstead is a 17-year-old senior at Harper Creek (Mich.) High School. In many ways she's like most teens; she worries about classes, gets excited about the next weekend and likes to hang out with friends. But Olmstead has a hobby that isn't shared by many of her peers: She's a big-game bowhunter, a pursuit which recently helped her land big headlines when she bagged a 448-pound black bear on a summer hunt in Canada.

According to Aaron Harris of the Battle Creek Enquirer, Olmstead considers herself a hunting natural. She relishes the adrenaline and excitement of a hunt. Despite the fact that the massive bear was her first big-game take (hunting parlance for a kill), Olmstead earned the Pope and Young Bowhunting record for trophy bear, according to the Enquirer

[BOBWADE]

You mean Like fishing, harvesting wildlife, harvesting crops?
I am glad we still have some freedoms here.

[Dusty Road]

Define trophy.

[WorkingClassFilth]

By what doctrine?

[Dusty Road]

Thats a big bear with a bow, atta girl!

[Krankor]

Let me put it in simpler terms. If you hunt and kill an animal solely and only because of it’s size or to hang it on your wall, then it’s immoral.

[Dusty Road]

Where did it state she shot it for it’s size?

[Dusty Road]

Did you even read the story? It was the first big game animal she’d ever taken and she got lucky and took a big one. I’m curious, what do you think happen to the bear after it was shot?

[Krankor]

Here's my original post.
“Is she gonna eat the bear or is this nothing more than another noble hunter who kills just for a trophy?” She never mentions what her intentions were for killing the bear. My point is- killing an animal solely for a trophy is immoral. Obviously, there are people who disagree and have no problem killing an animal solely because of it's size or to hang it on their wall. Please note the word "solely".

[EQAndyBuzz]

So how much was the tax for bringing it back to Michigan?

[marktwain]

It makes not difference to the bear if it is eaten by the hunter or someone else.

[marktwain]

not difference should be “no difference”.

[Dusty Road]

I regularly fish either Manitoba or Ontario, both have heavy bear populations. The locals consider bears a pest and they're numbers have to be controlled, they leave a considerable amount of damage in they're quest for food. You can't have a trash can unless you've bear proofed it, they'll break into anything containing food including your house. Plus theres that nasty little ability they have to kill and eat you. Bear hunting is big money for those area's, a much needed revenue. Everybody benefits from local Inuit tribes, hotels, grocery stores, air transportation and schools.

Just like in the US it is against the law in Canada to take a game animal and not attempt to consume the meat. Most of the meat taken ends up with local tribes, some is consumed while hunting and many times the animal is brought back processed packaged and frozen. None is wasted.