2018 Black bear lottery

Just a quick reminder, there are only a few weeks left in the MD black bear lottery.

I actually forgot all about it until this morning

http://news.maryland.gov/dnr/2018/07/20/black-bear-lottery-applications-now-open/

I actually tried to buy my online last night but got locked out of compass

Speed3 said:

I actually tried to buy my online last night but got locked out of compass

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I just got my ticket. Compass was acting up for me too.

I had to submit an email address for the lottery notification and compass said it wasn't a valid address even though even though my Compass account is linked to that email

There's too many black bears in MD?

Hilarious... there isn't enough in certain parts up north where their habitats have been destroyed...

Ronan said:

There's too many black bears in MD?

Hilarious... there isn't enough in certain parts up north where their habitats have been destroyed...

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They are moving south like everyone else from PA.

engineerbrian said:

I just got my ticket. Compass was acting up for me too.

I had to submit an email address for the lottery notification and compass said it wasn't a valid address even though even though my Compass account is linked to that email

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I had that issue too. Realized it was because the site won’t recognize an email with a capital letter in it... being poorly designed the email field automatically capitalizes the first letter.

Inigoes said:

They are moving south like everyone else from PA.

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Devonian said:

I had that issue too. Realized it was because the site won’t recognize an email with a capital letter in it... being poorly designed the email field automatically capitalizes the first letter.

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Is that what it was? I just entered DL # and it worked for me

Speed3 said:

Is that what it was? I just entered DL # and it worked for me

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Not that section but where it’s askes if you want the packet emailed or snail mailed.

Ronan said:

There's too many black bears in MD?

Hilarious... there isn't enough in certain parts up north where their habitats have been destroyed...

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No, and , no.

Not “too many”, there’s a sustainable population that can support a limited harvest. Yes, by-product of the hunt is thinning the herd, thus minimizing the impact to the 2-legged upright walking animals in the 4 western most counties. Take note that the 3 surrounding States (VA, WV, & PA) all have a FULL bear hunting season (I believe) - as in there’s more than enough bears in that region to be conducive to hunting. The antis in MD decided on their own that we had to limit the season & bag limit, in fact the hunt was highly contested for years before Harry Spiker @ DNR was able to get it approved. These adjacent states nearly completely surround 3 of these 4 counties, and the bears do not stop at the borders....

As far as “not enough” bears “up north” due to loss of habitat, are you referring to northern MD, or the northern states? MD is a small state, and there’s no doubt we’re losing habitat at a higher rate than the northern states, but oddly it hasn’t affected the bears as their population is growing relatively unchecked as the hunt to date is only a limited one. Take a look at the whitetail deer. It is very common now to see deer living full time & thriving in densely populated residential areas, our sprawl hasn’t seemed to have bothered them much at all. The northern states have literally millions of acres of uninterrupted contiguous forest, some near the populated areas is being lost like anywhere else, but there’s no human vs wildlife conflict because their is tons of room for the animals to avoid humans.

My apologies but your 2 blanket statements are merely repeating the popular go-to misconceptions that many folks rattle off regarding this and many other hunting topics, thus perpetuating the errors further.

Honestly BTW, I’m not trying to assert any animosity here, just trying to show that the issue is way more complicated than the old go-to standard perceptions. In fact, if you’d like to learn more about the history of MD Black Bear conservation, the hunt, etc..., Harry Spiker who is the head of the Bear Program for DNR is giving a wildlife “Field Talk” about this very topic at the Maryland Zoo on August 16th @ 6:30 PM ($10 for zoo members, $20 without). You can get tickets on line.

Sorry for the novel, rant over...

Devonian said:

I had that issue too. Realized it was because the site won’t recognize an email with a capital letter in it... being poorly designed the email field automatically capitalizes the first letter.

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That’s your internet browser, not compass that is capitalizing the first letter...

Is there a way to check how many points you have?

Devonian said:

Is there a way to check how many points you have?

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Log into Compass https://compass.dnr.maryland.gov/

Your "Lottery Entry Points" are at the bottom of the screen

I didn't realize that one might lose lottery points if you don't continuously purchase an entry or a preference point. This seems to be implied in the pop up explaining what a preference point is.

Inigoes said:

Log into Compass https://compass.dnr.maryland.gov/

Your "Lottery Entry Points" are at the bottom of the screen

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I can't see preference points on moble device, will have to check on computer later

I read the DNR regulations regarding black bear hunting.

Saw nothing that outlawed the use of a kayak as bait.

Best of luck with your hunting.

I purchased a preference point this year. October is looking like a busy time for me, don’t want to get picked this year. Plus, I’m going to Maine on a bear hunt in 3 1/2 weeks, then maybe hunting the early bear firearm in Randolph County late September in WV if I’m free.

I will enter, always do, but have only been selected once in 6 years.

Thanks, I just entered, didn't realize it was coming up. Also got in last month for PA elk tag this year for $10/chance. Will see if my luck is any good.

I thought this was interesting