Hunters on the scent of bears

When intensive bear hunting got started in Kainuu, all the Parhiala men were there

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By Heli Saavalainen in Kuhmo
     
      A still flightless young eagle is strugggling in the middle of an asphalt road with outspread wings.
      Rainer and Jan Parhiala, who just happen to turn up as the bird is attempting its first take-off, try to chase the hapless chick to the roadside in order that it might survive.
     
The hunters - a father and a son - keep on walking, but the fate of the eagle keeps bothering them: what will become of the bird?
      A mist is rising into the crisp morning air, as the Parhiala men - three brothers and three sons - begin their bear hunt in the village of Lentiira, in the municipality of Kuhmo, up in Finland's north eastern province of Kainuu on Friday.
     
First the men check out all the familiar places.
      Jari Parhiala finds a bear track on a ditch bank, around 12 centimetres in size, and says:”Let’s unleash the dog and see where he goes”.
      A GPS tracker is put around the neck of Max the grey Norwegian elkhound. Then Max picks up a scent; the tracks are fresh.
      ”Now he went into the forest; the speed is 15 kilometres per hour”, the dog's master follows Max's movements on the display of his mobile phone.
      ”Has the bruin been running zig-zag, when Max is going side-to-side like that?” he says with some puzzlement.
     
Soon the reason for the dog's strange route is discovered: a large elk is standing in the middle of the road.
      ”Unh-huh. The scents got mixed up”, Parhiala observes calmly.
      Jari Parhiala redirects Max to follow the scent of the bear and the other men are alerted to keep a look-out in case matters take a quick turn.
      Now the dog is running at a fair clip - 20 kilometres per hour.
      ”He's clearly so excited that it is easy to guess why”, Hannu Parhiala says. Nevertheless, the elusive bear remains in hiding.
      As the sun comes up, the Bear Services in Kuhmo report that one bear has been shot elsewhere in the municipality.
     
Bears are being shot this season more than ever before, as the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has granted a quota of 198 bear licences for the present season, which began on Friday 20th August and runs until the end of October.
      As it happens, the number is even higher than that recommended by the Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute (RKTL).
      ”If all bears permitted by the quota are shot, it will be the highest number on record”, says Senior Researcher Ilpo Kojola from RKTL.
      All bear killings have been recorded since the 1870s.
      ”The sustainable culling of the population would have been 20 bears lower”, says Kojola.
     
In fact, the purpose is specifically to reduce the bear population.
      Kuhmo, with almost 100 bears, was granted as many as 17 licences. The aim of this intensive hunting is to revive the population of the endangered Finnish forest reindeer, an animal that is not to be confused with the smaller reindeer found extensively in Lapland.
      At the same time, the Finnish bear population - some 1,500 to 1,600 bears - is not supposed to be in jeopardy.
      ”Luckily, the bear population is so substantial that there are no critical threats”, says Kojola.
     
In Kuhmo, the Parhiala men continue their chase at a leisurely pace: every so often the dogs run off to follow elk tracks.
      ”This is how it is, when the scents vanish. However, everything may change in a minute, and then things pick up very quickly indeed”, Hannu Parhiala notes. He managed to shoot a bear three years ago.
      ”We had been moving from one place to another for three days, doing nothing much more than grilling sausages. Then we found one track and the situation changed all of a sudden. The dog was running out in front, and I shot the bear at a distance of 30 metres”, Parhiala recalls.
     
Even elsewhere in Kuhmo, the hunt appears to be proceeding slowly, as the bear that was brought down in the morning will remain the only catch in the first day of hunting.
      However, lots of observations are being gathered: an elk, a covey of black grouse, a fox, an Eurasian eagle-owl, some common ravens, a covey of western capercaillie, and a couple of deer keds. An otter is swimming contentedly in front of the sauna adjacent to the hunting lodge.
      ”It is not really the catch that matters most, but having a successful day”, says Hannu Parhiala.
     
Many factors contribute to it: the dog performs well, there are tracks on the ground, and the atmosphere is good.
      Tracking was to continue early on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Keijo Parhiala is going round the edges of the forest.
      ”Finding tracks can depend on small things. Sometimes one single scratch on a ditch bank may reveal that a bear has climbed onto the road there”, Parhiala notes.
      ”This whole exercise could not be done without a dog. It is definitely the dog that gets the bear out into the open”, he adds.
     
The exceptionally poor hunting weather - it is warm, dry, and calm - can be blamed for the poor result of the first hunting weekend: by Sunday evening, only five of the 17 hunting licences granted for Kuhmo have been cashed in.
      Baiting and other illegal methods, which also happen, are not acceptable to these men, even though they are tough guys, and not above bragging about their exploits.
      ”No, it is not real hunting”, the men contemplate.
     
Back in the hunting lodge, Rainer Parhiala brings a sad message: someone has run over the young eagle.
      It angers them.
      Who could do something like that?
     
     
     
BACKGROUND: The Forest Reindeer is in distress
     
The purpose of the intensive hunting of bears in Kainuu is to revive the endangered population of the Finnish forest reindeer (Rangifer tarandus fennicus). The population has collapsed to around half of its earlier numbers.
     
At this year’s count, the number of forest reindeer detected was 811, which is more than 100 fewer than in 2009. The population was at its largest in 2001, when the number of Finnish forest reindeer was 1,700.
     
Hunting led to the extinction of the original population of the Finnish forest reindeer at the beginning of the 20th century. However, the animals returned to Eastern Finland from Russia, where there are around 1,000 forest reindeer.
     
Finland is responsible for the protection of the forest reindeer, as the species does not exist elsewhere. In addition to Kainuu, forest reindeer are present in Suomenselkä, to where they have been transported from Kainuu. The size of that population is around 1,000.
     
It is believed that large carnivores are responsible for the collapse of the forest reindeer population.
      According to Senior Researcher Ilpo Kojola from the Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute, there is no direct proof for the fact that the poor situation of the forest reindeer would be attributable to the large number of bears in the region.
     
”It is one possible reason, in addition to the presence of other large carnivores.The return of wolves and the low number of forest reindeer calves would seem to be connected. At the same time, even the bear and lynx populations have grown”, Kojola reports.
     
Kainuu residents feel that forest reindeer are too precious to be fed to carnivores.
     
”It is good that we were taken seriously and were granted 17 bear licences. However, this is not enough. We would need at least 15 to 20 wolf licences as well. Otherwise the forest reindeer population will not recover”, says hunter Lasse Mikkonen from Kuhmo.
     
”It is the wolf that eats forest reindeer. Bears and lynxes also eat a little, but wolves pick off the most”, Mikkonen argues.
     
In Mikkonen’s view, the forest reindeer area in North Kuhmo should become entirely wolf-free.
     
”Is it so that there is not enough common sense to save the forest reindeer?” Mikkonen muses.
     
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 23.8.2010


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Three bears shot in Northern Karelia on first day of hunting season (9.9.2008)

See also:
  Even the sleepiest members of Finland´s bear population will soon be up and about (5.5.2010)
  Experts concerned about collapse of wild forest reindeer population (11.4.2007)

Links:
  Large carnivores in Finland
  Hunting in Finland (.pdf file)
  Finnish Forest Reindeer (Wikipedia)
  Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute
  Bear Hunting (Wikipedia)

HELI SAAVALAINEN / Helsingin Sanomat
heli.saavalainen@hs.fi