“No tracks and We’ll Have to Wait Until They Come out of Hibernation” — Even Veteran Hunters Can’t Handle OSO18

The operation to capture OSO18 is proving difficult. Staff from Shibecha and Atsugishi-cho, as well as skilled hunters from all over Hokkaido, have been deployed, but the “deadliest brown bear,” which has attacked 65 cows, has been difficult to capture.

A veteran hunter from the town of Shibecha says, “On November 15 of last year, a brown bear was spotted in the area.”

On November 15 last year, a meeting of the “OSO18 Capture Response Headquarters” was held to discuss OSO18 countermeasures, where officials from the town office, NPOs, and local hunters gathered. At the meeting, the participants were told, “The 10 days between the snowfall and hibernation are our best chance to find and catch the tracks. A strategy was presented: ‘During that time, we will find the footprints and capture them. In other words, we are going to find OSO18 by following the footprints left in the snow. Some of the participants expressed confidence, saying, ‘We are tracking down OSO18 quite well.

As it turned out, however, this capture operation was not a success. This winter, snowfall in eastern Hokkaido was much later than usual, and it was only around Christmas last year that snow finally piled up. Therefore, it is highly likely that OSO18 went into hibernation without waiting for the snow to fall.

After the long-awaited snowfall, the “OSO18 Special Response Team,” led by a non-profit organization, and our local hunters frantically searched for tracks, but no matter how much they walked around, they could not find any at all. I think the quality of the snow was also a problem in the search. The snow that piled up this time fell once and hardened stiffly as it was. Bears’ feet are wide and soft, and they have paw pads, so hard snow leaves almost no footprints.

Hunters say that it is almost impossible to find OSO 18 during the winter. The only way to resume the search is to wait until the brown bears come out of hibernation from around March 20 to April 10.

An official at the Atsugishi Town Office said, “Currently, the search for the brown bears is being conducted by OSO 18.

In mid-January, we held a briefing session for local farmers to report the current situation and ask for information. We have no choice but to accumulate the information we have received and take action when the time is right.

Mr. Shoji Hisamatsu of Hisamatsu Farm in Atsugishi-cho, which raises the dairy cow “Leon,” known to have fought off OSO18, also expressed his frustration.

“Even if we wanted to provide information, we have nothing to offer. Oso has not been seen since he attacked our ‘Leon’ last August. I have shot brown bears as a hunter myself, but it is said that ‘meeting a bear is like winning the lottery. That’s how difficult it is to find a brown bear. I don’t want to say this too much, but I don’t think we will be able to catch osos even after hibernation comes to an end with the way things are now. I still think it will take a hunter with a dog to do it.”

It is said that during this season, hunters gather from all over the country as well as Hokkaido around Shibecha Town. A veteran local hunter warned, “This time of year, hunters come from all over the country.

“Hunters come from all over the country to hunt deer this time of year. Some of them may be thinking, ‘I want to kill OSO 18 if I can,’ but I want them to stop doing anything dangerous. Even for local hunters who are used to shooting bears, brown bears are an opponent that requires extreme caution. If an uninitiated person acts rashly, anything can happen.”

The best time to hunt bears is in the spring, when they come out of hibernation. Can we stop the damage this year?