montana bear hunting with hounds

[jarlinh]

I have been doing some research and many of you will be pleased to know that hound hunting is good for bears. Ok, not so good for the ones that are killed, but it is good for the species. The number of human/bear conflicts is DRAMATICALLY lower in areas that allow hound hunting. The result of chasing bears with hounds is that many bears are not euthanized that would be if they were not aversely conditioned to humans. Idaho and Montana make a good comparison; they have similar harvest numbers and share a border, and have distinctly different hunting methods. This study done in Washington State in 2007 gives a lot of great information:

How agencies respond to human–black bear conflicts: a survey of wildlife agencies in North America
Rocky D. Spencer1, Richard A. Beausoleil2, and Donald A. Martorello
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, 600 Capitol Way North, Olympia, WA 98501, USA

In it, a chart on population and complaint numbers give us this info, MT has about 16,500 bears and has 250 complaints per year and is increasing. Idaho on the other hand has 20,000 bears and has 35 complaints per year and they are considered a minor issue. Now keep in mind that this study is 4 years old, and recently one area in Idaho has had a rash of bear complaints. In the Selkirk/Cabinet Mt area of Boundary County, they have approx. 750 complaints per year! At first glance this may cause reason to believe that perhaps my initial assessment was incorrect, however that particular area of that county does not allow baiting or hound hunting due to its status as grizzly bear recovery area with about 30-40 griz in the county. The evidence also shows that hound hunting is enough of a deterrent to the bears, that the use of human foods at bait stations is negated as a potential cause for more conflicts with humans. Overall, Montana has 4 complaints per 10,000 people, whereas Idaho has less than 1 per 10,000.
Another reference worthy of note is Idaho Fish and Game's progress report from 2009. In it they give harvest numbers combined with harvest methods, so it is great ammunition for those who complain that hound hunters will kill too many bears. The study reveals that:
"Bear baiting is allowed across most of the state, and 35% of bears were harvested using this technique. Still hunting and stalking accounted for 31% of the harvest, incidental harvest accounted for 17%, and hound hunting for 16%."
Since both states harvest about 1350 bears per year, Montana could expect about 216 more bears per year to be harvested (16% of 1350). Of course we must keep in mind that hound hunting is the only method of "catch and release hunting" available. Therefore, after perhaps an initial spike in bears harvested, many bear hunters will elect to harvest only the trophy quality bears they tree, I know many hound hunters and regardless of their big game species of choice, bear, lion etc., after getting their first one, many, if not most choose to wait to harvest the “big one” due to the very high cost of taxidermy, especially the full body mounts commonly seen in predators. The advantage of hound hunting bears is not the numbers harvested, but rather the number of bears seen in a season. The potential is to see more bears each season and to be able to give a more thorough inspection of the bears before shooting. The result will be a decrease in the number of immature bears killed each season, and that is something that I hope everyone will agree is a good thing.

[Todd Davis]

Who is leading the charge on this ?????

[Lost River]

I would be glad to help tackle this topic. I have had limitted experience in the process but may have some ideas. Any information that supports the biology is great, but when it comes to fish and game making a call on support or not it comes down to political pressure. When it comes to Reps carrying something to Helena it comes down to either their personal passion or what is going to garner votes come November. Casey

[jarlinh]

I am seriously considering a run for our local state house seat. When it all comes down and I am in Helena, lets make sure we have legislation written to advance!

[rfeen]

I would do anything to help with this and make this happen, i probably would not have a wife because lion season is already hard on her but thats ok i would love to run bears

[dhostetler]

jarlinh,

I hope you decide to run. We need houndsmen in the legislature. What district would you run in?

[jarlinh]

HD 89, bitterroot valley, I live in Stevensville

[klamathcathunter]

got my vote

[jarlinh]

My opponent is 64 y/o, moved here from California 5 years ago and does not even live in the district. It is legal, just have to live in the county,
but the district is all rural, and she lives in Hamilton. She has nothing in common with the people of HD89. The bad news, the establishment
is in support of her, because they know that they can tell her how to vote, but I am too conservative and unpredictable to please them! I can
and will beat her, but am going to need some help! If you or anyone you know can help financially, please send contributions to:

Josh Hennes
po box 923
Stevensville, MT 59870
joshhennes.hd89@yahoo.com

The contribution limit is $160 per person but anyone in the US can contribute, don't have to live in the district or even Montana!

I need networking too, spread the word that a houndsman is a candidate and that he needs your vote!

Thanks!
Josh

[406hound]

I have been gathering some information on different studies and reports done regarding the use of hounds in bear hunting. Along the way I couldnt help but notice that the Humane Society had a "fact sheet on hound hunting". It is something that we all as houndsmen should look at. The Humane Society is thought by many people who don't know better to be rather main stream. The worst part of the article as I read through it was realizing how much of their information probably came from felow houndsman inadvertantly. We are turning over all of the ammo to these people that they will need to continue to "edjucate" people on their views on hound hunting and why it should stop, not progress. Look up the article, http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/bear_hunting/facts/hound_hunting_fact_sheet.html and maybe think next time befor you post something on a public forum such as this or on youtube for people who need not see it and will use it against all of us. How many videos of cats being tipped out of a tree need to be on youtube for these people to get themselves lathered up over, and why would anyone post a story of a bear tearing up a pack of hounds for these "animal lovers" to read? We all have the unfortunate stories and situations that arise that are just part of it, but some of it should just stay on the mountain. If we want to work on starting a bear chase season, we probably better start working on our image too. I wont hide the fact that I hunt and run hounds, but i will censor what the public knows about how it all goes down.

[Doogie]

2015 is here

[dhostetler]

The group of us that pushed the bill last session had a lot of discussion about it and I probably dragged my feet more than anybody but trying again in the 2015 session.

For a variety of reasons I felt it would be better to wait till the 2017 legislation session to try again. Number one issue is you have to find a legislator to carry the bill and if a bill is tried to often and fails, you will have a problem finding a legislator to carry it in the future.

[Doogie]

Is jarlinh still a legislator and viewing this site?
I tried to get a deal to buy some BARF dog food going from him and the PMs went in unanswered.
I have someone that once was and maybe still is a board member of the MTA that thinks that bear hunting with hounds is a good idea. It might be helpful to have the MTA in our corner on this.