BigGameHoundsmen.com

Fact Sheet on Hound Hunting


What is Hound Hunting?
Hound hunting involves using packs of dogs to chase bears, bobcats or cougars to exhaustion so they can be shot while they are helpless to escape. Dogs' collars are fitted with radio transmitters so that the hunter doesn't have to go to the work of finding the prey, or really even of following the animals during the chase.

Sometimes hunters bait animals with piles of doughnuts, rotting meat or garbage. This practice poses significant risks to the public because bears become habituated to human food sources, making them more likely to raid campgrounds and break into cars or cabins.

The dogs pick up the animal's scent and go chasing after her while the hunters monitor the signal coming from the dogs' collars with a handheld directional antenna and follow along at their leisure.

The hounds relentlessly pursue the animal, mauling and killing cubs if they get in the way. Eventually, the frightened animal climbs a tree to escape the baying dogs. All the hunter must do is walk to the tree and gun the frightened animal down from the branch.

According to Lynn Rogers, Ph.D., a hunter and retired wildlife research biologist for the U.S. Forest Service, "many houndsmen comment that fall chases often result in 'pop-up' bears that do not run far before tiring." Hunters often attribute this to the bears being fat, but he suggests that it is because "the bear is already hibernating" in the time leading up to hibernation in the fall. Rogers says that "impact on hound-chase seasons in the fall after onset of hibernation warrant consideration and detailed examination."

Killing Cubs
Some states even allow the hound hunting of bears in the spring, when cubs are still nursing and dependant on their mothers. Cubs may easily be killed by the hounds or, when their mother is killed, the cubs are left to die.

In the proceedings of the fifth Western Black Bear Workshop, six wildlife managers stated that using hounds to chase bears during the spring season may also have a direct impact on the mortality of young bears during food-poor years due to the expenditure of energy. During the chase, mothers are separated from cubs and killed, "leaving the cubs to starve to death or be killed by predators." They also note that when cubs are caught on the ground by the dogs, they are "usually killed."

The Life of a Hunting Dog
Hunting dogs, often viewed as something like hunting equipment rather than members of the family, are often neglected and abused. They often live in pens or are tethered outside. Dogs sometimes receive no exercise or attention when they are not hunting. Hunters sometimes kill their dogs if they start to perform poorly or never learn to hunt properly.

Furthermore, during the hunt many adult bears do not meekly scamper into a tree when chased. Some will turn and fight, maiming and killing the dogs. In 2004, a bear hunting guide in Maine posted the following on a hunting website: "I have also seen a cornered bear go through a pack of hounds like a hot knife through butter and either kill or mortally wound all of them in about 10 seconds." Hunting dogs can also become lost during the chase and are sometimes never recovered.

In one instance, a hunter casually recounted a six-hour bobcat chase ending when one of the dogs caught the bobcat on an ice-covered river. The dog and bobcat fought until the two animals fell through the ice and both drowned in the freezing water.

Hunting dogs often get lost during the chase and are sometimes never recovered, and many landowners complain about hunters abandoning their dogs in the field if the dogs fail to perform well. They may then be killed by predators or hit by cars.

Before the Chase: Teaching Bloodlust
Some hound hunters develop a bloodlust in their dogs by allowing them to tear apart bear cubs or cougar kittens. They argue that dogs who have been allowed to maul animals will more aggressively pursue their quarry during hunts.

Some hound hunters will shoot treed bears in the paws or face and allow their dogs to attack the wounded and defenseless bear who falls to the ground. This, too, teaches hounds to be aggressive.

Some training methods include live animals who are restrained or caged. Training seasons can be year-round, killing and orphaning young animals.

Where is Hound Hunting Legal?
Hound hunting of bears is illegal in two thirds of the states. Of the 28 states that allow bear hunting, 17 allow hunting them with hounds.

States Where Hound Hunting is Legal

Alaska
Arizona
California
Georgia
Idaho
Maine

Michigan
Nevada
New Mexico
North Carolina
South Carolina
Tennessee
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
West Virginia
Wisconsin



Deer hounding is only permitted in ten states, California, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia.

Hound Hunting and Crime
In the frenzy of the hunt, dogs are difficult to control. When hounds chase bears or cougars, they do not follow an established route. They follow the bears or cougars, who may run as far as 20 miles and cross property lines. Hunting with hounds often leads to hunters trespassing on private property where they do not have permission to hunt. Hounds are also known to chase and harass other wildlife and livestock.

Hound hunting is also a favorite tool for poachers because it is a highly efficient hunting method. The presence of packs of baying dogs also makes it one of the most obvious forms of hunting. If the practice were illegal it would be more difficult for poachers to operate.

i like how they promote their propaganda as a fact sheet what a crock. the last two paragraphs got me laughing they totally contradict each other.hounding is a highly efficient hunting method quote:dogs are difficult to control and do not follow an established route but follow bears cougars for twenty miles crossing property lines and it leads to hunterstresspassing etc.. etc..sounds efficient doesnt it.we should have are own fact sheet printed .here is just one fact running predators with hounds keeps them wary of humans,and pets keeping them in the woods where they belong .also from attacking us.

Wolves o.k./Hounds not o.k.- I am sorry but..... WTF? J.W.

Folks, like it or not, this is the same stuff any anti's use againist you, especially in a fight for your sport in your state. Its very easy for them, to throw out lies, and get people to believe it. Again, organize, organize, organize. Form strong respectable clubs, associations etc in your state. Educate your friends, neighbors, and general public. Look good in the public eye, in every way possible, from hygeine, truck, to the way your dress. Maybe dawg can give you a few lessons on that We need every person, to participate, for all of us to keep our sport strong, and respected.

Not sure if any of you folks followed the spring bear hunt issue in ontario in the late 90's. The anti hunting group sent all their propaganda to the big City (Toronto and the GTA) where there is no bears for 2 hours. Most of them never even seen a bear before, but it showed the cute orphaned cubs that were actually cubs takin in in manitoba, and played up how the spring bear hunt orphaned cubs, though there was only ever one case of a wet sow being killed in Ontario. They also got all these videos of dogs wooling over dead bears and hound hunters beating dogs with whips... well enough people bought into and we are without a spring bear hunt... I guess we need a North American wide bear hound association or something because were up against a pretty big enemy.

thats how they got us here in oregon showing video and sending out bogus info to the big citys its all a bunch of crap

Print this out, post it at your local feed store, forward it, just pass it on. -Pete


7 Things You Didn't Know About HSUS

1) The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is a “humane society” in name only. It isn’t affiliated with any hands-on “humane society” organizations, and it doesn’t operate a single pet shelter or pet adoption facility anywhere. During 2008, HSUS contributed barely $450,000— less than one-half of one percent of its budget—in grants to dog and cat shelters. By comparison, that same year it gave $2.25 million to a political campaign committee behind an anti-meat ballot initiative in California, and put $2.5 million into HSUS’s executive pension plan. HSUS is the wealthiest animal-rights lobbying organization on earth. It agitates for the same goals as PETA and other radical groups, but uses fewer naked interns.

2) Beginning on the day of NFL quarterback Michael Vick’s 2007 dogfighting indictment, HSUS raised money online with the false promise that it would “care for the dogs seized in the Michael Vick case.” The New York Times later reported that HSUS wasn’t caring for Vick’s dogs at all. And HSUS President Wayne Pacelle told the Times that his group urged government officials to “put down” (that is, kill) the dogs rather than adopt them out to suitable homes. HSUS later quietly altered its Internet fundraising pitch. Vick now gives HSUS “sponsored” speeches. And most of his dogs have been rehabilitated—without any help from HSUS.

3) HSUS’s senior management includes a former spokesman for the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), a criminal group designated as “terrorists” by the FBI. HSUS president Wayne Pacelle hired John “J.P.” Goodwin in 1997, the same year Goodwin described himself as “spokesperson for the ALF” while he fielded media calls in the wake of an ALF arson attack at a California veal processing plant. In 1997, when asked by reporters for a reaction to an ALF arson fire at a farmer’s feed co-op in Utah (which nearly killed a family sleeping on the premises), Goodwin replied, “We’re ecstatic.” That same year, Goodwin was arrested at a UC Davis protest celebrating the 10-year anniversary of an ALF arson at the university that caused $5 million in damage.

4) A 2008 Los Angeles Times investigation found that HSUS receives less than 12 percent of the money raised on its behalf by California telemarketers. Professional fundraisers keep the rest. If you exclude two campaigns run for HSUS by the “Builda-Bear Workshop” retail chain—which consisted of the sale of surplus stuffed animals (not really “fundraising”)—HSUS’s yield shrinks to just three percent. This is typical. In 2004, HSUS ran a telemarketing campaign in Connecticut with fundraisers who promised a return of “zero percent” of the proceeds. The campaign raised over $1.4 million. Not only did none of that money go to HSUS, but the group paid $175,000 for the telemarketing work. Similar filings exist in Massachusetts, New York, and other states. In 2008 HSUS collected more than $86 million in contributions, but spent more than $24 million on fundraising.

5) HSUS’s heavily promoted U.S. “boycott” of Canadian seafood—announced in 2005 as a protest against Canada’s annual seal hunt—is a phony exercise in media manipulation. A 2006 investigation found that 78 percent of the restaurants and seafood distributors described by HSUS as “boycotters” weren’t participating at all. Nearly two-thirds of them told surveyors they were completely unaware HSUS was using their names in connection with an international boycott campaign. Canada’s federal government is on record about this deception, saying: “Some animal rights groups have been misleading the public for years … it’s no surprise at all that the richest of them would mislead the public with a phony seafood boycott.” A documentary director also caught an HSUS film crew abusing a dying seal while they shot a 2007 fundraising video on the ice floes of Atlantic Canada.

6) HSUS raised $34 million in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, supposedly to help reunite lost pets with their owners. But comparatively little of that money was spent for its intended purpose. Louisiana’s Attorney General shuttered his 18-month-long investigation into where most of these millions went, shortly after HSUS announced its plan to contribute $600,000 toward the construction of an animal shelter on the grounds of a state prison. In 2009, Atlanta ABC affiliate WSB-TV reported that public disclosures of the disposition of the $34 million in Katrina-related donations added up to less than $7 million.

7) After gathering undercover video footage of improper animal handling at a Chino, CA slaughterhouse during November of 2007, HSUS sat on its video evidence for three months, even refusing to share it with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. HSUS’s Dr. Michael Greger may have perjured himself before Congress, testifying that the San Bernardino County (CA) District Attorney’s office asked the group “to hold on to the information while they completed their investigation.” The District Attorney’s office quickly denied that account, declaring that HSUS refused to make its undercover spy available to investigators if the USDA were present. Ultimately, HSUS chose to release its video footage at a politically opportune time, as it prepared to launch a livestock-related ballot campaign in California. Meanwhile, meat from the slaughterhouse continued to flow into the U.S. food supply for months.

i dont know sbout the humain society but i walk my a$$ of when i hunt my hounds and the collor is so i can bring my dog home safe at night. i'd like them to walk in my shoes for a day and see how long they can make it. get your head out of your a$$ people. hound hunting was here long before you and will be here long after you.

Please excuse my use of profanity. Cat & Bear you are exactly right, We(us houndsmen)need to represent ourselves in the best light possible. Just like you said from the way we talk, to how we portray our sport with others. Even our overall appearance seems to get scrutinized. I grew up in a small ranching/logging community. My great grandpa John Warner was a cougar hunter, during his time there was a $50 bounty per cat killed,the story goes that the bounty $ helped keep the Warner family feed through some very tough time's. My grandpa Jack Warner(93 & still kicking), was more a bobcat hunter, not just for sport but to protect the sheep from bobcat predation. Everytime I bring up cat hunting or my dogs I see a spark in the old mans eye's. A brief silent moment will pass then he will ask me a few questions about where & how my last jumped track went, also being familiar with the area he will go into a story about a simular track in that same area many years ago. His memories focus is alway's on the land(details only a hound hunter would know) hunting companions & the dog's, in that order. There is never any talk of the kill or how many. Anyway I could go on and on about old family hunting stories and the many respected men & dogs. So I guess my question is when did the public opinion for hound hunters get so negative? Was it alway's this way or was I just to young and naive to see or understand it? Growing up hound hunters were very respected in this area, there was a local club for houndsmen heck there was even summer water races that was fun for young & old. Hound hunters should be viewed as stewards of the land. Not productive poachers. We all deserve better. These anti's have learned to use our strenght's & our own laws against us. My area of expertise is limited here, but I would say that people need to be voted into office that support our way of life, but to get the vote's needed the general public's opinion needs to improve. It seems an uphill fight is upon all of us. J.W.

Warner5 wrote:Please excuse my use of profanity. Cat & Bear you are exactly right, We(us houndsmen)need to represent ourselves in the best light possible. Just like you said from the way we talk, to how we portray our sport with others. Even our overall appearance seems to get scrutinized. I grew up in a small ranching/logging community. My great grandpa John Warner was a cougar hunter, during his time there was a $50 bounty per cat killed,the story goes that the bounty $ helped keep the Warner family feed through some very tough time's. My grandpa Jack Warner(93 & still kicking), was more a bobcat hunter, not just for sport but to protect the sheep from bobcat predation. Everytime I bring up cat hunting or my dogs I see a spark in the old mans eye's. A brief silent moment will pass then he will ask me a few questions about where & how my last jumped track went, also being familiar with the area he will go into a story about a simular track in that same area many years ago. His memories focus is alway's on the land(details only a hound hunter would know) hunting companions & the dog's, in that order. There is never any talk of the kill or how many. Anyway I could go on and on about old family hunting stories and the many respected men & dogs. So I guess my question is when did the public opinion for hound hunters get so negative? Was it alway's this way or was I just to young and naive to see or understand it? Growing up hound hunters were very respected in this area, there was a local club for houndsmen heck there was even summer water races that was fun for young & old. Hound hunters should be viewed as stewards of the land. Not productive poachers. We all deserve better. These anti's have learned to use our strenght's & our own laws against us. My area of expertise is limited here, but I would say that people need to be voted into office that support our way of life, but to get the vote's needed the general public's opinion needs to improve. It seems an uphill fight is upon all of us. J.W.

Very well said! I also would like to know when the tables were turned and hound hunters were deemed a "bad breed"? I live in Wa state and its very difficult here to do any type of hunting be it hound hunting or foot hunting with all the antis crying out that we are horrible horrible people! It really makes me wonder if these same antis that are against us-do they know that its hunters like us that keep thier little dogs and cats and livestock a little safer? My hound club works very hard to try to change the image of hound hunters, we have the field trials and water races every summer and we welcome families and show them that this is a great family sport! I have gotten alot of new soon to be hound hunters very interested in the sport just from talking to them and showing them what we do as a club. All we can do is keep fighting our fights and proving to the antis that we are wonderful people that truely care about animals and the outdoors