BigGameHoundsmen.com

I found this on another site and I thought you guys would be interested.


Sen.Ted W. Lieu introduces bill to end unsporting and inhumane practice using packs of dogs to pursue bears and bobcats
March 22, 2012
Measure seeks to end inhumane, unsporting ‘hounding’
SACRAMENTO – Under legislation introduced by Sen. Ted W. Lieu of Torrance, bear and bobcat houndsmen would no longer be able to use dogs to pursue their prey in California, a practice which animal welfare advocates and hunters alike agree is inhumane, unsporting and unfair.

“California has a long history of protecting its resources and protecting animal welfare,” Lieu said about Senate Bill 1221, which is coauthored by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg. “The continued use of hound hunting runs counter, however, to California’s reputation as a humane state. Hound hunting of bears is illegal in two-thirds of the United States; the time has come for California to abolish this inhumane and unnecessary practice.”

Hound hunters use packs of dogs, often equipped with radio collars, to chase bobcats and bears to exhaustion. In their attempt to escape, the bear or bobcat often takes refuge in a tree, allowing a hunter to simply track the dogs’ radio collar signal, take aim and shoot the animal. In addition, the dogs used for this type of hunting are sometimes treated inhumanely, some abandoned in the field, and others suffer abuse from neglect. Other wildlife are often harassed, disturbed or physically harmed during hounding pursuits as well.

“Hound hunting of bears is cruel and unsporting, and it’s at odds with the values of the vast majority of Californians,” said Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The Humane Society of the United States. “It was the abuses associated with hunting of hounds that prompted California voters in 1990 to outlaw all trophy hunting of mountain lions. The same ethical issues are at work with bear and bobcat hunting. We are very grateful to Senator Ted Lieu for introducing this legislation.”

Sponsored by The Humane Society of The United States, SB 1221 would expressly prohibit the use of dogs to pursue any bear or bobcat. The bill would not affect the use of dogs by bird hunters. Many other major bear-hunting states, including Colorado, Montana, Oregon and Washington, do not permit hounding.

SB 1221 is awaiting assignment to a policy-review committee, which is expected to occur within the next month.

Man I feel for you California people. Idiots in the city makin laws that the country folks suffer from. I would propose a trade. If they close hound huntin for bear and bobcat, open hound huntin for the tree huggers.

wow what idiots. ya know i think its funny that people that try to shut down hound hunting make it sound like its not a challenge and its super easy to get game. yet they've probably never even been on a hunt so how can they say that?

The California Hound Associations and Clubs had best get on this and make it know that those orginisations will file lawfull action against the State IF the HMS and state ban the use of hounds for bear and bobcat and still allow it as a tool to control problem wildlife.

There was some talk about some serious restrictions in areas here in Alberta awhile back and when I met with government officials and enlightened them on the wording they were planning to use to restrict the use of dogs they closed that book real quick as they need us houndsmen to assist them with problem wildlife and the ruling they had proposed would legally effect them using dogs in every case in their dept.
So it kinda backfired on them..

Think about it.

Brent

Thank you for thinking outside the box and helping out with the situation.

i have posted the link on every hunting website i am on. i know it is not in my state but once the anti hunting idiots get done with California they will just attack more states even harder then they are now.

We need more info on how to fight. education or hunting for.conservation is important. what is in human is owning a hound dog and not being able to hunt them. Its their natural instinct. I'll start petitions in my town college anything I can do to help.

You guys should try and get the US Sportsmans Alliance, SCI, the NRA(they can throw some weight around) and any other groups that have national backing and help with from a legal team. You wanna get this squashed quick before it gets out of hand. I have never hunted California but have always really wanted to. Just haven't had the available time to get down there yet but if this passes you can be sure I will never spend a penny in that state. I wish you guys the best of luck and if we non residents can do anything keep posting it on here so everyone sees it.

225nontypical wrote:i have posted the link on every hunting website i am on. i know it is not in my state but once the anti hunting idiots get done with California they will just attack more states even harder then they are now.

Good point....anyone that has a connection with the state wildlife dept. or government that is under contract or assists the state game departments for problem wildlife such as lion and bear best write their senater or wildlife commissioner expressing their concerns in support of the houndsmen in California.
WITHOUT houndsmen to assist when a problem occurs they are handycapped in a serious way..
Trained hounds able to work under adverse conditions do not come out of a government kennel.
Houndsmen who HUNT them provide the experience required to assist in public safety situations when that expertise is required...The state can not provide the tool which is an experienced hound to deal with a public safety issue like the one in Big Bend National Park a month or so back...It was an experienced hound and houndsman that got the job done by catching that lion before someone was attacked again and possiably killed.......
Where were the Government houndsmen and their hounds?????
Think seriously about this fellas, it may be the only way anyone listens.

Fact
Parks Canada tried for 2 days without hounds to kill a young lion that attacked a small girl in July of last year...their eforts only managed to move the cat further from the location the attack took place...
I took hounds in and the job was done in less that 20 minutes...

Fact is ....they NEED you....!!!!!
Let them know that..

I have drafted a letter which I intend to email to the proper location, however, it appears the bill has not made it to committee yet. When you go to the California legislature website, and search for the bill, it still shows the orginal language as being a clean air bill.

I was thinking of emailing the letter to the Natural Resources committee chair.

Marcial.

I deleted my mailing address for posting here.

To: California State Senate Natural Resources and Water committee
RE: Senate Bill 1221, introduced by Senator Lieu
Date: March 23, 2012
Senators,
My name is Marcial Evertsen. I am a hunter, sportsman, and hounds man. I live in Nevada. In 2010 and 2011, I purchased hunting licenses in the state of California, primarily for the opportunity to hunt raccoons and bears with hounds. I did not purchase a bear tag in 2010, but I did in 2011. I plan to purchase a hunting license and bear tag in 2012 as well. A non-resident hunting license costs approximately $150, and a bear tag is approximately $250. These license and tag fees are all fees which go directly to the Fish and Game Commission for the enhancement of wildlife and their habitat.
During my hunt to California in October, 2011, I spent approximately a total of $1400 which included gas, groceries, hunting license and bear tag and auto parts for my vehicle. I know several people who hunt bears in California for the sole purpose of being able to pursue them with hounds. I am sure all generate a similar amount of money for the California economy.
The HSUS would have you believe that hunting with hounds is cruel. Hunting with hounds, as a general rule, is NOT cruel. Black bears and bobcats alike have learned to evade dogs since the beginning of time (such as wolves and coyotes), and hunting with hounds continues that instinct to be passed on from generation to generation of black bears. The HSUS also has made it very clear that they do not want to stop only hound hunting, they wish to stop ALL hunting. Hound hunting is just the start. Where would the Fish and Game Commission get money when there are no hunting licenses to be sold?
Hunting black bears with hounds also helps keep a natural fear of humans in the bears. It has been shown that states which allow hunting bears with hounds have fewer negative bear/human encounters than states that allow hunting with hounds.
Also, dogs of ALL breeds have been treated cruelly. This IS NOT THE NORM. My dogs are kept outside. Some are kept in kennels, some on chains. They are given food daily, have water available 24/7, have clean, dry bedding, and get regular vet check-ups which can be proven at any time. Just because one dog ends up in a shelter which has apparently been beaten or mistreated by its owner, it does not make all hound owners animal abusers.
I urge all to oppose this legislation to ban hunting bobcats and bears with hounds in California.
Thank you for your time, and please read my letter into the minutes of your committee meeting as official correspondence when the bill comes to committee.

Great letter Marcial, if everybody could take a few minutes and put some thing like this together and get to our law makers regaurdless of what state you are from it will make a difference. We are all in this together just because the anti's aren't doing this in your state yet, they will be soon!

They are NOW!

Today was the commission meeting to set the bear hunt areas. The state commission was trying to compromise with the anti's in the Tahoe Rim area for hunting with bears. They made it clear, there IS NO COMPROMISE!

They want to STOP THE BEAR HUNT! PERIOD, no questions, ALL OR NOTHING!

We have the Nevada Houndsmen Assn. I am the secretary. I was not able to attend the meeting today, nor will I be able to attend tomorrow. However, several members were there, and made their voices heard. We are a 501 (C) 4, so we have to be careful in how our time and money is spend in regards to legislative issues, etc.

I have contacted one other person of a formidable group and want to start a Sporting Dog Alliance here in NV that will not fall into exemption status so that we can throw anything and everything against these antis.

I will speak with him tomorrow I hope, and will see how it goes.

Marcial

Has anyone actually read the text of the bill? It's bad, bad, bad!:

Section 1. (B) Capture or dispatch any dog inflicting injury or immeadiately
threatening to inflict injury on any big game mammal during the closed
season on that mammal, and may capture or dispatch any dog inflicting
injury or immeadiately threatening to inflict injury on any bear or bobcat at
any time, or any fully protected, rare, or endandered mammal at any time.

So I read this as if they outlaw dogs for bear and bobcat and you say hell with them and their law and you get caught at the tree, a warden could open up on your dog. To me this is poorly worded and leaves a lot up to the discretion of a warden about when he can "dispatch" your dog. This is bad, bad, bad. I know some pretty rough houndsmen that do hunt way outside of the law, unfortunately, and a warden taking potshots at their hounds would end up very badly for all the parties involved. I'm not scared yet, but the hair on the back of my neck went up when I first heard about this. Call your state senator and tell them if they support this bill that they will be looking for a job after their next election. Remember the HSUS hates you, what you do, how you do it, and what we all stand for. They are a well funded, politically astute group of fanatical animal rights domestic terrorists. Oh yeah there is a much better show called Northwoods Law, I think. It blows Wild Justice away. They actually enforce Maine's wildlife laws with a moderate, even hand. I've seen two episodes and there were no pot gardens or meth pipes. If this law passes, Wild Justice will get way more interesting. Fight this law, don't let these bastards trample on our freedom. They will stop me from running my hounds when they pry the leashes from my cold, dead hands. -Pete

I want to remind everyone that we should be posting about this in the BILL INTRODUCED TO BAN PURSUIT OF BEAR AND BOBCAT IN CA This is in the BIG GAME HUNTING WITH DOGS section

Having a bunch of different posts about the same thing only causes confusion and a lack of information being distributed.

Time to get back to hammering at our law makers

This is the next group of DISTINGUISHED LAW MAKERS we cannot miss or trust any of them, this last time we trusted Gattos office, after he did not vote the 1st time and his rep came looking for us in the hall way of the Capital and asked us to give his office a break we thought that he would stand his ground and not vote at the re-vote, this was our mistake and now regaurdless of what any of these RAT BASTARDS ask of us we cannot back off I don't care what piolitical party they are with they ALL need to feel the pressure, we have been told that the chair will listen something we haven't ran into yet, DO ALL YOU CAN, THIS FIGHT IS NOT OVER! we have been lied to/lied about/miss lead/and shit on! But even after all this BS we cannot and will not stop it's not in us to give up! This is not going to heard until the 8th of August so we have been told.

CALL CALL CALL CALL CALL CALL CALL CALL CALL CALL

Assembly Committee on Appropriations

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