BigGameHoundsmen.com

I attended the April 9 Fish and Game Commission meeting in Lodi. They were taking comments from the public regarding the opening of bear hunting in San Luis Obispo County and lifting the in season harvest quota for bears. Other than some reps from CHC I was the only houndsman there. I spoke briefly, and very nervously on the quota. I believe that by eliminating it Fish and Game is opening itself to legal action by animal rights groups who claim it will lead to the wholesale slaughter of bears. Fish and Game reasoned that the expense of sending closure notices, which occured twice in the last six years, was unecessary. I agree. But let hunters call the phone# or check the web page like cougar hunters in Nevada must do. Let us take a little more responsibility for the sport we love and bear conservation. The commission was highly positive on opening San Luis Obispo county. Only one NIMBY ( not in my backyard) from Friends of the Forest showed up to oppose the expansion. They were also updating the dog control boundaries, and switching the treeing collar ban to also include magnetic switches in addition to mercury switches. As it isn't much of an issue anymore and the rule assumes hunters chase the dogs primarily on foot, which is outdated. No one even spoke on that issue. I found the meeting high informative and wish more of us had showed up. They will make decisions on April 21 via teleconference. All in all the meeting was good for bear hunters. The season will now run full length with no early closures. The state biologists figure even one or two hundred bears over 1700 will not have a detrimental effect on California's still expanding bear population. Countin' the days till season. Peter Meyer

Thank you for your time and effort that benefits the rest of us. Have you heard any talk from DFG about more regulation on out of state guides? Does anyone think its time to take a look at that or do you think that the bear count limits things enough? Thanks also for passing on the info.

Abasoluty F&G should look into the out of state giudes, now with no limit they will have a free for all, they should also look into raising the out of state tags and lisence price, we've heard a lot about the guys legally taking there bear back to there state then legally parting them out for up to 10 times what they spent on the none res. tags and lisence.

Has anybody else heard of this?

Ya, since Wa. and Or. have shut down their seasons and Idahos is basically done due to hibernation by time ours opens we are getting a pretty heavy influx from other states. With the bear count I don't really see it as a problem but without a count something definitly needs to be looked at.

check out my updated post in bear hunting on the april 21 commission meeting

I FIRMLY believe it is time to look into the subject of out of state hunters ESPECIALLY the guides...some people have argued that we will lose their support...what support? When was the last time you saw any guides give back some of the money (to fight for our right to run, own or breed dogs) they earned killing bears in this state...when was the last time you saw any of them at the Capitol?
Sorry...its become a little sore spot on my ass the past few years.