Timber farm bear hunts 'illegal,' Humane Society says

[Alan K]

Supplemental feeding is very effective. I think I've mentioned this before on the last thread, but just take a look at the north side of the Kapowsin Tree Farm where there is feeding, and the south side where there is only the spring bear hunt.  HUGE difference in damage.

Yes, boars will hog a feeder sometimes, but any forester paying attention will add a second feeder to the general area and the problem is solved. There usually wont be multiple dominant boars in an area since it's also breeding season.

The problem with feeding is that it costs money, tens of thousands of dollars each year when its all said and done depening on the size of the tree farm and amount of feeders.  Most of the big timber companies try to mitigate damage with feeding, and if damage persists, thats when they apply for a depredation permit. 

Some have started to just say heck with it and not spend the money on feeding and go straight to depredation permits, and its due in part I'm sure to the cost, but also the hassle dealing with removing feeders prior to a depredation hunt.

Feeders must be removed prior to any hunting, be it trapping, baiting, or hounds. The pain there is that if there is literally one pellet of rotton feed left behind folks are accused of trying to 'bait' to the depredation permit which is just ridiculous. Thousands and thousands of dollars are spent trying to get the problem taken care of non-lethally.  If folks are going to be hassled to that degree after shoveling up buckets and buckets of the rotten feed a bear has scooped out, they throw their hands up and just say heck with it then.

The reality on the ground, and the motives of those who utilize depredation permits is far from what King 5, and now HSUS is painting.  As at least some people have noted, thats nothing to be suprised by. Its just disappointing.

[fish vacuum]

I actually hope HSUS sticks it to the wdfw. Then the Wdfw has to play the card that the law itself unjust. Wa state constitution says a law cannot have two subject matters.

I agree that the law should have never been upheld. But who I see this hurting the most are the hound hunters who still had a way to hunt their dogs. That is why HSUS wants to stop this.

Bearpaw is spot on.  It will be a sad day in Washington when there are no houndsmen to call after someone is mauled by a cougar.  Karelian bear dogs can't do everything.

They don’t do crap now anyways. 

They're specially bred to bark at, and chase, wild animals. Gotta pay a premium for a special dog that does that.

[Boss .300 winmag]

I actually hope HSUS sticks it to the wdfw. Then the Wdfw has to play the card that the law itself unjust. Wa state constitution says a law cannot have two subject matters.

I agree that the law should have never been upheld. But who I see this hurting the most are the hound hunters who still had a way to hunt their dogs. That is why HSUS wants to stop this.

Bearpaw is spot on.  It will be a sad day in Washington when there are no houndsmen to call after someone is mauled by a cougar.  Karelian bear dogs can't do everything.

They don’t do crap now anyways. 

They're specially bred to bark at, and chase, wild animals. Gotta pay a premium for a special dog that does that.

Seen them in action by the WDFW, I’m not real impressed. 

[KFhunter]

They should use Brittany's,  my little Brit barks her head off and has ran a bear up a tree by herself.   One was trying to get my pears and I had no idea it was in the back yard, I let her out the front door for a potty and she always makes a circle of the house and found that bear in the back yard...

holy ruckus batman, that little dog was pulling fur out of that bears arse and the bear was giving it all it had for the nearest big pine tree.


I was kinda proud of her   


(but I was more careful to check for bears as I didn't want her getting hurt next time)

[fish vacuum]

I actually hope HSUS sticks it to the wdfw. Then the Wdfw has to play the card that the law itself unjust. Wa state constitution says a law cannot have two subject matters.

I agree that the law should have never been upheld. But who I see this hurting the most are the hound hunters who still had a way to hunt their dogs. That is why HSUS wants to stop this.

Bearpaw is spot on.  It will be a sad day in Washington when there are no houndsmen to call after someone is mauled by a cougar.  Karelian bear dogs can't do everything.

They don’t do crap now anyways. 

They're specially bred to bark at, and chase, wild animals. Gotta pay a premium for a special dog that does that.

Seen them in action by the WDFW, I’m not real impressed. 

Leave it to the state to pay extra for a special dog breed that barks at animals. The bear dog breeders must be great salesmen.

[HighCountryHunter88]

I hope this is found to be in violation of state law.
Maybe then there will be a chance of getting the law repealed, or at least opportunities increased for bear hunting without hounds and/or bait.

I disagree, hunters should never support ending one type of management for personal gain. That is part of how we lost bear baiting and hounding in the first place, some hunters supported the ban! 

Well, sorry but I'm no longer sympathetic to the big timber companies who charge hunters for access and then poison our wildlife and destroy the habitat with their herbicides.

So if a cougar kills your dog, goat, horse or injures your child out playing in the yard, you dont want the state to be able to use hounds to catch that lion with the use of hounds? am i understanding you?

No, apparently you're not understanding me. I said nothing about the scenario you described.

oh, i thought you were saying you hoped using dogs to do depredation kills on bear would be deemed illegal. i was just making an example of depredation more relateble (since you don't own a tree farm) that would also be deemed illegal.

Actually, your comparison is not valid.  The law states, according to the article, that WDFW may remove problem bears (and cougar I would assume) using hounds.  The law does not state that  agents of Weyerhauser, etc. may do so.

BTW, I am not in support of HSUS, I am in support of opening up bear hunting opportunities to the public. Timber companies want bear removed, crawl to us hunters....   

the bear hunters are not agents of the timber companies, they are in the state program, ran by state employees. they get tags from the state and have to find damage, in most cases take photo evidence with timestamp and gps concordance of damage for biologist to inspect before they are given tags.

also, if they are no longer allowed to use dogs or snares, they will just go to feeding programs, if theyre no longer able to do that then they will hold the state and tax payers liable for the state owned bears damage to their crop.

The bear hunters are considered contractors. I doubt the State wants to take them on as agents because of liability concerns.
The feeding programs do not work. Everyone I have spoken with say they increase damage in areas by concentrating bears near the feeder. A big boar will sit on the feeder and other bears will eat bark because they can't get in to the feeder.
You can say what you want about the majority of bears not being a problem but I do not think that is true if there are to many bears in an area. Population control is key to keeping damage down.

I understand they are not agents, but they are regulated through the state program not the timber company

If feed doesn’t work why do timber companies utilize it? Some instead of killing bears

[Humptulips]

I think we are in agreement. It is just word play and HSUS is using that word play to throw a monkey wrench into the works.
Why are they still doing the feeding? IMO public relations.
Ralph Flowers was the guy that envisioned the feeding program. He passed it on to Kelly Lund. Kelly use to get all my beaver carcasses. They used them in conjunction with the mixture they use mostly. Kelly's son Denny was doing it also. Denny told me it was counterproductive. Heard the same from Bob Gilman in OR and a couple other guys I would not argue with.
Never did it myself but the guys I mentioned knew more about bears than all the experts in the NW so I have to give their opinions some credence.