Loophole allows "illegal" bear hunt with dogs--King 5 Story

[dogfish]

These depredation tags are for houndsmen, master hunter over bait, and fda snare guys

Correct. I am in that group of folks. 

[dogfish]

You guys have "journalists" over there that spent a year of there life covering what we call spring bear season LOL

When I called her out on her poor article on cougar hunting, where she stated that hunter's killed twice the state guideline, she didn't like being challenged on facts.  He reply to me when I told her she needed to tell all the facts was, "but Andrew, that's not what we do."   

Once I saw the backchannel emails from her to folks in the WFPA, and small forest landowners, I knew it was going to be a real cluster.  She is a piece of work. 

[Stickerbush]

Tag

[skagitsteel]

terrible piece of Journalism that is not supported by facts.  I don't have a problem that hired houndsmen are used in special circumstances to reduce bear populations in problem areas, However as a hunter it does frustrate me that we don't have some expanded opportunity to hunt them in the spring given that we are currently underharvesting bears in this state. 

my preffered method of bear hunting is spot and stalk, however I think it is clear the ban on hounds and bait was a political move based on people's emotions rather than actual facts. 

 I see no reason to not have atleast the entire west side of the state have an over the counter general hunt.  We have the healthiest bear population in the lower 48 and almost every other state with huntable numbers of black bears has an OTC spring tag, that makes no sense to not have one here!  I think a spring tag would help in boosting harvest numbers for bears which are underharvested in most people opinion.  I don't hunt fall bears much anymore mainly becasue of other opportunites, I would pursue them a lot more with an OTC spirng tag,I don't think I am alone in that approach either. 

More spring bear tags in units are not going to cut it because simply put spot and stalk hunting is not very effective for reducing bear numbers in a small area.  for example the North Skagit unit sees 'roughly'  5 to 7 bear harvested each year in my understanding.  I was talking to one of the WDFW guys and when they increased the number of tags from 20 to 30 a while back it did nothing to increase the number of bears harvested, just more guys driving around behind the gates.  I hunted the unit hard in 2014 and saw quite a few bears being selective in what I chose to harvest, however on average most guys had a tough hunt. 

I think a genreal tag would help keep overall populations in check, however in problem areas I don't see any other way to reduce bear numbers effectively other than special permitting for bait or hounds.  If 5 bears are hammering trees in one area, there is no way spot and stalk guys are going to be effective.  In this situation I say let them run the hounds it doesn't take away from a hunters opportunity AS LONG AS we have a general OTC spring tag.  just my 

[Humptulips]

A little off topic but the mention of No Trespassing signs struck a nerve with me.
I have no problem with depredation work being done by hound hunting, trapping, bait or just stalking but I do have a problem with the Department writing depredation hunt permits to landowners that close their lands to hunting by the public. The Department should have the option of refusing to issue permits if the landowner does not cooperate in allowing public hunting a chance to solve the problem.
I do not believe WDFW can do that now. On my wish list of changes I want to see in the laws.

[dogfish]

As far as no trespassing is concerned, I have had cameras and other gear stolen from the two properties I manage.  The landowner's maple trees were tested by someone searching for burly maple in between late deer and the beginning of this spring's depredation season, while I had no cameras in the woods.  They knock off sections of the bark with an axe or hatchet.  The landowners have had cameras stolen.  They have had people cutting trails onto the property from neighboring properties for ATV use.  We even had one elk poached up there two years ago, and we caught those folks on camera.  SMILE!  This is how open access gets shut down.  People are slobs.

One property has only a timber management easement across another person's property, making it effectively landlocked for access, having to go through two gates to get there across a landowner's property who doesn't allow any hunting on their property.  How are they supposed to make that property open to the general public? 

These properties do get hunted, as the landowners allow me to take folks I know and trust onto the land to hunt.  These properties get hunted hard from September 1-December 31.  The landowner doesn't charge for this access, I don't charge for this access, unlike WEYCO, Green Diamond, and others.  I would guess 10-12 people get access to these 250-300 acre properties annually.  I work getting kids out in the woods, and have made the properties accessible to vets, and folks with physical limitations.  It gets them access to areas where they don't have to deal with the pumpkin patch mentality where some guy sets up 50 yards away from you, for a safe and controlled hunt.

One other note, the State doesn't pay anything to these tree farmers for any damage, unlike other crop farmers.  I don't get reimbursed by the state for my expenses, and the landowners don't pay me anything for my time.  The state has one employee, Ralf, who manages the bear depredation full time from April-July.  They also have wildlife conflict specialists (1 per region) and sometimes a field assistant who spend a minimal amount of time from April-July on bear depredation.  It isn't a huge budget issue for the state.  Check out how many IT folks work for WDFW compared to the small but efficient staff they have working on bear depredation from April-July.

On average over the past 4 year's I have volunteered over 160 hours during each depredation season, and I'm exhausted at the end.  Oh, I also have a day job, and a small side business.  During hunting season I hunt the east side, but after I am done with my tags I'm out there almost every weekend acting as the ghillie for these landowners.  Easily another 100 hours annually.  Want to join me?  Sign up, become a master hunter, get your volunteer hours with me, and let's get after it. 260 hours annually, that's 6.5 forty hour weeks, volunteered, unpaid.  My annual requirement is 8. 

Otherwise, you're just pissing and moaning.         

[bracer40]

Dogfish,

Thanks for the great posts. Real eye opener on an area I didn't fully understand. Sounds like you're out there taking care of business and having a good time of it...

I didn't watch the news story...I have little expectation that any tv news story  from Seattle about hunting  would be fair minded....even though I'm kinda stuck here for now

[Caseyd]

https://www.king5.com/mobile/article/news/local/thurston-county-judge-rules-timber-farm-bear-hunts-dont-violate-state-law/281-171fa100-4e09-431b-a7ac-1582629245cf

[Bob33]

https://www.king5.com/mobile/article/news/local/thurston-county-judge-rules-timber-farm-bear-hunts-dont-violate-state-law/281-171fa100-4e09-431b-a7ac-1582629245cf

"I'm very disappointed and frankly quite stunned. I would not have expected this," explained Lisa Wathne, an original spokesperson for I-655. "The Department of Fish and Wildlife has been so blatantly violating the initiative that it's just stunning to me that they're being allowed to get away with this."

[Stein]

At least they changed the title of the story, it used to say the hunts were illegal.

It's what to expect around here, I will compliment WDFW for fighting it.