HB1137 & HB1124 Bills that need your support

[whacker1]

when do they vote?  how much public participation was there?

I worried about that when the DFW opened the pilot season to anyone in the state, regardless of hound ownership...it makes it look like a trophy hunt rather than a management decision...

 

First Hearing was this morning.

I doubt they took a vote today, If it is moving forward, it will likely get a second hearing and a committee vote in February sometime.  If it passes the house, it will move to the Senate for their take on the subject.  It goes through the same process, first hearing, testimony, etc before vote.

[mulehunter]

If u haven't heard anything. U can listen to what they talking this morning.

Link

http://www.tvw.org/search/siteSearch.cfm?EvntType=C&keywords=House%20Agriculture&date=2011&bhcp=1


Mulehunter

[mulehunter]

Two things.  Cougar went thur supermall auburn and no one knows.   . But gps collar on cat show data.  Very close call.

Other thing. Interesting what they talkig about wolves and cougar. 

Thank you donny for his support.

Mulehunter

[Humptulips]

I thought it went very well. Hard to make any conclusions on how the  committee members will vote. Well, a few you can tell. Hans Dunshee might as well work for HSUS. I think it was about 12 to 1 in support of the bill and the HSUS gal didn't make a very good showing.

[Humptulips]

Hey folks, trappers really need your help now. We need people to contact their legislators and ask for them to support HB1137 We need you and your friends, family and business contacts. In short we need as many calls or e-mails as possible asking for the passage of this bill. Maybe your representative is someone you know to already support this. We still need you to ask them to support the bill. It's a numbers game. The more voters that they hear from the more likely the bill will advance.

[bearpaw]

I think HB1124 regarding hound hunting will be heard again tommorrow. I hope some of you will send another message requesting passage. I have already recieved positive comments from 2 legislators from my letter below. Here are the WDFW and Natural Resources Committee's olympia email addresses so you can easily send one message to all:

Remember: Intelligent polite messages get read...  

Brian.Blake@leg.wa.gov
derek.stanford@leg.wa.gov
bruce.chandler@leg.wa.gov
jt.wilcox@leg.wa.gov
vincent.buys@leg.wa.gov
hans.dunshee@leg.wa.gov
bill.hinkle@leg.wa.gov
joel.kretz@leg.wa.gov
kristine.lytton@leg.wa.gov
ed.orcutt@leg.wa.gov
eric.pettigrew@leg.wa.gov
christine.rolfes@leg.wa.gov
kevin.vandewege@leg.wa.gov
lauren.burnes@leg.wa.gov


commission@dfw.wa.gov
philip.anderson@dfw.wa.gov
david.ware@dfw.wa.gov
donny.martorello@dfw.wa.gov


Video of House Natural Resources Committee Hearing on HB 1124:  
http://www.tvw.org/media/mediaplayer.cfm?evid=2011010140&TYPE=V&CFID=2182434&CFTOKEN=57993784&bhcp=1


Dear Legislators,
My name is Dale Denney, I own Bearpaw Outfitters. After receiving phone calls regarding the mention of my name in the House Natural Resources Committee hearing regarding HB 1124 on January 18, and as a professional hound hunter, I felt compelled to offer some thoughts for your consideration.

In recent years only hound hunters could participate in Washington hound hunts, occasionally my family or friends who own hounds drew tags and we helped them on their hunts. This year language allowed any licensed hunter to apply for a hound season cougar tag. We assisted 3 lucky non-hound owners in taking cats with hounds and one of those hunts was done as a free hunt that we offered to the hunting community. We also assisted another elderly hound hunter with his hound permit hunt.

For the last 14 years in Washington we have helped more boot hunters take cougar than hunters with hound permits. While I have been happy to help numerous boot hunters take a cougar, the only problem with boot hunting cougar is that it does nothing to help maintain trained hounds to be available for response to WDFW cougar attack complaints. In order for WDFW to have hounds available and capable of catching problem cougar, the dogs to be used must be hunted regularly to be effective, and it has been proven that some measure of cougar population control must be exercised either before cougar attacks occur or after cougar attacks happen.

It has been mentioned that hound hunters may not target specific problem animals, but WDFW statistics show that since hound hunting has been allowed again by the Legislature, cougar attacks have definitely declined. Legislators effectively decreased the attacks on livestock, pets, and humans. People who live or recreate where cougars may attack are very glad that the frequency of cougar attacks has been reduced, but these people need HB 1124 enacted so that rural neighborhoods continue to be safe.

From a monetary and budgetary standpoint, it seems far more sensible and cost effective for the WDFW to allow hunters to hunt who also support the WDFW via license sales, than to pay hound hunters to catch problem cats as agents of the state. Whether a hound hunter is assisting another hunter in taking a cat, or if the hound hunter has a tag of his own, or if that hound hunter is working for the WDFW to catch a problem cougar, the fact is that dogs are needed to hunt cougar. In the past when WDFW officers have requested our services for cougar attack complaints, we have responded as quickly as possible on nearly every occasion. It has been to the state’s advantage that we had dogs which were experienced in catching cougar. Please understand, I have only been able to keep trained dogs by acting as a cougar hunting guide in Idaho and Utah, and by helping the occasional person lucky enough to draw a Washington Cougar Hound permit.

From a hound owner’s standpoint, it's expensive to own hounds. I recover some of that expense by taking other hunters hunting in the states where I am licensed to provide guided hunts. Some other hound owners have good paying jobs in order to afford to own their hounds. But no matter how a person affords to own hounds, it is still imperative that those dogs get hunted or they will not be effective at catching cougar when needed by WDFW to respond to cougar attack complaints.

Just for the record, it was my hunting partner who responded and it was his hounds that caught the cougar that attacked young Jacob Walsh near Orient, Washington. Had it not been for being able to sport hunt cougars prior to the passing of I-655 in 1996, we would not have had dogs capable of catching the cougar that attacked and tried to kill young Jacob Walsh. I have also responded to numerous other WDFW cougar complaints involving attacks on livestock, pets, and another attack on a human in Stevens and Ferry counties. So with that in mind, it is my sincere hope that this legislature will pass legislation allowing hound hunters the ability to keep maintaining trained dogs.

Pursuit Seasons and Cougar Behavior Modification
Another important item that should be considered, it’s not necessary for hound hunters to kill every cougar caught in order to keep their dogs trained. It is just as effective to pursue and tree a cougar, pet your dogs, and then to leave the cougar in the tree physically unharmed. By doing this, the hounds get the experience of tracking and treeing cougar and every cougar left alive in the tree has a good reason to modify their behavior. From what I have seen, a cougar will often head for more remote areas to escape the unfriendly experience it just had with man and dogs. This will help maintain a fear of man and dogs in general and arguably could result in fewer cougar attacks without the need of killing as many cougar.

I highly recommend that this committee add an amendment to the legislation authorizing the WDFW to investigate the trial use of pursuit seasons for cougar behavior modification and dog training. Please remember, an open Pursuit Season would allow hound hunters to maintain trained dogs that WDFW can rely on for emergencies when cougars attack livestock, pets, or humans, and there is high likelihood a pursuit season will benefit the overall cougar population and Washington citizens by reinforcing the fear of man and dog in the wild cougar population.

As our governing body, hound owners and the citizens of Washington are depending on you, our legislators, to find a balance. A solution that allows trained hounds to be available for cougar population management and emergencies involving cougar attacks, and hopefully you arrive at a solution that manages the cougar population before cougar attacks occur rather than after cougar attacks have happened.

If you would like me to appear at a future hearing I will be more than happy to appear. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Best Regards,
Dale Denney

[WAcoyotehunter]

that's a really well written letter and a great response to the discussion at last weeks meeting.  Thanks Dale!

[bearpaw]

HB1124 regarding hound hunting will be heard again very soon.

I hope some of you will send another message requesting passage today. I attached email addresses in my previous post in this thread for the WDFW and the Natural Resources Committee members so you can easily send one message to all.

This is a critical time for moving this forward, thanks very much for any help you can provide.
Dale

[bearpaw]

Recieved another positive response from another legislator on the hound hunting bill.

"I support the use of hounds to hunt cougars – hope we can move the bill to make it permanent and statewide….."


It would be good to hear from a few more legislators to know the hound bill will make it out of committee. So keep the letters flowing, use the email list I posted in this thread, it only takes a few minutes to put together a short message of support and send it off to the committee.

[Elkaholic daWg]

 this morning from a friend... Since this is a revenue enhancer I would think it should pass


1387 HB, titled AN ACT Relating to increasing revenue to the state wildlife account, has been scheduled for a public hearing by the House Committee on General Government Appropriations.

Date and Time: 01/27/2011 1:30PM (Subject to change by the Legislature.)
Location: John L. O'Brien Building, House Hearing Rm C, Olympia, WA

The Office of Financial Management has identified this bill as requiring a ten-year projection of increased cost to the taxpayers or affected feepayers.

Ten-year projection:

The ten-year projection is not yet complete. It will be sent as soon as it is available.


Bill sponsors and contact information:

Representative Brian Blake, Prime Sponsor
Democrat
Aberdeen
(360) 786-7870
Brian.Blake@leg.wa.gov

Representative Bruce Chandler
Republican
Zillah
(360) 786-7960
Bruce.Chandler@leg.wa.gov

[wa.hunter]

Sure wish I had know this HB1387 was up today I would have been there. I can not say I agree with these increases they are asking for. The Governor takes money away from the dept. so now we just implement some new fee's to offset the deficit.

[bearpaw]

I don't like the idea of paying more either, but the one good point, this puts a greater dependency of revenue for the WDFW back onto hunters and fishers. THAT IS GOOD

[Elkaholic daWg]

  Looks like 11337 has been introduced to the full house, since these alerts don't get sent unless that happens.


 

From: OFM mi Tax and Fee Proposals [mailto:OFMmiTaxandFeeProposals@OFM.WA.GOV]
Sent: Monday, February 07, 2011 3:25 PM
To: TAX-AND-FEE-PROPOSALS@LISTSERV.WA.GOV
Subject: House Introduction Notice for 1387 HB

 

You are receiving this email as a subscriber to the Initiative 960 email list.

HB 1387, titled AN ACT Relating to increasing revenue to the state wildlife account, has been introduced in the House of Representatives. The Office of Financial Management has identified this bill as requiring a ten-year projection of increased cost to the taxpayers or affected feepayers.

Ten-year projection:

Fiscal
Year
   

 
   

Commercial Administrative Fee
   

   Recreational Fishing Licenses
   

  Recreational Hunting Licenses
   

   Temporary Surcharge
   

   Transaction Fee
   

    Total

 

2012
   

 
   

$   535,000
   

$  3,755,955
   

$  1,606,058
   

$ 638,294
   

$   526,388
   

$ 7,061,695

2013
   

 
   

535,000
   

4,522,178
   

1,931,942
   

 
   

634,202
   

$ 7,623,322

2014
   

 
   

535,000
   

4,522,178
   

1,931,942
   

 
   

634,202
   

$ 7,623,322

2015
   

 
   

535,000
   

4,522,178
   

1,931,942
   

 
   

634,202
   

$ 7,623,322

2016
   

 
   

535,000
   

4,522,178
   

1,931,942
   

 
   

634,202
   

$ 7,623,322

2017
   

 
   

535,000
   

4,522,178
   

1,931,942
   

 
   

634,202
   

$ 7,623,322

2018
   

 
   

535,000
   

4,522,178
   

1,931,942
   

 
   

634,202
   

$ 7,623,322

2019
   

 
   

535,000
   

4,522,178
   

1,931,942
   

 
   

634,202
   

$ 7,623,322

2020
   

 
   

535,000
   

4,522,178
   

1,931,942
   

 
   

634,202
   

$ 7,623,322

2021
   

 
   

535,000
   

4,522,178
   

1,931,942
   

 
   

634,202
   

$ 7,623,322

 

Total:
   

 
   

$ 5,350,000
   

$ 44,455,557
   

$ 18,993,536
   

$ 638,294
   

$ 6,234,206
   

$ 75,671,593