Free Cougar Hunts Winter 2011

[bearpaw]

Bearpaw,  thanks soo much. I will keep eye on tags. If nothin. I definely will like come up help find.cut and enjoy time.with ya.

Mulehunter.   

+1  Of course, I'm pretty likely to get a tag this year. 

Thanks!

The House still hasn't passed the Bill, I am holding my breath, I have not heard what the hold up is.

[bearpaw]

Well my friends I'm sorry to report, it looks like all hound hunting of cougars has been cancelled by Democratic leadership in the House, by failing to bring the measure up for a vote.

[Alan K]

 

[Houndhunter]

i was glad to see that people couldnt guide the hound hunts, but seeing them shut it down completly is a real loss even if its only temporary. im bout ready to stop buying any tags and license altogether

[bearpaw]

Everyone is entitled their opinion, but when hunters fail to support each other this is what happens. Everyone loses. Please see my signature.

I maintain that it's wiser to allow everyone an opprtunity at hunting cougar than try to restrict it to houndhunters like some hounders want to do. We need everyones support. By restricting guiding cougar it is no different than restricting guides and charter boats for salmon fishing. How much support would there be for salmon fishing if people had no way to do it. Everytime I have gone to westport or Lapush I have gone on charter boats, I don't own the equipment to do it myself. 

[mulehunter]

   I am soo mad.......... trust me I feel bad for all hunter who probablly wont find trophy 4x4 bucks or enough for all tags who want hunt.   1500 to 2000 cougars get free ticket from jails to kill 110,000 deer or elk in washington this year.  I guess no one cares anyway. I have to wait till biologlist to figure out why all trophy are disappearing.


Mulehunter.   

[bucklucky]

I agree Dale . We are definately stronger as a whole and that was proven with this issue. Really too bad. Wife was really hoping to draw her tag this year. She had a few points built up. Cant wait to see how many cougar issues get reported this year. Oh well, If I have it my way I wont be living in Washington too much longer. Just cant put up with this crap any longer. I hate beeing ran by Seattle .

[Houndhunter]

theres alot of argurable points to why it needed to be hound owners only, like when its open to the public the hound owners dont get to run their dogs. alot different situation than salmon fishing i think

[BOWHUNTER45]

 

     O WELL We can not give up ...We try again next year !!!!!!!!!

[Houndhunter]

 

     O WELL We can not give up ...We try again next year !!!!!!!!!

thats the truth

[mulehunter]

More I worried is about wolves expanding over 16 BP.  I wonder if biologlist knew there more BP out in wood but wouldn't confirmed. More we wait the hard it get to managed it. And it get harder to recovered herd elk and deer from all predators.  I quit buying tags.  Totally b.s.

Mulehunter.

[grundy53]

theres alot of argurable points to why it needed to be hound owners only, like when its open to the public the hound owners dont get to run their dogs. alot different situation than salmon fishing i think

I guess your right.... oh wait no hound hunting period means you don't get to run your dogs at all. Nice thinking. Cut off your nose to spite your face....

[Houndhunter]

i really dont get your point grundy, but in the last 4 years since ive had my hound i can count the number of lions we've treed together on one hand. the year they opened up to the public we stopped getting tags so its been like there was no houndhunting since. you cant run your dog one or two times a year, or skip years in between or all you got is a untrained pet.

i think it'd still be around if it wernt for all the attention it got after it went public, most people didnt even know that there was still a hound program. it was thought of as more a safety program rather than the sport hunt it is now. i really cant see them not allowing hound hunts for very long, i forget the actuall numbers but the complaints shot up considerably the first year it closed in 96. and continued to rise dramtically there after to the point where they had to do something. i just hope they go back to the orignal plan

[grundy53]

i really dont get your point grundy, but in the last 4 years since ive had my hound i can count the number of lions we've treed together on one hand. the year they opened up to the public we stopped getting tags so its been like there was no houndhunting since. you cant run your dog one or two times a year, or skip years in between or all you got is a untrained pet.

i think it'd still be around if it wernt for all the attention it got after it went public, most people didnt even know that there was still a hound program. it was thought of as more a safety program rather than the sport hunt it is now. i really cant see them not allowing hound hunts for very long, i forget the actuall numbers but the complaints shot up considerably the first year it closed in 96. and continued to rise dramtically there after to the point where they had to do something. i just hope they go back to the orignal plan

My point is, your divisive attitude is why we lose these hunts.

[bearpaw]

theres alot of argurable points to why it needed to be hound owners only, like when its open to the public the hound owners dont get to run their dogs. alot different situation than salmon fishing i think

I'm sorry Houndhunter, I don't see the wisdom in your statement. What I see is that some houndhunters want to do all the shooting themselves and keep the sport to themselves.

The general hunting public doesn't have hounds, if you were willing to help other hunters get a cat, then your dogs could get hunted. You could have friends put in for tags or even folks off this forum and help them with their cat or you could guide hunts, that helps with the cost of owning dogs, both of which I do, and my dogs get hunted. Now I am stuck going out of state to run my dogs at all, in part possibly because there is so much jealousy in hunting and one hunter will not help another. As you can see by my thread, even though I couldn't guide, I still wanted to help others if they drew. At the same time I asked for their support of the issue. That is a win/win for everyone.

Not only would this get my dogs hunted, but it also builds support for hound hunting if other folks think they will have a chance to participate. The worst thing a hounder can do is try to keep his sport to himself. We can not win this battle alone, we need all hunters helping to support the issue and you don't get their support by telling them they can't participate.     

I don't mean to sound like I am lecturing you, and I admit that I am probably doing that, but I hope you will take a moment and think about these points and try to see the importance of involving all hunters in cougar hunting. Without broad support, our hounds will never hunt cougar in Washington again, it is really that simple.

O WELL We can not give up ...We try again next year !!!!!!!!!

  that's all we can do at this point, try, try again, thanks much for your support.... 

i think it'd still be around if it wernt for all the attention it got after it went public, most people didnt even know that there was still a hound program. it was thought of as more a safety program rather than the sport hunt it is now. i really cant see them not allowing hound hunts for very long, i forget the actuall numbers but the complaints shot up considerably the first year it closed in 96. and continued to rise dramtically there after to the point where they had to do something. i just hope they go back to the orignal plan

This is somewhat a valid point, the antis made it an issue that guides were offering hunts (emphasis on myself). Your comment actually gets to the core of the issue, it's an anti-hunting issue. For this reason we need to beat the opposition and allow public cougar hunting if we ever want to have cougar hunting around the entire state. I guarantee a lot of legislators were educated and support was built for the issue. The bill would have passed if the Democratic leadership would let it come up for a vote, that's why they prevented it from coming to a vote. No doubt, problems will increase in a few years and something will have to be done. Hopefully the eventual solution will allow everyone to hunt.