Post by: oldschooltrucks on January 15, 2020, 07:36:51 PM
Post by: Alan K on January 15, 2020, 08:00:41 PM
Spring bear success was horrendous and it inhibited the use of more effective means of damage control (feeding). The last several years there have been depredation hunts within the spring bear area that were able to coexist with the boot hunt, but with the depredation program being frivulously litigated I would guess they opted to feed instead until the lawsuit is resolved.
Post by: Goshawk on April 17, 2020, 12:04:09 PM
Post by: duckmen1 on April 17, 2020, 12:11:31 PM
Post by: STIKNSTRINGBOW on April 17, 2020, 01:31:56 PM
They may have had more success with spring bear permit holders if they didn't close areas with high bear damage during the hunt. They didn't seem like they really wanted to have those permits and during the season and were using other means such as supplement feeding and contractors which made it off limits to hunt those areas.Years ago I received a message from WDFW in response to Weyerhaeusers access issues and spring permits in Lincoln unit 501 and was told they did not want "boot" hunters, but we're forced to comply or they would not get depredation permits.
So they reluctantly agreed to allow limited access, while using feed and hounds (private contractors) to control.
Strange, but true, that there is a provision in the law for permits to use bait and hounds to control damage.
However they don't/won't apply this exemption to "sport" hunting.