When I was about 12 years old I bought one hound dog from guy in Port Orchard, my parents helped pay for two more. My goal at that time was to train them to hunt bears. It wasn't long after that that the ban on hounds was passed. We kept the dogs and would run them on coons, eventually some *censored* bag stole one of our best dogs. We found out who it was and they claimed the dog ran away from them on a walk...ok maybe. They were good dogs but never lived up to their potential both lived good lives and I was sad to see them go. We ended up purchasing two more hounds about 6 years ago two redbones from a guy in the Tacoma area. We almost bought one from Del Cameron...read his book it teaches you how to raise and train how dogs which is almost impossible. Anyways they are good dogs but once again still waiting for the legislation to change.
Every time we go look for elk in the cascades we find loads of cougar tracks. During the modern rifle hunt we were closing in a group of elk in some old reprod. When we walked out along the logging road to circle around these elk two sets of cougar tracks were walking in our footsteps in the snow. In fact one cougar had attacked an elk possible calf and I believe mortally wounded this calf. We tracked them for about a mile and gave up. It wouldn't have been legal for us to take the elk anyways; I mean how could we have explained that to a game warden. Sure sure yeah a cougar killed the elk, RIGHT. Needless to say I have gone back several times to scout elk and every time we found multiple sets of cougar tracks. It's getting old. Why was this legislation passed anyways most of the liberal wieners don't understand wildlife to begin with, they never leave the cities. Why was the decision put in their hands, when a competent wildlife biologist or hunter would have sufficed. They haven't seen the damage predators’ cause and the need for management. Just saying.