Bear hunters want longer chase season in va

[WckedMidas]

Bear hunters want longer chase season

By Bill Cochran
ROANOKE.COM COLUMNIST


A proposal to open the bear hound training season two weeks earlier attracted a number of bear hunters to a Department of Game and Inland Fisheries’ public hearing in Roanoke last week. The hunters weren’t there to express joy over getting extra chase days. They vented disappointment that they didn’t get more.


The proposal under consideration would have the season open the second Saturday in August, rather than the current last Saturday in August. The hunters said they had been told that the original proposal would have established an Aug. 1 opening date, and that’s what they wanted.


They chastised the U.S. Forest Service, blaming it for the less lucrative opening.


The original proposal did recommend an Aug. 1 opening, but forest service officials didn’t buy into that.


During the current chase season there is vandalism to gates and illegal use of closed roads, said John Bellemore, forest ecology leader for the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests. Bellemore went along with the two-week addition, but on a trail basis during which time the activities of bear hunters would be monitored by forest officials, the DGIF and the Virginia Bear Hunters Association.


“Bear hunters are being treated like a bunch of crooks,” said one bear hunters at the Roanoke meeting.


“We don’t want to be your adversary,” said Jim Bowman, a DGIF biologist. “What we want to be is working with you people.”


The proposal was a compromise worked out with the DGIF, the forest service and the Virginia Bear Hunters Association, said Bob Ellis, assistant chief of the DGIF wildlife division.


“It is a pretty big step, two extra weeks,” said Dave Steffen, a DGIF biologist. “Not just everyone loves bear hunting and bear hunters. If we push it too fast we may be in trouble.”


BILL




BILL

 

[joel]

they should leave bear hunters alone. i personally don't hunt, but i live in a area greatly populated by bear. I cannot stand those a**hole animal activists that stand around with their stupid signs. most of them live in cities and have no idea what it is like to live with bear in our area. you constantly have to watch your back while taking the garbage out at night, you never know if your dog is gonna get . and you constantly have to worry about your children when they go out to play. Let them have a bear hunt. i'm not saying slaughter all the bear, but simply let the hunters take out a few to control the populations. And i know they have been here for hundreds of years before us, But we are here now.

 

[sandtiger]

they should leave bear hunters alone. i personally don't hunt, but i live in a area greatly populated by bear. I cannot stand those a**hole animal activists that stand around with their stupid signs. most of them live in cities and have no idea what it is like to live with bear in our area. you constantly have to watch your back while taking the garbage out at night, you never know if your dog is gonna get . and you constantly have to worry about your children when they go out to play. Let them have a bear hunt. i'm not saying slaughter all the bear, but simply let the hunters take out a few to control the populations. And i know they have been here for hundreds of years before us, But we are here now.

Hello, I am a human being (Homo sapian), I would like to welcome myself and my species to the food chain, I like to create the illusion I am on top so when my predators come around I salughter them and make them look bad. My population is out of control and we will probably die off from a massive wave of disease or from living in our own filth...we won't be here long be we will sure as hell make our short time here well known.

 

[dodgefreak8]

Hello, I am a human being (Homo sapian), I would like to welcome myself and my species to the food chain, I like to create the illusion I am on top so when my predators come around I salughter them and make them look bad. My population is out of control and we will probably die off from a massive wave of disease or from living in our own filth...we won't be here long be we will sure as hell make our short time here well known.

and I live in a big house and enjoy all of the modern technology that has taken over the bears habitat thus forcing them into cities for food and space.

bottom line people; humans have screwed up the world for everyone and thing on it.. there is nothing that we will ever do about it so we have to deal with it.. bears are in no means threatened and are out populating the space that we have left for them. therefore for the protection of certain animals their popultations have to be controled. I know that not everyone likes this but anyone that thinks differently is not living in the real world. unless you live in a tree and use no modern technology you are contributing to the problem and shouldn't critisize those of us that do our part protecting the wildlife we love to pursue. by the way I leave for muzzleloader elk season tomarrow

 

[dodgefreak8]

oh and when a bear designs a weapon that can kill me while I am holding a high powered rifle I am on top of the food chain.

 

[sandtiger]

Typical cocky human attitude. I never said anything bad about bear hunting...hunt all the bear you want for all I care. Joal's post is what got to me.

 

[dodgefreak8]

there's nothing cocky about deffending somthing that your passionate about. I was simply using the bears as an example.. I am sorry that you are dissapointed with being human.

 

[seighten]

haha, very interesting viewpoints.... i hear ya about the worrying about your dogs and children and such... if ya are that worried, MOVE!!! in case most of you have "forgotten" we have, by and large, encroached on bears territories, not the other way around!!

until the day comes where bear "hunters" chase/pursue their prey with out hounds, with out baiting, without anything but their skills... ya GET NO sympathies from me...!!

will say it till i am "blue in the face".. we humans ARE NOT the only things trying to eke out a living on this planet!! WISE UP!!

 

[dodgefreak8]

no hound hunting here in colorado but if the bears get bad the division of wildlife just starts randomly shooting them to thin them out. so whats the difference if someone uses hounds to up there chances.. and another thing until you have trained a hound and hunted a bear with them you have no room to critisize how much SKILL it actually takes.. the hounds don't always mean a bear in the bag.. the hound is just a tool just like the weapon they shoot them with. not using bait is the same thing. if your a fisherman try doing it without some kind of attractant. impossible. just another tool that our superior brain has harnessed for our use.

 

[dodgefreak8]

people need to understand the word pest. if you have ever smacked a fly or a roach you have experienced a pest. you have encroached on its home and killed it for bothering you.. people just have a hard time doing the same thing to somthing they find cute and can relate to more.. like I said before we encroached everyone knows that but these animals are pests and have to be treated accordingly.. if the fly stays out of your surroundings he won't get smashed..