Bear Hunting With Tree Switch Collars And GPS Collars on Hounds

December 9, 2010

Question:I heard the law prohibiting tree switches and GPS collars is being repealed in California. Can I hunt bear this year with tree switch collars and GPS collars on my hounds? (Marcy Jensen)

Answer: No, the law has not changed and it is illegal to use treeing switches and/or GPS collars on your hounds when taking any mammals in California.

I thought I had read that bear-hunting with hounds had been banned in California. How one can even call that hunting is beyond me.

I thought I had read that bear-hunting with hounds had been banned in California. How one can even call that hunting is beyond me.

Hunting bear with dogs is now prohibited. 

What is so hard to understand about using dogs to pursue and tree a bear?  Just because you don't understand something, that doesn't mean that it doesn't make sense. Just because you don't like something doesn't mean that it isn't good.

The ban is just another step by anti hunting and fishing groups to restrict our rights. It's California nuttery.

Doesn't seem sporting, that's all. The same as why we can't use tanks for abs. It makes it too easy.

I've been searching the net for half an hour and can't find the article I am looking for. It did a comparison of hunter hours, size of kill, sex of kill, and a few other stats from before and after dogs were banned. Hunters spend less time in the field per successful kill now. Harvest numbers are down by 50%. Participation is way down. The hunters that remain are far less discriminate because they don't have the opportunity to select like they once did.

As for the sporting aspect, training dogs to tree a bear and not run off and get lost is not as easy as you think it is.

Well, snagging salmon isn't terribly easy, but it is illegal. Why? Because it's unethical/unsporting. (I've watched people do it in Alaska with limited success.) That basically boils down to someone's opinion at some time. But that's how most laws are made. I guess we wouldn't be truly free unless there were no laws.

Do the dogs know not to attack cubs or separate families of bears?

To me, this does NOT look like a two-sided contest:

Snagging salmon and steelhead is still totally standard around here. They call it "flossing". I've never seen f&g do anything about it.

Bear hunting isn't a two sided affair. Neither is fishing, unless you are crazy enough to fish in a small plastic tub in white shark infested waters, but that's hardly a legal requirement for taking fish.

There's a pretty broad spectrum when it comes to sporting hunts. Some hunts are more "sporting" than others in my opinion. Boat fishing vs kayak fishing. Freediving vs SCUBA. Dogs or no dogs.

I guess my heart breaks just a little for an intelligent animal like a bear being chased relentlessly by angry dogs, then shot out of a tree like that. That probably makes me less of a man, or maybe more of one.

There's a pretty broad spectrum when it comes to sporting hunts. Some hunts are more "sporting" than others in my opinion. Boat fishing vs kayak fishing. Freediving vs SCUBA. Dogs or no dogs.

...

I think we all agree on this point. The question is where to draw the line and say no, that's not sufficiently sporting, you can't do that. If you do you will be subject to arrest, jail time, fines, forfeiture and loss of privileges and rights.

I'm not comfortable moving that line an inch in any direction without good hard science to justify it.

There's a pretty broad spectrum when it comes to sporting hunts. Some hunts are more "sporting" than others in my opinion. Boat fishing vs kayak fishing. Freediving vs SCUBA. Dogs or no dogs.

...

I think we all agree on this point. The question is where to draw the line and say no, that's not sufficiently sporting, you can't do that. If you do you will be subject to arrest, jail time, fines, forfeiture and loss of privileges and rights.

I'm not comfortable moving that line an inch in any direction without good hard science to justify it.

But how do you apply science to something that is basically based on opinion? Why does it matter if I take my 18 abs per year on SCUBA or freediving? Because DFW feels it's too easy to get them on SCUBA.

Many laws are based on opinion, not science. Bullfighting, dog-fighting, fois-gras: all regulated based on public opinions.

There is and should be room for some degree of animal sympathy in the world, IMO.

Growing up and when I first started hunting big game at 12, my dad had a colleage who was a houndsmen who hunted bear with his whole family.  We were fortunate to become friends with this houndsmen and experience the whole hunting with hounds hunt. Let me just say after years of tagging along with this hounddmen, bear hunting even with hounds is still not as easy as it seems. We used to hunt the foresthill and georgetown areas in very thick and steep terrains. Sure, hunting with hounds dramatically increased your odds of treeing a bear, but by no means was It gauranteed or even easy. I would say at least half the hunts ive been on we wouldnt even get to see the bear becaus :smt009e either the dogs got tired, or the bear would jump tree before we even got there. And even if we shot one, most times it was a pain and hardwork to get that bear out, especially out of canyon. There was more then a few times we wouldnt get back to the truck till after dark. Talk about a lonng physical day and hunt.
So with first hand experience hunting with hounds, let me just say you wouldnt know until you did it. Even with hounds, hunters were barely making any difference in the bear

 Is it ethical to use hounds, that is open to opinion.
Without education, it may sound too easy, but in reality it is more difficult than one may know.
Think about a few scenarios;
A guy in a kayak spends 8 hours drifting for a halibut, than a free diver jumps in and comes up with a halibut with a spear through its head. To the angler, it was to easy for the diver, so it appears unsportsmanlike.
Now try this;
A man on a party boat spends $100 for a boat ride and catches 10 13" blues, than a guy in a kayak paddles a little closer to the kelp or rocks and catches a couple 30"+ Lings, a 25" cabby and a nice stringer of vermilion. The guy on the boat may argue that the kayak has an unfair advantage.
Until you have actually experienced both sides of the fence, how can you say either is ethical or "easy"?
Unfortunately too many decisions are based on opinions.