Are we seeing a DECLINE in HOUND HUNTING

[bob baldwin jr]

We all know that hound hunting is NOT CHEAP . Had lunch with 2 wardens the other day .Part of the conversation was about getting NEW BLOOD into the sport . In our neck of the woods there are quite a few hunting camps , mostly on paper company property .Many are owned by families in southern Maine and New England states and are used as Week-end retreats . The wardens because they are out in the field all the time have a pretty good idea of the local hunting activity going on . They had brought up to me that in the past 10 years they felt confident in saying that we as a sport in our area have lost 50% of our hound hunters for various reasons .

Economy
Cost of hounds
Maintenence Feed ,Vet Fee's
fuel costs
Older generation not pursuing much anymore
ETC;

In my own case in the past 3 years we have lost 2 of my hound hunting buddies . One of my other Hound buddies is having both hips and a knee replaced this year . His wife and doctor have convinced him that hound hunting is over for him . He called me last night and his nephew from West Va is coming up this week-end to pick -up his 4 plotts .
I have another buddy that is in his eighties he goes out with us quite a bit but basicly sits in the truck ,talks on the 2 way radio , listens to the hounds ,and watches likely spots where the bears may cross.

Just wondering if other areas like W.VA , N.c. Mich. Wisc , and even some of the western states are seeing this trend . We have tried to get info to verify this but I can't seem to verify it .

Buddy or someone else want to Chime in on this topic .Not trying to start a pissing contest ,just trying to determine if this is Reality or not in your areas .

[Bplott]

Definately don't have that problem here in utah....u can see 1-5 dog boxes in about any town in this state....number have increased here tremendisly....and our bobcat, lion populations show it....glad they alll don't have dogs that can catch bear or we would really be in trouble.

[kordog]

i personally think hounding is on the rise with coyote dogs . there is no shortage of coyotes to run and you can do it pretty much year round which is very helpful to the working man ,and our deer herd. other kinds of hound hunting i think are suffering some . a bear houndsman so to speak pays through the ass just to run his hounds . bait,baitsites,etc etc... even the liscense is way more .bearhounds sit on the chain alot too compared to a coyote hound . gas prices are hurting us all though if the government doesnt keep that price down the country is gonna be at a standstill.i cant justify hound hunting when gas goes over 4 dollars a gallon . walking my beagle to go rabbit hunting will be about it .

[jbc67]

Definately don't have that problem here in utah....u can see 1-5 dog boxes in about any town in this state....number have increased here tremendisly....and our bobcat, lion populations show it....glad they alll don't have dogs that can catch bear or we would really be in trouble.

X2. I moved from Utah a few years ago and the competition for a lion track there is ridiculous.

[foxcat]

decline in northern cali. didnt even reach the quota this year and it wasnt do to a lack of bear. economy economy and economy. no work no gas no hunting

[bayupcrazy]

.i cant justify hound hunting when gas goes over 4 dollars a gallon .

Its 1.15 a litter! right now were im from and is 1.50 a litter in bear season once its 4 bucks a litter ill start thinking about not going out hahahah

[foxcat]

you think one could fabricate a dog box into the back of a toyota prius?

[Liz ODell]

"decline in northern cali. didnt even reach the quota this year and it wasnt do to a lack of bear. economy economy and economy. no work no gas no hunting"


I don't think its declining here at all...and there were a lot of spots in CA this year where you couldn't buy a bear track, if you were hunting a spot with bears you were lucky or liked to drive a lot. Between that and it raining and snowing every weekend the season lasted all year (no complaints here about that!). Next year will probably be back to normal shut down 2 to 4 weeks early...bleegghhhhhh.

[catguy]

sorry foxcat, gotta agree with liz, rain and an early snow that shut down just bout everything, was the reason the quota wasent filled, ask just bout everybody that bear hunts bet they caught half what they caught last year, i know i did. But there is no shortage in hound hunters here, a guy the other day asked were he could get some dogs when i was out runnin mine, i havent been doin this long but it seems like around here its on the rise.

[Glen]

In Idaho it seems like there is 2 or 3 new guys for every guy that is getting out of it!

[twispcougarhunter]

In Washington state hound hunting is pretty much dead. We lost bear, bobcat and lion with hounds in 96 due to a voter initiative from the city folks. We got back catching cougars with a drawing in 5 counties a few years ago but your chances of getting drawn are about once every 6 years. The game commission outlawed hounding for coyotes last year because it "offended the public". They don't have any pursuit seasons for anything so you can't train your dogs. All we have for hounders is coon hunting and in Washington there are very few coons in the Eastern part of the state and they are nearly all on private land. Most of the hound doggers left only have a few dogs left that haven't died from old age. There are a few lucky guys that get to hunt for the timber companys on problem bears. Most of the hound doggers have sold out or given their dogs away. It's a real sad situation. Anybody that still has dogs either go out of state to hunt or are eventually going to get in trouble sneaking around. Just makes a guy sick. What a great sport to lose.

[foxcat]

thats weird because when it started snowing early, i was out every night. i got to start my varmant season early this year it was nice. the problem was that if we hunted during the day, we would end up running a bear every time. not as often at night. actually there a pile of bear all over still. a lot of these bear dont even hibernate. the next time it snows take a drive and see how many bear tracks there are. next bear season should be great. not sure what happened with you guys, and im sure your all good houndsmen, but the people i hunt with didnt have a problem catching just about every time they went out. actually one of them caught 10 bear in 6 days it was great. dont let the snow stop ya the animals are still there.

and i definetely seen a decline in hound hunting and i like it

[fox hunter]

hunted in northern ca this year wear i used to live and catch 1-3 bear a day on average the feed didnt make and you might hunt 1-3 days to find a track in the snow but seen twice as many dog boxs as used to be

[Liz ODell]

Yeah, depending on where you live and how far you do or don't like to travel to hunt it was a CRAPPY year in some spots (obviously my 'spot' being one of them). Snow doesn't stop us any here until it stops the old toyota from rolling, but no bears is no bears...there was a spot somewhat near here with a bunch of bears but you would of had to stand in line to buy a ticket to turn loose...not my style

[NYCOYOTEHOUNDS]

We are loosing hunting land here.