It's bear hound training season in Wisconsin, and hunters keep running their dogs through wolf pack activity areas - -
- - with predictable, repetitive and bloody results.
State hunting lobbies have won legislation from a compliant legislature allowing the hunters to file a claim for reimbursement from the DNR for up to $2,500 per depredated dog. From this DNR website, here is the county-by-county, incident-by-incident information from just the last two weeks:
- - with predictable, repetitive and bloody results.
State hunting lobbies have won legislation from a compliant legislature allowing the hunters to file a claim for reimbursement from the DNR for up to $2,500 per depredated dog. From this DNR website, here is the county-by-county, incident-by-incident information from just the last two weeks:
| 7/5/2016 | Sawyer | 1 dog killed (Walker, female, 6 years) |  Sawyer depredation location map [PDF] |
| 7/9/2016 | Douglas | 1 dog killed (Black and Tan, male, 6 months) |  Douglas depredation location map [PDF] |
| 7/9/2016 | Sawyer | 1 dog killed (Walker, female, 7 years) |  Sawyer depredation location map [PDF] |
| 7/16/2016 | Washburn | 1 dog killed (Bluetick, female, 5 years) |  Washburn depredation location map [PDF] |
I have always felt this is a travesty. How the bear hunters managed to line their pockets with taxpayer money is amazing. I am a bit of a hunter, but this chasing bears in sumner is a heartless and cruel practice. I heard once WI is the only state that allows this. Political payoff of course.Will never change with Walker in, and J Kleefish is insane on hunting issues, wonder what perverse new laws he will come up with. Weare again stuck for at least 2 years.
ReplyDeleteWant to get rich? 1. go to pounds and "rescue" a bunch of mutts. 2. fit them with detection collars and turn them loose where bears are known to be. 3. next day, go collect all your dead dogs. 4. turn them in and collect 2500 each.
ReplyDeleteNothing to it....
Our DNR is exactly the opposite of a responsible watchdog of our outdoors and natural resources. Under idiots Steppe and Walker, our state will be sold off piece by piece.
Sad time to be a Wisconsinite.
Hunting dog depredation payments, along with livestock and "pet" depredation payments are funded by DNR license and application fees. This program has been in place for some time. And I guarantee the owners have more than $2500 in each of those dogs. Training bear dogs in the summer is a long-time tradition in Wisconsin far exceeding Walker's tenure, not that I personally agree with it. But it does precede the exponential growth of the wolf population the last twenty+ years.
ReplyDeleteI would agree the last comment is accurate and fair. I still think its terrible. They used to have badgers fight with dogs too, usually each confrontation ended only when the badger was literally ripped in two by the dogs. In other words, some traditions should end. The dogs killed are not the result of "depredation", but of hounding bears in wolf territory.
ReplyDeleteSorry I highly doubt the $2500 dog. We have been adopting Coonhounds for the last 28 years. The amount of "thrown away" hounds in every other state than Cheeseland is sickening. Now however, since the idiots in Wisconsin passed this stupid, thoughtless law into effect there are almost no Coonhounds (Bluetick, Redtick, Walker, Black and Tan, Redbone, or Plott) available locally. It seems to me this is nothing more than a whitetrash get rich quick scheme.
ReplyDelete