20th hound - - Price County's 2nd in 4 days - - in fatal wolf encounter

Another day, another dead Plott hound, another twisted, On Wisconsin lottery ticket to be cashed. 

The 20th hunting hound lost since the first week of July as Wisconsin hunters let their GPS-collared dogs off-leash to chase bears has been reported by the DNR (see map below).

And when wolves in their territory kill the smaller, vulnerable hounds, the state steps in with a $2,500 reimbursement. 

So we're about half-way to the 2016 record slaughter of 41 hounds, and the bear hunting season when GPS-collared hounds are running free through wolf country has weeks to go.

Hound owners are eligible for the state reimbursement even if they released the dog into known wolf territory, or near bait which attracts both bears and wolves, or if the hound owner is a scofflaw, a repeat reimbursement collector, and so on.

This only-in-Wisconsin blood sport will continue through the end of October.

09/10/2019

Price

1 Hunting dog killed (Plott, 8-year old female)

Price depredation location map [PDF]

This is what a Plott hound looks like before it gets thrown to the wolves..

Plott hound

Until the state stops paying them $2,500 for each off-leash bear-chasing hound so lost, hunting dog owners in Wisconsin won't stop releasing their animals to chase wildlife - - wolves are still federally-protected, though social media carries reports of wolf poaching under the 'shoot shovel and shut' mantra - - and be overpowered and killed by the larger, pack-organized and dominant predators.

This only-in-Wisconsin payment system after wolf-hound fighting has been in place since 1985.

Here is a DNR website with minimal information about the hound deaths. 

Bear-chasing-treeing-and-shooting season began Wednesday, September 4.