Issue Could Have Folks Getting Along Like Cats And Dogs

To the anti-hunting crowd that’s behind the proposed initiative that would ban bear baiting and hound hunting in Washington state, it’s unfair and unethical to attract bears with bait and run down cougars and bobcats with hounds.

Some big-game and bird hunters agree.

That’s exactly what the initiative’s sponsors want. If they can divide the hunters, they will be well on their way to winning support for their initiative.

Most bear hunters believe baiting is an ethical practice. It’s certainly not an infallible method for bagging an elusive bear. Many hunters who set out bait to attract bears fail to tag an animal. Odds are still in favor of bears.

And houndsmen will tell you that few cougars or bobcats will be taken if hunting with hounds is banned. The cats are so secretive, they’re rarely seen.

The bear baiters and houndsmen contend that their methods keep populations of bears and cats from increasing dramatically. They’re convinced that one of the reasons why the Blue Mountains elk herd has declined is that bears and cougars take many calves each spring.

The bear and cat hunters know that some fellow hunters are ambivalent over baiting and the use of hounds to tree cats.

“What they should understand,” a houndsman said in a call to this reporter, “is that they’re also vulnerable to attacks from the people who want to end hunting. If we lose, they may be next.”

Well, maybe not next. But the anti-hunters are likely to criticize other hunting practices.

The Washington Wildlife Alliance, a coalition of several organizations, including several well-known anti-hunting groups, is trying to get 225,000 voter signatures on petitions to put the initiative on next November’s ballot. If the coalition succeeds and voters ban bear baiting and hound hunting, the anti-hunters are not likely to fade away. They’re against hunting and they’ll continue to try to chip away at hunting practices.

The anti-hunting groups are perfecting their techniques for appealing to people who love animals. They twist or ignore facts that favor hunting and appeal to emotions.

They’ve been known to criticize hunters who use decoys and calls to lure ducks and geese into shotgun range, hunters who hunt deer from stands, gunners who use dogs to find and point or flush pheasants and other birds and even archers, who they claim, inflict painful, lingering wounds on deer, elk and other animals.

Is the use of decoys and calls for luring waterfowl into gun range unethical and a violation of the unwritten rules of “fair chase?” Anti-hunters have argued that it’s unfair to deceive “innocent” ducks and geese into believing they’ll be safe by responding to the calls and decoys.

Often-frustrated waterfowl hunters know, of course, that ducks and geese quickly become wary of decoys and calls from even the experts. Without decoys and calls, they know, they’d have to resort to pass or jump shooting most of the time.

And what about hunting from a deer stand or conducting drives? Is it unethical to put a temporary or permanent stand high in a tree, where unsuspecting deer can’t see a hunter? And is it ethical for an army of hunters to encircle a patch of timber and then methodically flush out the deer?

Most deer hunters either sit in one place, conduct drives or move slowly through deer habitat.

Stand hunting has become so popular in recent years that numerous companies now make portable stands. But some deer hunters, while not condemning stand hunting, sometimes are critical of the practice.

Drive hunters believe that drives are necessary to move whitetail deer in heavy cover.

Most serious upland bird hunters wouldn’t hunt pheasants, partridges, grouse and quail without pointing or flushing dogs. The birds, especially pheasants, are masters at hiding in even a few blades of grass or a small bush, let alone heavy cover.

Well-trained dogs are good retrievers that find birds that fall in heavy cover. Hunters who don’t have dogs that find fallen birds often lose wounded birds that get into cover.

People opposed to hunting have argued that it’s unfair to send well-trained dogs into cover to find terrified birds.

The anti-hunters know Washington’s voters are highly unlikely to ban the use of calls and decoys for deceiving waterfowl, use of dogs to hunt birds, stand hunting for deer and bow-and-arrow hunting. However, they’ll continue criticizing those practices, hoping to win more friends.

Meanwhile, bear and cat hunters will be hoping their their fellow hunters will support them next year.

You can contact Fenton Roskelley by voice mail at 459-5577, extension 3814.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Fenton Roskelley The Spokesman-Review