Bear-Initiative Backers Hounded By Hunters

When Kathy and Dave Richmond tried to get signatures for the 1996 Black Bear Initiative in front of Salmon’s post office, bear hunters hounded the two until they gave up and left with just three signatures.

“We might as well go,” said Kathy Richmond to her husband after an hour of arguing with the hunters Wednesday afternoon. “They turn people off before we even get a chance to talk to them.”

They are trying to get signatures to put the initiative before voters in the next general election. If passed, it would end the practice of baiting bears, hunting black bear with hounds and hunting them in the spring, when females have nursing cubs.

The sponsoring Idaho Coalition United for Bears needs 41,335 signatures of registered voters by next July.

Initiative sponsors say hunting with hounds, some fitted with radio collars, makes bear hunting too easy. The coalition says a 1991 Fish and Game study showed hound hunters make up only 5 percent of the bear hunters but get 18 percent of the bears killed.

When the bear hunters tried to discourage prospective signers, the Richmonds threatened to call the sheriff. After checking with the county attorney, the hunting advocates pursued their argument.

Half the hunters stalked newcomers, bending their ears before the Richmonds could get to them. Some whisked Dave Richmond away for a taped interview. Others stood nose-to-nose with Kathy Richmond, arguing over bear and mountain lion hunting.

Hound hunters, fearing that the bear hunting restrictions would just open an effort to strip them of more hunting rights, came armed with their own literature. Hunters “guaranteed” that if the bear initiative passes, anti-hunting elements would keep at it until all hunting privileges were banned.