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Runnin Bear Passed in KY!!!!

Hunters in Ky. can chase bears with dogs

By ROGER ALFORD — Associated Press

Posted: 1:54pm on Mar 2, 2012; Modified: 5:45pm on Mar 2, 2012


FRANKFORT, Ky. — Hunters will be allowed to chase black bears with dogs in Kentucky for a week late this year but they can't shoot them when they get them cornered.

The Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Commission rejected a proposal Friday to allow the hunters, known as houndsmen, to kill bears when their dogs chase them up trees or bay them on the ground. Hunters are allowed to shoot bears during a three-day season in December if they are not using dogs.

The commissioners will allow houndsmen to chase bears with their dogs from Dec. 17-23. This compromise lets the hunters train their dogs so they can take them to neighboring states to hunt bears.

Kentucky now is among fewer than 20 states - including Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia - that allow hunters to chase bears with dogs.

Doug Morgan, chairman of the Kentucky Houndsmen Association's political action committee, said he was disappointed he won't be able to chase bears with his dogs and shoot them in Kentucky.

"I wouldn't criticize the commission," Morgan said. "We have a chase season, at least, and that's a positive thing. That was a good compromise that the commission came up with. It took us two years to get this chase season with dogs, and we'll just keep working to expand that."

The Humane Society of the United States has said chasing bears with hounds is inhumane and the group has criticized hunters who shoot bears.

The Kentucky Houndsmen Association had argued that using dogs to hunt bears would instill a fear of humans in some of the more brazen bruins in the state's mountain region.

More than a century ago, bears thrived in Kentucky's mountain region, but over-hunting and habitat loss led to their disappearance. Over the past 20 years, they have ventured back into Kentucky from other states.

The Humane Society had called for the wildlife commission to reject the proposal to allow "hounding" bears, calling it "unsporting to chase down animals with packs of dogs."

Pamela Rogers, the Humane Society's Kentucky director, said the organization would have preferred that the wildlife commission not to allow even a brief chase season.

"Kentucky has a small, fragile bear population, and allowing practices like chasing down bears with dogs just sends the message that cruel recreational opportunities are favored over responsible wildlife management," Rogers said.

For some five years, the hunters have been pressing state wildlife officials to approve a "chase" season for bears in the state's Appalachian region. There, some of the animals have been raiding garbage cans, eating from back porch pet food bowls, and, in one instance, mauling a tourist in the Red River Gorge.

The wildlife commission also voted down a proposal to allow houndsmen to chase bears in August after the Human Society complained that could put young cubs at risk.

Kentucky has allowed a two-day quota bear hunting season with guns eastern Kentucky for the past two years. The wildlife commission voted Friday to extend that season to three days. The maximum number of bears that could be killed will remain 10.

Last year, hunters got only four.

State Rep. Tommy Turner, co-chairman of the House Sportsmen's Caucus, said Friday he was shocked by the commission's vote after being assured members were going to approve the August chase season and the December kill season for the houndsmen.

"We had a compromise that everybody had agreed to, but evidently some people can't keep their word," Turner said.

the link, http://www.kentucky.com/2012/03/02/...e-to-chase.html

Please check out the Houndsmen's New website and their Facebook page.

http://kyhoundsmen.com/Welcome.html

https://www.facebook.com/KyHoundsmen

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Jeremiah CL Johnson
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Kentucky Houndsmen Association Inc.
Kentucky Houndsmen Association Foundation for Sportsman Rights Inc.
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KHA Website

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__________________
"A thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than a college education."
Theodore Roosevelt

Jeremiah CL Johnson
My Email
Johnson Branch Treeing Walkers Est. 1980



Kentucky Houndsmen Association Inc.
Kentucky Houndsmen Association Foundation for Sportsman Rights Inc.
"Dedicated to protecting the heritage of Kentucky Houndsmen"
KHA Website

Join the NRA