Registered: Dec 2008
Location: Hallstead, P.A.
Posts: 165

Thanks, JR, maybe i'll try that ... ncplotts and jeff g, i need to find out how to contact the pgc commisioners for district 3 and 5, i'm also thinking about harrisburg apr. 20. i could take a day off, no prob there, i just never was a public speaker. but maybe i'll have to just put that behind me and just do it, if i'm well prepared how bad could it be....jsb

__________________
eternal vigilance is the price of freedom

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Mar 2008
Location: P.A.
Posts: 242

btt

__________________
North Country Plotts

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Mar 2008
Location: P.A.
Posts: 242

John, were you able to find out who the reps were for dist. 3 and 5 ? Sorry I haven't been much help lately, I screwed up my shoulder and have been dealing with doctors offices . I get an mri on wed. and hopefully don't need surgery. Barring any surgery, I am hoping to attend the NY Houndsman banquet on the 28th and find out all I can on how their system works and see if they have any advice on how to convince our officials to have at least a training season. I haven't sent any pics as all of my pups have sold, however, if you are still thinking about a Plott, a friend of mine is planning a real good cross. These pups would be full littermates to my Scout and another friends Spook dog.. Both dogs are 13 months old, Scout I ran on bobcats this winter and he has nose to spare, best young prospect I've had in a while. Thats why I wanted pups out of him , just in case. Spook has been in on 47 coyote kills this winter in Canada. Most of the 47 were caught and killed by the dogs. I will know more about this cross after the NY banquet. Hopefully my wife will have some time to send out a few pics of the dogs as I'm not good at that. Talk to you soon, Bill
.

__________________
North Country Plotts

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Dec 2008
Location: Hallstead, P.A.
Posts: 165

Hey Bill, hope you shoulder heals with out surgery or anything, i know shoulder injuries seem to take forever to heal... i'm covering for a guy at work who's having surgery on his shoulder and i've blown mine out a couple times also......i crossed my redtick female with cold creek bud, so i kind of put other puppies out of my mind,,,,, but its been 30 days and my female isn't showing yet, maybe it didn't take? i was counting on a new puppy to train for the fall so we'll see what happens i guess.
district 3 is russel schleiden, and he's very well liked.
district 5 is tom boop and he isn't.
while commisioners set policy, they still have to listen to the legislators. so its the legislators who have all the clout, if that makes any sense to you, i'm just learning this myself, its the legislators who would have to get wind of this idea, and it would help if we had some backing.

__________________
eternal vigilance is the price of freedom

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Mar 2008
Location: P.A.
Posts: 242

John, my shoulder has been getting better, I'm hopeful it won't need surgery, because I've heard it takes forever to heal. The legislators, is that state reps, senators, congressmen ? I was thinking about backing. The more organizations we can get behind us, the better. I know that Cas is a member of the PA fox and coyote hunters, if we could get their support, the PA nite hunters, Unified Sportsmen of PA, any houndsmans groups it would help. I am going to see what kind of help the NY houndsman will give us when I attend their banquet, and I thought about calling a few folks from other state houndsman groups and trying to round up some support from them. Hopefully we can drum up enough support to sway our legislature, it sure can't hurt to try. Good luck with your pups, I wouldn't be too concerned yet, my last 2 litters they didn't start showing until 40 some days in, and each carried 10 pups. Talk to you soon, Bill

__________________
North Country Plotts

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Dec 2008
Location: Hallstead, P.A.
Posts: 165

I take legislators to mean, state reps,... I kind of stalled on this when my computer went down...I gotta get all my stuff together and get back to it.....the us sportsmans alliance has some good info that may be of some help.....jsb

__________________
eternal vigilance is the price of freedom

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Jun 2003
Location:
Posts: 4312

quote:

---

Originally posted by Rem700
I take legislators to mean, state reps,... I kind of stalled on this when my computer went down...I gotta get all my stuff together and get back to it.....the us sportsmans alliance has some good info that may be of some help.....jsb

---

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Apr 2006
Location: emporium,Pennsylvania
Posts: 205

sorry I haven't help with this I've been doing maple syurp and I've running everynight doin that stuff. I'm going to call congressman tompson office tommorow and ask about this.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Mar 2004
Location: tioga co.pa
Posts: 1728

Put me down for Bearhounding with my Blues They would really hone one

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Dec 2008
Location: Hallstead, P.A.
Posts: 165

Thanks for all your help guys, i emailed and snail mailed all the state reps from all the north central counties this past weekend, and we'll see what happens, i started this just to plant the idea and see how far we could take it, the interest is there for sure, so we'll see what happens, i'm out of ideas......jsb

__________________
eternal vigilance is the price of freedom

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Mar 2008
Location: P.A.
Posts: 242

Sorry I haven't been on here in a while, I had surgery on my shoulder and haven't been able to accomplish very much. If anyone has any updates or new ideas,please share so we can keep this moving forward. Thanks, Bill

__________________
North Country Plotts

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Dec 2008
Location: Hallstead, P.A.
Posts: 165

This is a copy of the reply i got from our rep


I'm trying to think of what to try next...jsb

__________________
eternal vigilance is the price of freedom

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Oct 2006
Location: rochester,ny
Posts: 388

i hope you told them that hound hunters are alot more selective than non-hound hunters. also the take wouldn`t be to great as there are not all that many guys out there that would actullay pursue bears with hounds. it`s the same thing here in ny, all the non-hound hunters think we`ll kill all the bear,so they try to block it all the can. if they had a limited # of tags, it would be a limited # of bears taken.

__________________
www.kcshounds.com/index.php

585-216-5113

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Mar 2008
Location: P.A.
Posts: 242

Hey Matt, this is Bill Gray, we met when you were at Sinclairville Southern Tier CHA on the 18th of Apr. I was the guy with my arm in a weird looking sling. We're having a BS,WR,FT , and NH on the 16th of May, it's a benefit for the Hunt of a Lifetime foundation. Entry deadlines are 3 for the show, 5 for the water and field trials and 8 for the hunt. Hope to see you there and talk some more about bear hunting, we need all the ideas we can get. There is a bunch of people in this state that assume if they allow hound hunting, the bears will be slaughtered off. I would rather see guys letting the small bears live to run another day than all the cubs that get shot in our current 3 day season. They dont understand that houndsman can be extremely selective on which bears they decide to take. Well, hope to see you there, Bill

__________________
North Country Plotts

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Sep 2003
Location: Central PA
Posts: 363

If you get a petition I will sign it. I would love a hound season and it would give me an excuse to get some hounds. I see nothing wrong with a hound season with size limits. I hate to see all those cubs at the weigh stations and I am with the earlier post this is going to bite us in the butt someday. I thought the last 2 years we would start to see a drop in the bear kill because of so many cubs being shot. I am sure we will see a drop soon.

__________________
GOD BLESS

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Sep 2003
Location: Central PA
Posts: 363

I know none of us want to pay more money but how about a permit purchased to be able to hunt bear with hounds. A lot of the objections would be that out of state hunters would be taking PA bears. Maybe make it residents only and it would be easier for the public to bite off. Also if the season didn't interfere with other outdoor activities or hunting seasons it would be more accepted. I say after deer rifle season and before the second muzzleloader season and it would very minimally affect any other outdoor activity. The mountains don't have many hunters in it at this time and the ones that are out there will be more than welcome to share it with the bear hunters. Could also sell it to them as an effective way to reduce the populations in heavy bear populated areas with bear problems.

I would say on of the biggest hurdles is the fact that other hunters would be out there trying to shoot the bear your dogs are running and the game commission doesn't want to deal with that issue. If there was a seperate permit and season this would eliminate that. Permit holders should have to have a written statement that they are affiliated with a particular group of hound hunters when they purchase a permit or that they themselves posess bear hounds. Maybe hound owners would have to register as bear hound owners for a small fee.

I know some of the ideas mean money but that is what the game commission understands and any change does require more time and money on their part.

__________________
GOD BLESS

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Dec 2008
Location: Hallstead, P.A.
Posts: 165

I find it hard to believe that with the bear hunting here in P.A. and the number of bear hunters in P.A., we don't have a Bear Hunters Association. Is there anyone out there with the time and know-how that might be interested....jsb

__________________
eternal vigilance is the price of freedom

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Jan 2007
Location: Vermont
Posts: 161

I would say on of the biggest hurdles is the fact that other hunters would be out there trying to shoot the bear your dogs are running and the game commission doesn't want to deal with that issue. If there was a seperate permit and season this would eliminate that. Permit holders should have to have a written statement that they are affiliated with a particular group of hound hunters when they purchase a permit or that they themselves posess bear hounds. Maybe hound owners would have to register as bear hound owners for a small fee.




Here in Vermont we pay a $50 dollar fee to run our hounds on bear. Fish and wildlife sends us a bearhound permit every year with sub permitee cards to pass out to who ever hunts with me. They must have this card on themselves at all times during the hunt.Any body else caught shooting the bear or interfering would get charged with interfering in a legal hunt.Our season runs from sept 1 to second week in november we have partridge hunters bow deer hunters all in the woods during our bear season.

__________________
www.mountainwalkerkennels.com

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Sep 2006
Location: central PA
Posts: 11

maybe we should talk to the pa night hunters and see if they could help

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Apr 2009
Location:
Posts: 251

Why don't some of you bear hunters in PA start a Bear Hunters Association there? I think you would have better luck at getting a hound hunting season if you presented your ideas as a organized group.Make a email list of everyone who joined it and send out updates as you have them.You could even write up a suggested email to be sent to your state reps.Send it out to your members and then they copy it and send it on to their rep for their area of the state.
Thats what a gun rights group in va that I belong to does.It seems to work rather well.

__________________
If you can't run with the big dawgs keep your puppy a$$ on the porch.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Mar 2008
Location: P.A.
Posts: 242

Phantom, I think a bear hunters association would be a great idea or perhaps a unified state houndsmans group that helps protect the rights and interests of all houndsman, no matter what it is that you hunt. The animal rights fanatics are getting stronger and if we plan on enjoying our respective sports, then we as beaglers, bird hunters, bear ,coon,fox ,coyote, cat hunters all need to help each other out. I currently do not belong to the PA nite hunters as I dont just hunt coons , I also run coyotes and bobcats and would LOVE to see my Plotts treed on a big bear !!! I am a member of the NY Houndsman and would like to see us brought together as houndsman like they are in NY and some other states. - Bill Gray

__________________
North Country Plotts

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Dec 2008
Location: Hallstead, P.A.
Posts: 165

ncplotts, thats the interest i'm trying to generate, phantom has a good post there about starting an e-mail list of interested hound hunters, you realize florida has a bear hunters association and you can't bear hunt in florida, they are dedicated to the effort of getting their bear season back. I'm going to join the Bear hunters rights coalition and the pa nite hunters, i understand the fox and coyote hunters association is on really good standing with tina pickett, their local rep, lets put an e-mail list together and start relaying up-dates between interested people....when you have the time, p.m. me and we'll go over some ideas....jsb

__________________
eternal vigilance is the price of freedom

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Mar 2008
Location: P.A.
Posts: 242

John, I sent you a pm , Bill

__________________
North Country Plotts

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Feb 2006
Location: Moscow, PA
Posts: 62

Bill, John, Lee and others,
I was part of this post a while back and mentioned getting an effort together to approach this. I don't think now is the right time and I don't believe that there is enough info together or the right support or backing from the right people.

I do however agree that an important thing is to gather a list of interested hunters. I've had a few very recent conversations with various people and if a few things develop, it may soon be time to really get the ball rolling.

I'll post as I hear more or contact each of you individually.

Cas

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Mar 2008
Location: P.A.
Posts: 242

Thursday June 18th, 2009 Sitting on the front porch of my home about 7 pm with my wife and son when a 500+ pound bear came out my neighbor's driveway, crossed RT 27 and went up through the 50 yards of woods that separates my backyard from my other neighbors. He was about 25 yds from the 6 adult and 2 Plott pups. Talk about lighting up the neighborhood!! They didn't quiet down for about 5 hours. I would have loved to turned them all loose, but this bear was heading toward town,so even if we were allowed to, it probably wouldn't have been a great idea. In the 10 years we've lived here, this is the 9th bear I've seen, and by far the biggest. Naturally, we didn't have the camera handy.

__________________
North Country Plotts

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged