(caution.. rant to follow)
Most days I walk the 1/4 mile to the mailbox. I have to be running terribly late, or be horribly busy or incredibly tired, to want to drive down and back. Last week, one of those things came up and C drove the mail down. Later in the afternoon when we went back to check the delivery, our neighbor popped out of her house, and rather excitedly, too. This was not only a rare occurrence, but the only time she has ever come out to chat. It seems she has been home recovering from a hip replacement and has had plenty of time to watch the comings and goings. And well, we or I would be all of those comings and goings…except for that day. On that particular day, just after C put the mail in the box and headed back up the hill, a mama bear and her three little cubs came across the drive in front of the mailbox, ducked under the barb wire, and ambled their way into the corn field. Dinner, I suppose. Imagine, THREE CUBS! I would have loved to have seen them, from a distance, of course. Which brings me to this… Today is September 1st, the first day of bear season. BEAR HUNTING SEASON. Not Here! Not when I can stop it. There is a particularly odious sport, if you can call it sport, around here. It involves radios, dogs wearing antennas, receivers (more antennas) sticking out the door of a pickup and a lazy ass hunter with a pistol. The idea is to have the dogs run down the bear, tree it and then stand there waiting for the "hunter" to triangulate the dog’s position. Then the "hunter" drives as close as possible, gets out of his pickup, walks over to the tree, and shoots the bear. They call it sport, and love it. Makes me sick. I hear the dogs chasing through the woods. Every now and then one happens into my yard. Even if I wasn’t so vehemently opposed to using radio dogs to hunt bear, I would still be crazed at the dogs racing through where my cats are doing their thing. One morning last week a dog did come racing through. Poor thing was thin as a rail, ribs sticking out. A sweet dog, and easy to catch. I took off the antenna and the electric collar and put them in my truck. Then I tied the dog up in the shade of a tree, with food and water and went off to find the owner. I did find him. I knew that eventually he’d follow the signal and come looking for the dog. I just decided to find him first and have a talk with him about NEVER coming back and if his dog did happen to come back he would not be able to retrieve him here again and on and on and I think he knew exactly how I felt about my bears. harrumph! And now I find that mama has THREE CUBS!
the end.
ps. I think I’ll sing a little louder these days.
Comments
22 responses to “radio dogs”
Whew, hardly a “sport” is right. And you were lucky that finding that hunter didn’t result in some kind of craziness — yes, and whistle or sing louder. And carry no food.
Ugh – surely it isn’t legal to kill a mother with cubs?
That’s horrible. A cousin of mine hunts. For food, not for sport. He is appalled at this practice. Get those ‘No Trespassing, No Hunting’ signs up pronto.
Bear hunting?! How awful! Good for you taking the collar off and chewing him out! What was his excuse for his stick thin dog btw?
No bear hunting here, but ducks and hares. It always makes me sick to watch them, I can’t imagine how there can be any joy in killing an animal.
Three cubs ? You’d better sing VERY loud !
Good for you! but also- do be careful around those fellas with guns.
Go Judy! Wouldn’t it be great if we could put the hunters in the bears’ position and arm the bears, and see how those “sportsmen” like it.
Do be careful out there, of both hunters and bears.
I was thinking about the singing.
Radio dogs. Disgusting.
Bear ‘hunting’ sounds horrific. I hope you succeed in protecting your bears, and the 3-cubs mum in particular. Best of luck.
3 cubs! I know they sometimes have twins, but she most likely adopted the third…probably from one that got “triangulated” 🙁
How many days does bear season run?
Hi Judy, I am once again saddened by the actions of some people but it balances out by actions of people like yourself…Not only the bears, deer, moose etc but those poor pups. They are just used in the pursuit. I can just picture some lazy /;[](*& sitting in his truck thinking he is joe cool….ah does it show I don’t think much of hunting, well I don’t. Want food in 2007, go to the store…sorry for the rant. Miss you…8~\
Hey one more thing. While visiting Glacier National Park years ago, we were told to wear bells.
Good for you!
That is a disgusting “sport”. Is there an overage of bears in your area that the DNR feels this killing is necessary? I hope you gave the hunter something to think about. Maybe you’ll catch sight of the family on another pass through. Although not if you’re singing of course. ; )
I so wish there were more animal loving/caring people like you in this world. I think you are wonderful and brave 🙂
I admire you!
My hero.
What a terrible thing to do to both bears and dogs! How can they live with themselves? Good for you for doing the right thing. You should have kept the poor dog and thrown the equipment in the pond.
Wow, I didn’t know they did that. It seems so terribly stupid. Good for you for using the radios to do some tracking yourself! I hope you gave him “what-for”.
That’s obscene. It’s about as “sporting” as the farm in Montana, near Clinton, where they feed beefalo (apparently that’s a bison-cattle cross) and keep them in a large fenced enclosure, and for a fee, you can bring your little gun in there and “hunt” them. It’s large enough that they can roam around, so it isn’t quite like shooting fish in a barrel, but heavens, they’re HAND FED.
Too bad you can’t create an official wildlife sanctuary. Posting No Hunting/No Tresspassing signs doesn’t seem to do a wit of good.
Have you caught of glimpse of mama and the three little bears?
Oh, don’t get me started. I just get filled with sputtering rage and can’t form a coherent sentence. Suffice to say, I’d have done the same as you! If only more could be done…