Legislature OK’s spring black bear hunting with hounds; Concerted effort against wolves is also in several bills

The Montana State Legislature last week passed a bill that would allow hound hunting of black bears in the spring, with no assurances that grizzly bears and cubs will somehow be protected or that hound hunters won’t get mauled by grizzly bears, which will fight hounds.

Grizzly bears are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

It’s part of a package of legislation that Republicans claim will reduce predator numbers.

Hound hunting of bears was outlawed in 1921.

The bill also allows for training of hounds on black bears until June 15.

The bill passed 28-22 in the Senate of April 14 on a party line vote. Local legislators Sen. Carl Glimm (R-Columbia Falls) and Rep. Braxton Mitchell (R-Columbia Falls) voted for the bill.

It now awaits Gov. Greg Gianforte’s signature.

“Hound hunting black bears can result in cub abandonment, chronic stress, heat exhaustion in warm weather, and abandonment of home ranges. Grizzly bears can be found throughout western Montana and hounds will chase grizzly bears who will fight and kill hounds. This will result in hound hunters shooting grizzly bears to defend their dogs or themselves when chased grizzly bears are encountered,” opponents maintained in a letter to the Hungry Horse News. The letter was signed by dozens of wildlife professionals, including Chris Servheen, the former grizzly bear recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It also includes several former Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks officials, biologists and supervisors as well as former FWP commissioners.

The bill was sponsored by Rep. Paul Fielder, R-Thompson Falls, and was carried in the Senate by Sen. Tom McGillvray, R-Billings.

During debate on the bill recently, Sen. Brad Molnar, R-Laurel, urged his colleagues not to pass the measure. He said his view was informed by a conversation with an old friend, “a houndsman’s houndsman” who said it would spell trouble for cubs, and out of concern that it would delay delisting of grizzly bears.

“[If] you want to delist grizzly bears, you don’t run the cubs to the ground and kill them with dogs,” Molnar said in a story

by the Montana Free Press.

“The feds will take a very dim view of that. It is extremely emotional.

They’ll put it on TV, and they will kill the issue.”

Senate Bill 314 takes aim at wolves.

Co-sponsored by Glimm, the bill allows for the use of bait to attract wolves, as long as the trap or snare is 30 feet from the bait. It also allows for “spotlighting” of wolves on private lands. Spotlighting is when hunters use a bright light to spot the animals, who are typically drawn in by calls.

Their eyes light up in the light, which makes them easier to shoot.

It also allows for night vision scopes.

Critics say this will open the door to poaching of game animals at night as well. Poaching is a well documented problem in the Flathead Valley.

House Bill 224 would allowing snaring of wolves. Snares are almost always lethal and the concern with them is they can catch non-targeted species, like deer.

Another bill would make it more difficult to track who is trapping on the land. That bill strikes provisions in current law that require trap tags have the phone number of the trapper and doesn’t require private landowners to tag their traps at all.

House Bill 225 also extends the wolf trapping season from the first Monday after Thanksgiving to March 15, though the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission can adjust “the dates for specific wolf management units based on regional recommendations.”

All of the above mentioned bills await Gov. Greg Gianforte’s signature.