Bear Hunting

No, not the kind you'd find wearing chaps and a leather harness at the Eagle that can be lured with a "woof." The four legged, Yogi variety.

The LTR and I witnessed bear hunting during our trip to the mountains, and we were appalled.

Keep in mind, we both come from hunting traditions in our families and are not opposed to hunting. But this type of bear hunting is disgusting.

It's done with dogs. And radios. And hunters sitting in trucks until the game is cornered.

Each hunter sets bait ("breads, cereals, jams, and other sweets" according to one bear hunting Web site).

Then they loose the dogs (up to six per hunter, according to one online source, although I did not witness that many at once and the size of the team may vary state to state).

The dogs root out the bears, then chase it up a tree. The hunter then shoots the bear with a high powered rifle.

And what are the hunters doing while the dogs are ganging up on the bear? Again, according to a bear hunting Web site, the hunters are out in the woods with the dogs...but I didn't see a single bear hunter in the woods...but I did see them sitting in their pickup trucks at the trailheads, monitoring their dogs through the radio collars they have on their necks.

Look, if my family's subsistence depended on my hunting skills, damn straight I'd use dogs and radio technology to bring the food home.

But they call this a "sport."

But in my view, there's no sport in this.

The video below shows dogs treeing a bear. There is no kill shot. It's possible the hunters in this video let the bear, which appears to be a cub, go. But it gives you an idea of the "sport."