@IdahoNick is a great spokesman for hound hunters, the exact opposite of the groups I met when two different New Mexico elk hunts were impacted by bear hunters and their hounds. It was a cluster. We could hear trucks and dogs down below. Wasn't too long and the woods were full of barking hounds. Not sure if that impacted the elk we had seen in the area, but on both occasions, no elk were spotted when the bear hunting houndsmen were there.
That wasn't the real rub, as I've had to accommodate my hunts to respect the uses of a lot of different public land users; hikers, wood cutters, mountain bikers, etc. All comes with public lands being open to all of us.
The rub came with the first group being rather obnoxious and almost running us over as we walked down a road that had been gated. They were from out of state, as were we. I wasn't took keen on them driving around a gate, so as they drove past I asked them if they knew that this road was closed, to which they rambled on some BS about the "Forest Circus" and their opinion that roads shouldn't be closed. Not a good impression of bear hunting houndsmen, though I know a lot of lion hunting houndsmen in Montana. The second year was a similar outcome on that day's elk hunt, though I didn't have an encounter on a closed road.
On that second hunt, I did talk to some NM elk hunters at the trail head about the bear hunters. They commented that they are inundated with out-of-state houndsmen chasing bears. I would be interested to know if
@Valley1320 has seen a lot of non-resident bear houndsmen in New Mexico, as was stated by the locals I talked to and pitched camp with on those hunts.
NM is mostly OTC for bear, all fall seasons, and that they are a place where guys with coon hounds, lion hounds, and whatever other houndsmen come to chase bears. This was northern NM. The locals seem to be getting fed up with the huge increase in non-resident bear hunting houndsmen coming during elk hunting seasons.
This was a few years back. Not sure if much has changed since then. I've not encountered bear hunting houndsmen in western or central NM.
Given how many hunters are on the Montana elk woods during elk season, a number far higher than NM, I am sure the experiences I had in NM will be repeated many times over during MT elk seasons, even if there are not many bear hunting houndsmen. At least if the hound hunting for bears is allowed as a fall hunt.
Some would say that it is selfish of elk hunters to not want bear hunting houndsmen in the woods with them in elk season. Maybe it is. From those experiences I mention, it seems that hound hunting for bears has more impact on the other hunters in the woods, than the other way around.
I admit to not being excited about this idea. Maybe I would get used to it and it would be no big deal.
I do know that if we are chasing bears with hounds (or baiting) without specific accommodations in known grizzly areas, we are serving up some home run pitches for the folks who want to continue using grizzlies as their cash cow. If this passes, I'll start a pool of how long it will be before use of hounds is mentioned in a lawsuit by the drive by litigators.
That said, we've been down this road before and it was voted down. We now have a freshman legislator who maybe he thinks we don't know what is best for ourselves.
