Title
Hunter effort and success rates of hunting bears with hounds in Virginia
Author(s)
Inman, KH; Vaughan, MR
Published
2002
Publisher
Ursus
Abstract
Hunting black bears (Ursus americanus) with hounds is viewed by many as unethical, and in 5 of 7 states where the issue was brought to public ballot, bear hunting with the use of hounds was closed. In Virginia, hunting bears with hounds is traditional and the favored method of hunting. We documented hunting effort and success using 3 survey methods. We accompanied houndsmen on 190 hunts during training and firearm seasons. We documented 241 hunts using mail surveys and we documented 828 hunts using hunter diaries. Virginia's houndsmen chased bears in <= 74% of hunts and harvested bears in <= 17% of hunts. Depending on survey method, bears were treed in 24-44% of hunts. Both the number of houndsmen and hounds ranged from 8-11/party and chases lasted 2-5 hours. Houndsmen exerted 8 hours of effort/hunt, although hounds actively hunted only half as many hours (4.2 hrs/hunt), Houndsmen were able to ascertain the gender of 67% of treed bears. Field surveys were useful, as they gave biologists first-hand knowledge of this method of hunting and removed some of the bias associated with hunter recall. Although the hunter diary and mail survey contained recall bias, they provided larger sample sizes and allowed us to survey large geographic regions. The mail survey received a higher response rate than the hunter diary; however, success rates documented in field surveys and the hunter diary were more consistent than in the mail survey.
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PUB10970