STOP proposed GPS Hound Hunting of Deer in California

      Sign the petition as soon as possible.  Go to the website below or click here: 

https://www.change.org/p/california-fish-and-game-commission-stop-gps-hound-hunting-of-deer-in-california 

Scroll down for the original petition, followed by the first Update, on 2/12/16.

Second petition update, from 3/24/16:

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Petition to:  California Fish and Game Commission

       Hound hunting of deer is what hunters may label it, but having a pack of hounds run a deer to the ground can hardly be called ethical hunting. The lives of targeted and non-targeted wildlife are disrupted and uprooted when a pack of hounds comes crashing though the brush near their secluded resting places. They flee in fear, become exposed, and are chased—often only to be mauled or killed by the hounds.
       Currently, houndsmen may use radio telemetry collars to track the whereabouts of their hounds after they release them in the wild. However, the California Fish and Game Commission is considering an amendment to Mammal Hunting Code of Regulation 265 to allow GPS collars on hounds while hunting deer, pigs and for training. Houndsmen claim GPS collars will allow faster "finding" of lost dogs and allow faster intervention (when hounds maul/kill other animals or are attacked themselves or are trespassing on property where they are not welcome) than the radio collars. GPS collars may help retrieve lost hounds, but if houndsmen have so little control over roaming hounds with radio telemetry, why should they be allowed to release even more hounds to disrupt wildlife species and cause havoc in wildlife habitat? Either they have control of their dogs or they don't. If they cannot control them, then letting more loose in the wild is only going to make existing unacceptable, negative hound impacts even worse. A GPS collar on a hound in dense forested lands, miles from the houndsmen owner or handler, is not going to help wildlife, which should be the commission’s primary mission.
       Also, for the unscrupulous houndsmen (there are hours of sickening video online that show the seamy side of this often dog-abusive activity), a GPS collar will tell where bears, bobcats, mountain lions, and other wildlife may be trapped in trees. Why give potential poachers an advantage?
       Please politely ask the California Fish and Game Commission to (1) deny any changes to Mammal Hunting regulation 265 that currently prohibits the use of GPS collars on hounds for training, deer and/or pig hunting. And (2) ask them to join the 39 other enlightened states in the U.S. that completely ban deer hunting with hounds. Deer can run fast but only for relatively short distances. A pack of hounds can easily overtake them and the results are never pretty.  Instead of encouraging this madness, it's time to put a halt to it.

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The above petition was started on 1/25/16.  Below is an update from 2/12/16:

UPDATE:  Stop GPS Hound Hunting of Deer in California

First, thanks to all 23,800+ of you (and still growing!) who have signed the petition to STOP the CA Fish and Game Commission from lifting the current ban on GPS collars and tree switches on hounds for so-called “hunting” of deer and pigs.   Currently in CA hounds can be equipped with radio telemetry collars as they terrorize and chase innocent wildlife to exhaustion, or worse.  As one of our allies pointed out in testimony, GPS collars are not needed--dogs are not lost if houndsmen know what they’re doing with radio collars, and if the hounds are well trained BEFORE being released. 

As an aside, we believe CA should join the vast majority of other states that ban hound hunting of deer altogether.  Currently CA plus nine deep-south Confederate states and Hawaii are the only ones where this cruel, barbaric activity is still legal.  Unfortunately, that is not the issue being decided at this time.

Second, at yesterday’s CA F&G Commission “discussion” hearing (2/11/16) in Sacramento, a houndsman made a most outrageous claim:  That GPS collars are needed because it’s an “animal welfare” issue to find their dogs faster.  Really?  GPS are simply more “convenient” for houndsmen.  These are the folks who let hounds chase, maim, maul, and tree animals, often before they kill them.  How is that “animal welfare”?  When the CA law was passed to ban hound hunting of bears and bobcats in 2012, houndsmen were first in line to make derogatory remarks about “animal welfare” people.  Yet they now claim to be animal welfare proponents?  Let’s not let their smoke-screen and deception gain any traction. 

Last, at yesterday’s hearing, after over four hours of waiting, the agenda item came up for “discussion” near the end as part of a longer list of proposed CA mammal hunting amendments.  The commissioners voted to move all the items along.  Depending upon when the final vote is scheduled (March or April), we still have time to oppose this proposed amendment and NOT allow hounds in CA to wear GPS collars to hunt deer and pigs.  We will let you know as soon as we know when this horrible proposal is back on the agenda for a final vote, but in the meantime, please keep sharing the petition.  FYI:  The mailing address is:

California Fish and Game Commission

1416 Ninth Street

P.O. Box 944209

Sacramento, CA 94244-2090

   Subject:  Vote NO on amendments to CCR Sec 265—Keep GPS Collars and Treeing Switches BANNED on Hounds

Thank you everyone!

Stop GPS Hound Hunting of Deer in California

Please consider signing this important petition: 

https://www.change.org/p/california-fish-and-game-commission-stop-gps-hound-hunting-of-deer-in-california

     Hound hunting of deer is considered abominable by a majority of the citizens.  It's akin to coursing, if not worse.  Houndmen and their handlers tried to change California's hunting regulations back in 2009-2010 to allow GPS collars on hounds for hunting, but they failed.  In 2012, California passed a law to ban hound hunting of bear and bobcat.  However, many citizens did not realize that hounds are also used to hunt deer--chasing them to exhaustion, or attack and mauling, and then shot.  Although GPS collars are currently banned, hounds are allowed to wear radio telemetry collars that informs the hound handler of their location.  Now, houndsmen want the GPS collars and tree switch ban to be deleted. 

     By signing the petition, you will help send a message to the California Fish and Game Commission to vote NO on the proposed amendment.  The final vote on this horrible proposed amendment will be on April 14, but to be in the meeting packet, they need to be sent in by April 1, 2016.  
Update
               As of today, 3/24/16, in a little less than one week (on March 30) the above petition, with all its signatures (hopefully 29,000 or more) and comments will be sent to the California Fish and Game Commission (FGC) for their April 14, 2016, meeting.  A critical final vote is scheduled to be taken on a hunting amendment, which if approved, will wrongfully allow GPS Collars and tree switches on hounds for deer hunting.  This nothing more than releasing dogs so that they can hunt deer.  The humans come along after the exhausted deer is caught, trapped or injured and fire away.  This cannot possibly be called “hunting.” 

If you have already signed the petition, we hope you can help with one last push by asking your friends, family, and animal welfare advocates to please sign, or email the FGC directly (fgc@fgc.ca.gov), or mail them a letter:  The mailing address is:

California Fish and Game Commission

1416 Ninth Street

P.O. Box 944209

Sacramento, CA 94244-2090

Please ask the commissioners to VOTE NO on amendments to CCR Sec 265 and keep the ban on GPS Collars and Treeing Switches for hound hunting—both for “fair chase” and “ethical hunting” issues.  Message or emails do not have to be lengthy. 

            Three opposing comment letters made it into the FGC “Meeting Documents” for the FGC February 11 meeting.  They are relatively short.  To read them, go to: 

http://fgc.ca.gov/meetings/2016/index.aspx .  Scroll down to the February 10-11, 2016, meeting, and in the center column, click on “Meeting Documents.”  Because that will open an enormous 951 pages, it’s difficult to find the three opposition letters, but you can scroll to each one:

from PEACE:  page 839; from Public Interest Coalition:  page 948; and an email from  Ojai Wildlife League, page 951.

            More comment letters came in after the February 11 meeting and should be included in the April 14 “Meeting Documents” once it is posted (possibly by around April 4).

            Thank you!