With July comes summer and sunshine. For residents of Sandwich, it comes with something else: bear hounding training season.
Ultimately, hounders unleash packs of powerful, radio-collared hounds on a lone bear, coyote, raccoon, and other wildlife. Dog owners are often miles away looking at a GPS screen with no indication of what their dogs are actually doing.
Local residents and landowners are at their wits end.
The dogs, especially during training, can be unpredictable and an unwelcome presence. In 2019, New Hampshire resident Dan Dockham told the Laconia Daily Sun that some dogs are not discerning and will chase anything. He told the paper electric shocks are used to break them from going after squirrels and coyotes.
Here is the kicker. It is not even bear hunting season. In fact, bear season does not even start until September. June is a notoriously lean time for bears – and the cubs, having only been born in the late winter, barely have a chance to learn the ropes.
They may not get a chance to learn. The hounds often chase the animals for miles until the bear either collapses, climbs a tree (where they are often shot), or decides to stand its ground and fight back.
“So we have been taking some calls on Bear Dogs. The only way to change the law is to contact the NH Fish and Game Commission,” read a July 7 post from the Sandwich Police Department. The police had received so many calls they needed to make a public announcement about it.
The post went on to give the name of former commissioner David L. Patch, who does not have an email address online and who’s term expired at the end of last month.
(NHWC was unable to verify an electronic method of citizen communication for David while he legally served his term. Instead, he listed a personal phone number.)
