Attribution: kikiciao, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
By Bill Stokes
Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper with the annual reminder that of the many things that set Wisconsin summers apart there is the July 1-Aug. 31 outrageous, inhuman, unbelievable bear hound training program.
Thousands of bear hounders from all over the country gang into Wisconsin to turn their tormenting hounds loose in the north woods for the two summer months when all creatures, including bear and wolves are going about the business of raising young.
The bear hound crowd comes to WISCONSIN BECAUSE IT IS THE ONLY STATE that has been flimflammed—largely by unconscionable out-of-state bear hounder lobbyists who have had their way with a minority representative, conservation-compromised legislature.
Wisconsin’s once proud natural resource philosophy has been in the trash since Walker’s dismantling of “decency” some years ago. As a result, the bear hounders in their extreme arrogance have pushed through laws making it illegal to photograph them even from public roadways, and long ago established a scheme whereby the state pays $2500 to a hounder if his hound is killed by a wolf protecting its pups. Unbelievable!
Welcome to another great Wisconsin summer, except in the magnificent northwoods where there is a citizen-endorsed, gerrymandered kind of hell prevailing.
Photo by Bill Stokes