Bear Baiting May Put Hunting Dogs at Risk from Wolves

Apr. 17, 2013 — Bear hunters will tell you that a good way to attract a bear is to put out bait. And in 10 states, including Michigan and Wisconsin, that's perfectly legal. Hunting dogs are another useful technique in the bear-hunter's toolkit, and 17 states say that's just fine.

But who else likes bear bait? Gray wolves, that's who. And wolves that are feeling territorial about a bear bait stash can -- and sometimes do -- kill hunting dogs released at the bait site.

Like most interactions between wildlife and human beings, wolf attacks on hunting dogs illustrate a tangled trade-off: attracting bears for the hunters, attracting danger for their dogs.

Seeking possible ways to reduce potentially lethal encounters between wolves and bear hunting dogs, researchers at Michigan Technological University and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources compared bear hunting practices and regulations in Michigan and Wisconsin.

Joseph K. Bump, a Michigan Tech wildlife ecologist; Dean Beyer Jr. and Brian J. Roell from the Michigan DNR, and students Chelsea Murawski and Linda Kartano report their findings in the April 17, 2013 issue of the Public Library of Science (PLOS) journal PLOS ONE.

The researchers analyzed and compared a variety of factors in Michigan and Wisconsin, from regulations on bear baiting and compensation for hunting dog attacks to statistics such as the ratio of hunters to wolves and percentage of hunters using dogs to hunt bear.

They found that the neighboring states, with similar wolf and bear populations and similar numbers of bear-hunting permits issued per wolf, report dramatically different numbers of wolf attacks on hunting dogs. Wisconsin's relative risk of attack is two to seven times higher than Michigan's.

Read more:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130417185533.htm