Bear hunters training hounds during the legal summer Vermont training period were harassed by a woman who was charged with assault, disorderly conduct and interfering with a hunter.

The woman, Liza Nanni, blocked the road and prevented the hunters, including a 13-year-old boy, from advancing while they were searching for bears near Groton State Forest. Nanni allegedly used bear spray on the group, which included Ellsworth Spear, 61, the former president of the Vermont Bear Hound Association. 

The men contacted Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department game wardens, who reviewed videos of the incident from both parties. They ultimately charged Nanni. 

“My first words to her were to ask her to get out of the road,” Spear told the Vermont newspaper Seven Days. “She told me to go F myself and a bunch of other things. She ended up pepper spraying all three of us.” 

Vermont’s season for hunting bears with hounds opens September 1 for residents and September 15 for non-residents. Hunters who use hounds to chase bears are allowed to train their dogs from June 1 to September 15. More than 700 reports of bear-human conflicts have been made this year, a number than has grown from 135 in 2011.