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I belong to and am one of the officers of a 2000 acre deer lease in the southwest part of central Arkansas (the foothills of the Ouachita Mtns), if that makes sense. On our northern border we have a smaller lease that we think is causing serious problems for us. They're running dogs on us. We though we could deal with it, except this year, the locals there are telling us these guys are driving down the county roads that are our borders and dropping the dogs into our lease, so they'll run the deer back north to theirs.
Last weekend, one of our members ran into one of theirs who bragged to them about the massive 8-pt. they killed. This was the biggest 8-pt. I've ever heard of down here. One of the guys killed a 10 pt. at 200 lbs (undressed weight) with a 24 inch spread. The 8-pt. had a 28 inch and will probably score higher than the good size 10pt. Anyway, back to my point... One of our member piped up, finally letting us know that was a deer he'd been tracking and with gamecam pictures of the 8-pt. making a rub in his hunting area. This happens to be the most southern part of our lease. Needless to say he was upset.
We've had dogs all over the lease the last two weeks. You think it's a pretty good chance their dogs caused us to lose this awesome 8-pt. and maybe others? How in the world do we deal with this?
We had a odd rack 8 point last year that we had pictures of that a club member shot at least a mile away from wherewe were getting the pictures. Bucks have a large range, depending on the herd population and other factors, so I don't know if the dog hunters ran the buck that far or not. I dog hunted for close to 25 years and loved it, would still dog hunt IF we had enough contiguous lands we could lease. We stopped about 6 years ago and joined the tree sitting crowd.
Talk to a game warden and find out exactly what the laws are in your area. Getting a game warden to do tight patrol of the area is the best deterent. Let one hunt on your property occasionally if possible, keep their cell number or Nextellink number handy. Don't get into the dog shooting or confrontation of other hunters. Nobody will be happy or be able to enjoy hunting.
I agree with timbercruiser - it's easy to say "shoot the dogs" but that might actually make the overall situation worse. I have nothing against dispatching feral or problem animals, and have done so. But you gotta give the dogs at least a little consideration - it's not their fault they have bone-heads for owners.
If it were me I'd first know exactly what the regs re: dogs are. I'd also try to figure out what ethical dog hunters actually do in practice ( I sincerely don't know because I've never lived anywhere where dog hunting is legal). If possible, I'd talk to the guys who are running the dogs - so that at least they'd know someone is aware of it and doesn't like it. I'd probably give them a shot at correcting the problem, but I wouldn't wait to go to the next step. Some times people do things just because they aren't aware it's aproblem, or theythink people don't care or that they haven't been caught. Next step I'd talk to the game warden if the doggers didn't solve the problem immediately (next day for instance). Hope it works out for you.
A friend of mine lives on the Tennessee side of the Tennessee-Mississippi border. Dogs are legal in Mississippi and a few years ago he caught 5 dogs running deer on his 1400 acre place. Late that afternoon some Mississippi hunters knocked on his door wanting to know if he had seen any dogs around. He said he had, their collars were down at the barn, and he would show themthe ditchthe dogs were in. The hunters weren't happy, but he has never had a dog problem since.
I'm not saying I condone his actions, but I'm also not saying I wouldn't do the same thing, depending on the situation.
i have been on both sides of the fence, there are law abiding dog hunters and there are scumbags, the same holds true for stand hunters also, i have not hunted w/dogs near as much as timber has but have done a little, really not my cup of tea. but i have heard people say dog hunting is like setting the woods on fire, well that just ain't the case, i have watched deer pull some of the slickest moves on a pack of hounds you could imagine, one day we jumped 4 does, we were running some cull beagles, (rabbit dogs gone bad[:@]), the beagles kept after the four does just moving them along ata really slow pace, my uncle lit a cig, i was taking a bathroom break, neither of us had guns w/i 10 ft of reach, when the prettiest 10pt came busting out of the brush less than 25 yards from us, he would have let everyone of us walk right on by had we not stopped, the deer get very wise to trucks tailgaits and doors and dog boxes opening, they don't get big by being dumb, could they have killed a deer run from your property? yes, but with less noticed pressure i would rather hunt your property and enjoy it. i don't have anything against dog hunters, but if i witnessed them doing the things you mentioned i'd go straight to the dog running clubs president and i'd take the game warden with me, if that dosent help, and i am hesitant to mention this, go to the land owner, the reason i am a little reluctant to do the latter is that some property owners don't want to deal with the hassle and will stop letting anybody hunt, best of luck, i know it can be an agravaiting deal
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Shoot the dog if you want. But you can get in trouble with the law if you do. Also you can get in trouble with the owner if you run up on him. About 20 yrs. ago in Randolph Co. Alabama,a teenage hunter shot some dog hunters dog and 2 of the dog hunters caught him do it and they whooped him. Charges were filed and they got in trouble.Report it to the game warden and let him take care of it. It ain't worth it. And besides, it's not the dogs fault. Good luck, Scott Woody
How to deal with people running dogs
