Hatracked,

Florida has adopted similar laws that Georgia has. There have been threats, fires, and fights over access to property and it lead to the current rules where we have to register our dogs. But, as several others have posted, we are not all bad apples.

In the span of a hunting season, I will spend twice as much time hanging in a tree as I will dog hunting. In that time, I would usually consider the dog hunting much more work overall so painting us as lazy is just not fair.

Further, I am a firm believer in dog hunting areas and still hunting areas. In North Florida, I drive about 60 miles one way to get to the Apalachicola National Forest where we dog hunt. There are closer management areas to us but they are designated still hunt areas. I have no problem with this as it is just the way it goes.

Years ago when we hunted "open land", we did not have to trespass but as more and more of it was purchased, it became harder and harder to hunt without problems. We bought tracking collars, we used more trucks, and we tried harder and harder to keep up with the dogs. AsI stated in the first page of this thread, we even got down to small breed beagles so that we could cut them off and respect our neighbors.

The point is, you have painted us as all bad and it just ain't so. I spend more time still hunting but still enjoy dog hunting a few times a year and I do not see much difference either way.

If dog hunting is lazy, so is using a four wheeler to drive to a feeder and unload 100 pounds of corn a week. You also stated that if a dog runs through your property then the dog hunter is stealing someone else's deer. The same could be said for baiters. If your neighbor has planted a one acre food plot for supplemental feeding, then isn't a feeder full of apple corn on your property like offering a five year old a lollipop to get in the car with you?

There are *Deleted* among us in all forms of hunting. You hate unethical dog hunters. I hate people who trespass (knowingly) on our property and shoot deer. Duck hunters don't respect guys who chase ducks with boats and shoot them. Fisherman hate people who fill the livewell with dynamite or fish shockers. But, you don't need to throw a blanket over the entire group and pin a label on us. If that is OK to do, then you can also say all black people are lazy, all Hispanics are thieves, all white people are racist, all French people stink, etc., etc.

There is a compromise and ripping others that post here is not the way to do it. This thread is nine pages long and almost half of it is you telling dog hunters that they all suck and that we are law breakers and lazy. Try laying down ideas to better the situation. Make suggestions that make sense rather than spew piss and venom at annybody who is not on your page of the book. Most of us are open to it.

In Florida, we have to register if we own dogs. We also have to tag the dogs so that the owner can be located and HELD RESPONSIBLE if one gets away. You know what, we do it and we take it as being part of the game. Those of us that are ethical do not mind although it is a pain. We see it as a way to protect what we do and we are willing to pay the price for the bad apples.

In the midwest where the deer are big and the poaching is plenty, I like to still hunt. If they asked me to check in to hunt our property, I would not like it but I would do it for the good of the whole. Most of us on this site are that way. We are not the snuff drooling, beer drinking, inbread slobs you make us out to be.

I hunt pheasant with dogs. I have hunted coons with dogs. I have hunted quail, chukar, and even squirrell with dogs. I would not be considered a dog hunter by the guys in the deer hunting party I hunt with because I only go a couple times a year but I enjoy it. I would not call it "heritage" as others have but it is somethingI have done and enjoy.

I am not a slob or lazy. I am not a law breaker.

I pay for licenses, permits, stamps, and every other tax on my sport. I pay for turkey licenses even though I do not hunt turkey very much because I want the state to do what they have to to make hunting better for me.

I aim to protect what rightswe have left and most others here are the same way and I understand the other posters getting offended by your comments.

Try using sugar to collect the ants rather than vinegar... but as sour as your disposition is toward anyone that does not believe the same way you do leads me to wonder if vinegar is all you have.