ORIGINAL: Tigerfan
NEW I applaud you for sticking to your beliefs. I myself use to hunt with dogs before I left to go into the Marines. Since I have been back I chose not to hunt with them. In Louisiana we have a month of still hunt only followed by a month of dog season. From my experience with our local dog runners is that they release their hounds in late October and won't pick them back up until the end of the season in January. Now I am sure that you don't do this with your dogs nor do most honorable dog hunters. Personally I have seen twice the deer without hunting with dogs then hunting with them. I have killed 10 times as many deer w/o, than with too. I love to hear a good hound as much as the next guy but, I also love hunting when there are none around. You have made the statement that the Ga. regs do not affect you. As of today you are correct but, that's not to say that within the next 5 years there could be a push to so the same things in your neck of the woods. That's what most people don't think about. Oh that doesn't affect me so I'm not going to worry about it. Then before you know it the same situation is snowballing right to you and all you had to do was pay closer attention back to when it didn't directly affect you, and that could have prevented it all together. In the state of Louisiana dog hunting will never be outlawed so, I don't get to worked up about it because there is nothing that I can do about it. We attend the local DNR meeting and are out numbered 5 to 1 in most cases. I have seen the ugly side of hunting in my 20+ years of hunting, I have seen dogs shot, & people beat up. I have seen bad hunting ethics from non-dog hunters and dog hunters. Most of the dog hunters that I know are very honorable people, they take very good care of their animals and do thier best to head thier animals off before they cross the property lines. There are a few that give them a bad name just as there are a few still hunters that give us all a bad name. Bottom line is we are all hunters and we should respect each others rights.
This is just my opinion, for what it's worth.
I guess what I mean is the GA. regs.don't effect me now but I am not oblivious to the fact that there may be a push for similiarchange in the future in my area. Thething is, I am pretty confident that myself and others like me will be here tostand up for the right to continue to dog hunt. From what I have seen at some of our local meetings where several clubs and groups of hunters come together dog hunting always has great support and any change will certainly include us having a say in it.