I grew up hunting in the mountains and we would've shot a dog running deer, however after moving to central VA I took a buddy up on an offer to dog hunt. I love it, black powder is still my favorite but dog hunting is fun and I enjoy all aspects of it.

If your going to still hunt in a dog hunting area, you are going to hear and see dogs. Just how its going to be. I don't know what the answer is for the guy who buys 15 acres in the middle of dog country and then is shocked that the dogs run over his land. This is said without sarcasm or malice.

Anyone who has actually hunted with dogs would not say it is easy to take a trophy buck in front of dogs. Sure they'll run a deer but you've got to see the deer, the deer not see you and then hope the deer gives you a shot. Running dogs is by no means a guarantee of killing or even seeing the deer.

You can sucessfully still hunt in an area run over with dogs. Deer are creatures of habit and are not going to run into the next county (although it can happen if you are on the border!). We've watched the same bucks, in the same fields, at the end of the season and these deer had been run a few times. I have personally had dogs come through in black powder season and killed the deer I was hunting an hour later.

Idiots are idiots and there will always be stupid hunters, I'd dare say I can fill up the rest of this post talking about the idiot still hunters we find on our land in sight of a posted sign or parked in the back of a posted field out of sight with a drive getting ready to start (i.e. shooting in their direction), etc.

Banning dog hunting isn't going to happen, it's in the blood down here and it's much more than hunting.

Spence