Good post 14thVA. And even though I have admittedly not been the most PC on this thread I usually try to portray that there are those of us that dog hunt legally and respectfully. I have been in just about every thread on this topic since I joined this site and they usually are arguing/debating because noone wants to budge. Well I can budge, nothing is set in stone. If there is a way to make dog hunting better in VA I'm all for exploring and working with other hunters.

What I disagree with and don't like is when non dog hunters call for it's banning and say allthe bad experiences they have had with some dog hunters(not that I doubtsome of them). Then theylump everyone under one big blanket statement. Many don't even acknowledge that there could be respectful law abiding dog hunters out there. Another common approach is to tell me I need to police all dog hunters, I can't do that just like they can't police all still hunters(who break laws to).

It is a very frustrating topic indeed and this is one of the worst threads on it that I have been a part of. What's worse about that is it is a South thread, a VA thread predominantly and this is just a small sample of how we hunters brainstorm and work together. That's sarcasm, we don't work together or agree to disagree then search for common ground and you will find that many are not even interested in that anyway,they just want to tell horror stories....frustrating.

You bring up a good point about the herd thatI have brought up in the past and never once has anyone commentedon it. Who will kill the deer?We have an immense population in VA and if you removed the dog club kills who picks up the slack? If clubs don't lease the land and then smaller groups of still hunters can't afford it after a season or two, then what? When the land isn't leased what happens to it? It will eventually be broke down and sold for development, it happens every year on a small scale and would drastically increase with dog clubs not involved.

Many people are quick to grab their torch and pitchfork and scream ban dog hunting without even taking into consideration the dynamics of it as far as the herd and the land go. Ultimately it won't be us that suffers we are fortunate to be able to sit here and piss and moan about it. The ones who will suffer will be our great grandkids and their kids and their kids etc. I'm all for bettering things for the future, unfortunatelyit seemswe(hunters) as a group just don't know how to do that together.