ORIGINAL: deepzak
As was mentioned earlier, Slavery was a tradition in a large area of our country. In my opinion, some traditions need to be done away with. Anyone care to disagree with this point?
Dog running is no more a past time than market hunting for waterfowl was. A tradition is turkey on thanksgiving, a beer on your 18th (now 21st) birthday, dinner on the ground after church... those are traditions. Hunting is a tradition, but how it is done varies greatly. Fact is, the terrain and deer herd densities in the SE part of VA lend themselves to dog hunting. You have basically three types of hunting conditions: fields, super thick new cutovers, and swamps. None of these are really all that easy to hunt without the use of dogs... sure it can be done, but do you think you can effectively manage the herd this way? Look at what is happening in northern VA?
Dog running doesn't have to end, it does however need to be changed. There are far to many unenforcable laws. The Game Wardens know this and therefore rarely even try to enforce them. The law makers know this but don't care, their votes have basically been bought and paid for. It only makes financial sense for them to keep things the way they are. There is a group of people out there touting to be for all hunters rights, but when a bill is introduced to expand and further hunting rights for all hunters, they join HSUS in opposing it
This group is in total denial about the law breaking some of their members doing, it's never their fault, and all they tell you is to call the GW (who knows it's an un-enforcable law).
I agree with you. Human encroachment and hunter indifference is to blame. When someone buys 5 acres in the middle of 500 a hunt club used to hunt, they need to be respectful of the land owner's right to be there. It doesn't matter how may decades you've been hunting there... a man has a right to his property. When dog clubs decide to run all over his land, this most likely retired baby boomer is going to pick up the phone and call his lawmaker and the media. I'm tired of seeing "hunters" stand on Rte 14 in King and Queen county in the middle of the day on my ride home from my duck blinds. I'm fed up with shooting escaped, rib-showing thin walkers in May running pregnant does and busting up my spring turkey hunts on private land. The answer is for dog clubs to start taking ownership in their sport, instead of hiding behind the "its our tradition" crap, they need to man up and police their own... or it will be the end of their way of hunting forever.