RE: Virginia Hunting Dog Alliance
 

I wonder why they would strongly oppose "Requires the revocation of the hunting license for the current and the next hunting seasons as well as the forfeiture of the firearm or bow and arrow of any person who is convicted of carrying such weapons on another person's property while he is retrieving his hunting dogs". What could this mean? Does this mean they support carrying weapons while simply retrieving thier dogs?

RE: Virginia Hunting Dog Alliance
 

That is one I intend on asking about. It is already against the law to do that but because of lax penalties that law is often blown off, which in my mind leads to a lot of problems between land owners and clubsbecause without a weapon a dog hunter is not trespassing if he is on foot retrieving his dogs on private property however with a weapon in hand he is trespassing and he knows it and should be held accountable. Fear of losing your hunting license would stop a lot of these cases instantly, I believe it would anyway.

RE: Virginia Hunting Dog Alliance
 

Thanks for doing the leg work New! Interesting reading.

RE: Virginia Hunting Dog Alliance
 

I can see the problem with that. If they want to change the penalty for trespassing it shouldn't just single out dog hunters.

They could just change it to this.

"Requires the revocation of the hunting license for the current and the next hunting seasons as well as the forfeiture of the firearm or bow and arrow of any person who is convicted of carrying such weapons on another person's property"

RE: Virginia Hunting Dog Alliance
 

While I agree anyone trespassing with a firearm should face similiar penalties to clarify a little this law is already on the books and applies specifically to dog hunters, actually it helps dog huntersbecause it givesthem theright toretrieve dogs on foot andunarmed on private property. You and I can not do the same without hunting dogs,the only thing changing appears to be the penalties fornot following the "unarmed" stipulation of the law. For the right to"legally" trespass they should be able to follow that onestipulation.

RE: Virginia Hunting Dog Alliance
 

OK I see what you saying, for the penalty to be the same they would have to amend the other laws also.

RE: Virginia Hunting Dog Alliance
 

The law already states to leave your weapon in the truck and you may not drive on someone elses property, the change in the law is the severity of the penalties. Which would be fine if it applied to all hunters hunting illegally, but they are singling out hound hunters only. Thats what makes this a bad bill.

RE: Virginia Hunting Dog Alliance
 

But hound hunters have special privileges, and with those special privileges, should come special repercussions. If you don’t want special repercussions, give up the privileges.

RE: Virginia Hunting Dog Alliance
 

Ormake it legal foreveryone go on private property unarmed and make the law and penalties match everyone, which we know won't(and shouldn't) happen. The only reason I feelthe law is fair to let doghunters retrieve thier dogs on private property isbecause their dogs are their property and they have an investment in them and should be allowed to secure their property howeverI also feel not carrying a weapon while doing so should be a no brainer. Also the law states "on foot" and that part gets overlooked/abused a lot, so ifa dog hunterdrives a truck onprivate property, has hisgun inside his truck,and doesn't have landowneror leasee pemission he is breaking every aspect of the law and should be penalized. This kind of thing happensmuch more than it shouldand probably is one of the most common causes of problems between landowners and dog hunters. IMO

RE: Virginia Hunting Dog Alliance
 

My quote above yours I was trying to say that the retrieve law is not a law that hinders dog hunters it helps themby giving themthe right to legally go on private property, no other group of huntershas that right.
So with the right/privalege comes rules. If the rules that govern the privalegearebroken or are violated there will and should be penalties. And if those rules aredisregarded on a large scale over a long period of timethen the penalties should be stiffened and enforcedto ensure compliance. It is a privalege thatno other hunter or group of huntershave, follow the rules and the penalties never even come into play. I can befined and ticketed for a number of offenses if I even step footon postedor unpostedprivate property armed or unarmed.