popeye

Dogger, If you keep keep your dogs on your property then it's not a problem. I don't have a problem when I hunt on National Forest land and have a pack of dogs go by. After all, public land is for everyone to use, as long as they use it legally.

My real issue is with dog hunters, in this case bear hunters, who use their dogs as an excuse to openly trespress and hunt on private property. Their main claim is that that they have a right to retrieve their dogs and if a bear is treed...well they are bear hunting after all. In that case allbets are off.

SwampCollie

By and large thats everyone's gripe. Its been going on for years.... and its high time that crap stopped. I have no issue at all with dog hunting, but I do have issue with dog drivers using a legal loop hole to tresspass while I am trying to conduct a legal hunt on my own property. If they'd use a lick of common sense and not try and find dogs at 4pm.... IE wait until after dark.... then it wouldn't be an issue of hunter vs hunter run-ins.

Of course, if most of the dog drivers in this state were not so triffling and spend a bit of time with their animals and taught them to come to heal or to the road at dark (and it can be done, I've seen it and heard about it from several different good old time dog men), then collecting dogs wouldn't be nearly so big a problem.

ButchA

I don't have a problem with dogs. I love dogs. I have a black lab (male)and a beagle (female) but I don't take them hunting. They are just family pets.

I've said it before and I'll say it again....

Rabbit hunting with a beagle? Cool.
Duck hunting with a lab? Cool.
Upland bird hunting with a spaniel? Cool.
(Notice done of these dog owners have issues with land owners, other hunters, etc...)
Deer hunting with a hound dog? Uh, okay... whatever... It's just not my thing...

I have had my share of run-ins with deer doggers, said some things I shouldn't have said, and probably acted like a fool a time or two. All I am saying, is that we all need to come to some sort of agreement. I learned the hard way not to fight the deer doggers. There are way too many of them to just li'l ol' me. So, I just go hunting out in the GWNF where they don't run (or at least where they shouldn't run).

Lately, I am extremely PO'd with the DGIF and their "good ol boy network", to where I am looking at going out of state and not bothering to hunt here. I may change my mind... who knows... but for right now, I feel that this state is in sorry shape as far as hunting, hunting regulations, deer hounds running amok, hunters shooting dogs, trapping dogs, etc... it makes me sick. [>:]

Lanse couche couche

Actually Butch quite a few people hunting birds, rabbits, etc with dogs on public land have been harassed by still hunters or even had their dogs shot or shot at bydeer hunterswho thought that putting up a deer stand means the entire woods belong to them. Seems to be most common with bow hunters. So, there are issues.....

rafsob

My wish is to see all dog hunting with the exception of bird and rabbit hunting done away with and band. I grew up hunting in the northeast and no hunting for deer with dogs was allowed. If you came up on more then two dogs in the woods, DFG asked us to shoot them.

Our biggest problem was the idiots from thecity getting tired of their dogs and dropping them off in the woods on a sunday drive in the country. They end up going feral and became a nousance. As pack dogs they would kill wild and live stock. Farmers hated them.

But as with everything else on a forum, these are all IMHO of course.

SwampCollie

How so? What does that have to do with dog driving laws and retreival laws? Those laws have been around a whole lot longer than any of the current administration has been working for state, or even alive.

rick64

If there's a"good ol boy network" how did those 2 PETA workers get away with stealing that dog in Southampton Co. That's in the middle of dog country. They don't even allow the use of ML because the dog hunters.

Bigg~BirddVA

Because they have good lawyers, there was a slight amount of doubt in their intent and the peta people hadn't had enough time to find a dumpster behind the nearest Piggy Wiggley to dump the soon to be dead dogs in. Anyone that thinks there isn't a good 'ol boy network and that the SH county doggers don't feel they control all deer there hasn't hunted on private land in that county. Have rights on a decent tract and not allow the local dog chaser club in and see how welcome you are. Been there done that.

SwampCollie

Now that is a horse of a different color. I know of someone who had just that problem, and while I don't know all of the details... I do know about how things work there, as I've hunted there for over 20 years now.Frankly bigbird.... I don't disagree with that statement you made one bit. As much as I enjoy hunting in Southampton, and enjoy the comraderie and friendships I have built there, you can certainly see that mentality reflected in certain people, and you can definately draw that conclusion based upon the rules and regulations they have set forth for their lands with respect to deer seasons. I've said for a very long time that the last place in this country that is going to have deer hunting with hounds is going to be SouthamptonCounty, VA.... andI suspect that if VA did ban the use of hounds, the County may well up and try to succeed from the state, if not the whole Union.

The good ol' boy network I was referring to, in response to what Butch wrote, concerned such a thing within the DGIF. I don't see exactly what he was getting at? Or certainly don't see how Woodfin being accquitted of felony charges led to the conclusion that he is protected by a network? Is what he did unethical, most certainly, is it illegal..... apparently not, but I am not a lawyer or a judge nor do I have all the facts I would need.... was it a federal offense? I certainly don't think so.

I think now that the DGIF is in several sets of very capable and very proven hands.

coolbrze0

Whew... was starting to worry what you'd say about rabbit hunting w/ beagles