tank yu 4 da intertianmint u made da response i wuz looken 4 all your commas, periods, and proper grammar impress me and I think i started this thread if you don't like it stay off of it besides Illinois is in the midwest thread starter don't forget to drop me off some carhartt bibs at the goodwill thanks

i say hell yeah! ive seen on here where people complain about the harvest numbers being down..hmm..funny..we killed ATLEASED 3 every saturday..not to mention 13 one of those saturdays..DEER DOGS DO NOT RUN DEER OFF YOUR PROPERTY! i killed a huge 10 pointer 23inches wide this year running dogs!! if you dont like it go hunt in the mountains where there is no deer dogs!

That's what I do... I go out to the other side of the Blue Ridge, even though I live in Richmond.

I have never hunted deer with dogs. But, I can surely see the good side and bad side of it. When done properly, it does have an added benefit. When done poorly, it adds to the many problems VA hunters already have.

Good points of hunting deer with dogs = incredibly heavy, thick areas, full of briars and pricker bushes. No hunter can get through it without a machete. But yet, send a dog in, and the dog will flush out the deer.

Bad points of hunting deer with dogs = unethical hunters who just let the dogs run uncontrolled, onto anyone's land, all hours of the day and night. These guys just need to learn how to do it right from those that do.

If you check around in any given area you will find that incidents of trespass, poaching, property damage, slob hunting, etc. are far more likely to be linked to non-dog running deer hunters. Yet let one hound run across someone's back 40 or let out a howl within a mile of where someone is still hunting and suddenly hound hunters are the root of all evil.

I do have a big complaint. I came in the other night with two packs of snack pack chocolate pudding from the convenience store. I like my pudding really cold, so I set it out on my front porch to chill. When I checked a few minutes later it was gone because one of the neighbors dogs came over and ate it. So, now i think that running deer with dogs should be outlawed and all people who use dogs to hunt are lazy slobs.

Sounds like you need a frig....

Yeah, I do, but in this instance it is much easier and cathartic to make a scapegoat out of all dog hunters....

When you get a new frig and when Virginia ban`s "The Right to Retrieve Law" we`ll both be happy........

Lanse, I'm curious, why is it not legal to use deer hounds in Ohio?

I would assume that you don't have hunting with hounds throughout the midwest for a couple reasons:

1. I think that hunting deer with hounds has historically been pretty much a southern regional tradition and perhaps even limited to particular areas of the South where you traditionally had large tracts of privately held land and/or large tracts of otherwise useless timber company, swamp, or public land that could be cheaply leased or accessed for free for hunting with dogs. Historically in the Midwest, you were less likely to have swamps, young pine plantation growth, briar thickets, etc. that were very difficult to hunt without dogs. Also, deer were practically extinct in much of the Midwest up until about the 1950s and it has only been the last couple decades that some areas have had a population big enough to have seasons. So, even stand hunting for deer is a relatively new tradition and most folks didnt even know that folks elsewhere run deer with dogs.

2. At least in the areas i am familiar with, there is very little public access hunting ground and it is generally very small tracts. Also, it is far more common to find privately land owned land in scattered 40 acres tracts than huge consolidated tracts. Price of land in the Midwest in terms of purchasing or leasing is generally much higher. Good hunting ground generally leases for at least $20 and acre in contrast to areas of the south where timber land owned by large companies or individuals could be leased for a few dollars an acre. So, land ownership patterns in the Midwest differ and it would be very difficult and very expensive to lease sufficient land to run hounds.

However, hunting coons, foxes, coyotes, rabbits, and quail with dogs is very common. In plenty of instances, people will coonhunt the same tracts of land that will be deer hunted the next morning without any problems. Also, it is pretty common to see groups of coyote hunters come thru with hounds during the day. But, in the course of following and watching such hunts i have never seen much of any disturbing of deer. Unless the dogs run right over them, deer tend to stay bedded down or remain in the spot where they are feeding. And when dogs do scare deer into running, they are just as likely to run directly toward someone who is deer hunting.

I might add that in Illinois, all the seasons that involve using dogs to hunt (or pre-season training) pretty much coincide with deer bow hunting hunting season and begin about two weeks before the first firearm season. I can't recall a single verifiable instance where people hunting with dogs prior to deer season actually ruined someones hunting season or where dogs that were hunting actually ruined someones hunt on a given day during deer season.

I always find it amusing that people love to hunt the rut because you have big bucks running around out in the open and showing less caution. But the same people throw at fit at the thought of hunting dogs in the general area that might scare up some deer that results in pretty much the same behavior as rutting movement or even get deer moving when they have gone nocturnal because of high pressure still hunting.

I am glad they don't do any Dog Deer hunting around here. I feel bad for the folks in areas where this goes on. I think they got a lot of nerve going on private property where they are not welcome. I voted NO.