smokepole70

I hate to stir up a pot but even as a newer member to this site I have to step in and say there is absolutely nothing unsporting 9 out of 10 times about a deer ran by dogs. Most of the time the deer whips the dogs, unless you got them long legged walkers throwing out every block with new fresh pack of them. That is where I draw the line, I truely think it is more sporting of a doghunter to use slower hounds. I call these cold nose dogs that trail deer instead of having to be on top of a deer to jump them. Some of my favorite deer dogs were redbones, black and tan's, blueticks, and my beagles. The deer could flat out run them and sit and laugh for awhile and run circles around these dogs. I had to really think hard where to be when that deer came out but guess what? The deer would be just walking sometimes or a slow trot/hop and give me an ethical shot, I had plenty of time to take a good shot. I know there are a bunch of folks that run deer with dogs that are outlaws and will cut ever corner so that the dogs do the work of harvest but there are some like me(retired dog hunter) that had a soft spot for fair hunt ethics. As mentioned earlier I am strickly a still hunter now but I will never forget the times I spent many a cold morning loading up those stinking short legged dogs of my father's and spending time with numerious groups of family and good men. Dogs are my passion and still have some of the decendents of those same hounds I ran in my youth around me closeby. It was heritage and has slowly decended not to be forgotten by me. (pre- 16 years of my life, age 12 to 28,being one). Smokepole

William Grice

I Deer hunt in county that running Deer with deer dogs is illegal. But the county that borders me it is legal to Deer hunt using dogs. The problem is these guys turn their dogs out early in the morning and at night on my county side and chase out all of the Deer back to them. I have the dogs on my trail camera but can't catch the hunters turning them out.I called the game warden and he told me there was nothing he could do unless I catch the hunters in the act.I have asked around to who's turning the dogs out but no one will talk. Does anyone have any helpful suggestions?

Chopayne

Its outlawed in some places as it places an larger unfair advantage to the hunter. The keep the population in check by the % of deer are caught every year, by using dogs it ups the success rate. That results in the decline of the population and well less tags they can sell which also = less money.

Chopayne

Though the dogs may have "ran her to death" this was probably more of weeding out the week. Deer can run pretty fast, faster than a dog and probably longer distances than dogs. The Doe being chased by any other predator woudlve had the same outcome. It wasnt the dogs fault as much as it was the Doe's heart fault. Probably not the best reason to justify shooting dogs.

fishguts

Shooting a dog that's chasing a deer is a chicken-s00t cowardly act.

If it was the last deer on earth, sure, but dogs rarely, if ever, actually catch a deer. There's never a reason to shoot a stray dog that may be someone's pet that escaped accidentally.

People who shoot dogs for fun have serious issues.

fishguts

I don't think most people can find an ethical issue with it, unless they have an ethical issue with a pointer finding quail or a beagle running a rabbit.

Perhaps they use ethics as a way to disguise their selfishness--deer doggers are shooting "their" deer. Either that or they are simply too lazy to actually think the argument through.

As you said, the bigger issue has to do with the guys who use dogs and from my observation, the way many of them treat their dogs. Very divisive issue where I live.

Murdy

Regardless of whether someone will shoot the dog or not, a responsible owner should not be letting a dog run deer or other wildlife, if you can't control your dog verbally, it should be on a leash (outside the context of a legal hunt).