Here in Fla.it's legal.I was in my first dog hunt last month and it was fun.These guys use beagles.They don't really run the deer just kind of push them.Like I said it was fun.I've also seen the other kind of dog runners,drop them anywhere and just let them run.

That is pretty well the sentiment of most all the deer hunters I know around these parts!

I used to hunt with dogs when I was younger and thats how I killed my first two deer. This year is the first year I hunted without dogs late in the year. We had poor luck without. We stand hunt early. I plan to get two beagles puppies and I can't wait til next year to try them out.

hammer I would reccomend short leg beagles, they will push the deer all day long, but they don't run fast enough to make the deer run hard, usually the deer will be at a trot or brisk walk instead of a dead run like they will with long legged hounds.

I just think its the person/people runnin dogs. Cause where i hunt i cant stand them they are always drunk,on our property, or runnin deer away from us! and countless other things. Theres a hunt club up at my g-pas and i think like 11 people were hunting one day and they had like 26 deer from one piece of property thats bout 200 acres and I know that theres not alot of deer there so they just kill deer just to kill stuff.But on the other hand on of my good friends runs dogs and hes cool so I just think it depends on the people.

mow em down.... I understand you pain... there are dog owners or groups that use dogs that I can not stand myself. I woudl love to see them loose their land or their rights since they are very rude and illegal at times. I dare not call them hunters since they are the ones who tarnish the name of hunters...I too might have been known to enjoy a few cold ones once the day was done and I was back at home or at a friends where we talked about the day and skinned deer if we had any.. but not at all in the woods..nothing but coffee, water and pepsi for me out there!!!

MOTurkeyTammer..... SO you agree that it is right to destroy someone elses property?? I know in alot of states hunting with dogs is illegal and in such cases yes there is no need for a dog to be in the woods(unless a traking dog for wounded game where legal). But it is not the dogs fault that he is there, he is only doing what is natural and what he was trained to do. 100% of the resposibilty lies upon the owner or whom ever turned the dog out. There are much better and ethical means to try to resolve the situation rather than to kill a innocent animal. Yes he may be doing something you dont agree with or that messes up your hunt but its not worth killing him. It is also very illegal to do so, and I have turned in other hunters I have been around who have shot someones dog while we were still hunting and no I do not regret it! This is action or thinking or lets kill the dog when we see it running a deer is nothign but more fuel for the anti's. How can we try to show we are the ehtical group that most of us are (and the ones who arent are nothing but poachers) when we go around killing domesticated animals.. I am not trying to beign a argument but just tryign to show there are better ways to handle it and to try to get people to stop and think how it looks to the public both non hunters and antis, it would be a sure fire way to turn a non hunter who was not anti into a full out anti by killing pets!

Hammer... I am with Taz.. get a couple of bench leg beagles.. they dont run very hard at all and they are easy to keep uo with and catch before they get away from the group. You might want to also consider bird dogs.. alot of people I know are only keeping a small group of beagles for running big deer that got away. They have switched to useing bird dogs and doing man drives. By useing them it cuts down on the number of drivers needed so there are more standers and less of a chance of a dog gettign away which with this style very rarely happens. The bird dogs make their normal circles just like they were looking for birds, they get into the briar thickets and thickets.. when they jump a deer the sight chase it or wind chase it meaning they only run it a few hundered yards(most of the ones I know dont go over 200 yards very often) then they stop and come back to the driver and start making circles again. This way the deer are not run to death they are only jumped up and stirred up enough that after the dogs drops them the often stop running and try to sneak out of the woods past the standers which allow for less running shots and less stress on the animals. It also improves having dogs get away and onto someone elses lands and ruining their hunt!

Shotgun.. I do agree alot of the clubs overkill alot of deer. I am all for fillling your freezer and giving some to hunters for the hungry, but there is a point where it is senseless to kill more than you or your family can use, unless it is being done under a damage permit to help with damage!

I agree that it depends on the group of hunters that are running the dogs. I hunt in Va and we run dogs in every organized hunt during the season. I love it and I believe that we do it correctly and legally. I do know of people in the county that are not liked because they road hunt and do not care ahat land they run their dogs on, I disagree with the way they hunt and I can see that they could give us a bad name. Do it right and on your land and I think it is fine.

I'm not saying or trying to imply that there is anything wrong with hunting with dogs, or for that matter that i would personally shoot someone elses dog for running deer. That i posted above is something that i was told when i began hunting with my dad. I've encountered on many trips into the woods, seeing my neighbors dogs running/chasing deer, I informed them of it and that was that. one time there dog was chaseing two doe that almost run me over-well they would have if wasn't for the tree i was able to get around-they were close enough to me i could have reached out and touched them-WOW they were close!! one year (several ago) i was standing on an edge of a cornfeild and there was a couple of guys using dogs for bear-what a sound it was, just listening to them go was truly awesome, i listened to them until they couldnt be heard anylonger and forgot to watch for the deer--oops-- I'm srry for rammbling on. But as long as its done legal go for it, I'm hoping someday i can try it.

That's the best way to do it, although I do climb in a treestand from time to time. I have a pack of dogs myself and am trying to sell a few right now. I don't mix alcohol with hunting at all, but will pop a top when trying to catch dogs after dark once in a while. As for my dogs going on other people's property I (and the people I hunt with) try our best to keep the dogs away from property lines.
The club I hunt is about 11,000 acres and all in one big block, and most of the private property around it belongs to members so we can hunt all of it.
Like I said, when done right it's the best way (in my opinion).

...and wound about as many as they get. I hunt in a club that runs dogs from the first day to the last. I really got back into the lease because of the turkeys, there are literaly hundreds of them. My experience with these guys has been one of too many cold ones and not enough hunting. I have been scoffed at because of my love for still and stand hunting. I've found that the deer become nocturnal on this lease and will not get out of their beds unless they are nearly stepped on. I have dog hunted in the past with other groups of people and have seen deer, but have limited my shots due to their questionability (for both safety and ethics). I say to each their own. Dog hunting is not my favorite way to hunt, but it is legal here and as long as everyone doing it respects the landowners and others around them, I don't have a problem with using dogs to hunt, I just find myself not agreeing with some of the extras that dog hunters tend to do.