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Howls over dog-hunting
Some fear Va. may be moving to ban or restrict sport
Monday, Dec 24, 2007 - 12:09 AM
Emmett Gray with the Newfound River Hunt Club leads his dogs into a western Hanover County forest. Photo By: CLEMENT BRITT/TIMES-DISPATCH
[FONT=verdana,sans-serif] RELATED [/FONT] THE ISSUE: Officials say complaints are increasing about hunting with dogs in Virginia. WHAT'S NEXT: The state is studying the scope of the problem and may recommend solutions. THE RESPONSE: Some hunters fear the state wants to ban hunting with dogs. State officials deny that.
Hunting with dogs in Va.
There are about 230,000 hunters in Virginia.
About a quarter said in a survey they hunt deer with dogs, according to the game department.
About 3 percent said they hunt bears that way.
Deer-hunting season continues through Jan. 5 east of the Blue Ridge.
Bear-hunting season continues through Jan. 5 in some mountain counties.
On the Web
Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries: www.dgif.state.va.us/hunting/hounds
Virginia Hunting Dog Alliance: http://vahda.org
By REX SPRINGSTON
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
The western Hanover County forest was cold and damp -- a miserable place for some people, but for hunter Emmett Gray it was heaven.
Sharing his excitement were Petey, Cindy, Chopper and Vicki -- Walker hounds caged in Gray's pickup truck and howling for a chance to chase deer.
Hunting with dogs has thrilled man and beast for centuries.
"The adrenaline when you have a pack of dogs coming to you, and you hear brush breaking, and that deer's coming. . . . The excitement is just outstanding," said Gray, a semiretired businessman.
Some say the tradition could be headed for extinction in Virginia, an assertion Virginia's game agency vehemently denies.
The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries says it is increasingly hearing complaints, often from people new to rural life, about noisy hounds straying onto their land, often followed by hunters retrieving their dogs.
"I think it is safe to say that it has escalated every year for the last several years," said Mike Bise, acting director of the agency, which regulates hunting.
Much of the concern is anecdotal because the department's records are not detailed enough to show trends in dog-hunting complaints.
So the department, assisted by Virginia Tech researchers, is conducting a study to determine how serious the problem is and possibly to suggest solutions. Preliminary findings should be available next summer.
The study has some hound lovers howling.
Kirby Burch of Powhatan County, who led Virginia's parks agency under Republican Gov. George Allen, believes Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, a Democrat, is pressuring the game department to restrict or ban hunting with dogs.
"Our worst-case scenario is . . . they are going to end hound hunting within five years in Virginia," said Burch, who represents a group called the Virginia Hunting Dog Alliance.
"Nothing could be further from the truth," Bise said. "We are only doing this because we are concerned about the future of hound hunting . . . We want to find a way to modify it if necessary -- and I underline heavily, 'if necessary' -- but we want to protect the sport."
Kaine spokesman Gordon Hickey said: "The governor is not putting any pressure on the game department" to ban or restrict the hunting.
In Virginia, hunters can go on private property -- even on land bearing "no trespassing" signs -- to retrieve their dogs. They don't need permission, but they must leave their guns and vehicles behind.
Many landowners don't like having strangers on their property, and the noisy dogs bother people and pets, said Jeff McDermottt. The semiretired investment banker lives on 40 acres on Robins Neck in southeastern Gloucester County. He represents dozens of landowners there opposed to what they consider uncontrolled hound hunting.
"It's almost impossible to turn loose hounds and not have them go all over everybody's property who doesn't want them" in that area, he said.
Some people speak of hunting with dogs as a revered Virginia tradition practiced by George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, McDermott said.
"They also practiced slavery, but that doesn't make it right. Things were different in the 1700s in Virginia than they are in 2007."
McDermott favors a system similar to one adopted in Georgia in 2003. Georgians can hunt deer with dogs on leased land of 1,000 acres or more, or on the owner's land, with permission, if it's 250 acres or more. Confining the hunting to large tracts minimizes the chance of dogs straying onto others' land.
The Georgia law also requires a landowner or hunt-club representative to get a permit to hunt with dogs, in addition to the regular hunting license. The dog permit can be revoked for habitual trespassers and other troublemakers.
"I mean to tell you, it worked like a charm," said John Bowers, assistant chief of Georgia's Wildlife Resources Division. "We don't have very many dog-deer-hunting problems any more."
Even hunters are satisfied, Bowers said. "When this law got passed, the sky was falling and we were putting them out of business. There's no more talk of that."
Last hunting season and thus far into this one, Virginia's game department received more than 900 complaints related to hunting with dogs. Some may have involved hunters legally retrieving dogs on private property.
Many complaints go to local sheriffs. Because of that and other issues, no records are readily available to prove that dog-hunting complaints are going up.
"We don't have the actual numbers . . . but we certainly do have a feel for that just because of what we're hearing from our officers," Bise said.
The problems mainly involve hounds used to hunt deer and, to a lesser extent, bears, officials say. Unlike bird dogs and retrievers, which are under close control, the hounds often stray out of sight.
In Hanover, Gray released Petey, Cindy, Chopper and Vicki, and the barking dogs dashed off into the woods. Gray followed with his Browning 12-gauge shotgun.
Gray belongs to the Newfound River Hunt Club, which owns or leases 2,500 acres near Coatesville. The group rarely has a problem with its neighbors, he said.
Gray called to the dogs -- "Hike! Hike!" -- and they occasionally trotted back to learn which direction he wanted them to run.
"They're very intelligent animals," Gray said.
The question now is whether Virginians can be as smart in helping an old sport survive in a growing, modern state.
Contact Rex Springston at (804) 649-6453 or rspringston@timesdispatch.com.
Some fear Va. may be moving to ban or restrict sport
Monday, Dec 24, 2007 - 12:09 AM
Emmett Gray with the Newfound River Hunt Club leads his dogs into a western Hanover County forest. Photo By: CLEMENT BRITT/TIMES-DISPATCH
[FONT=verdana,sans-serif] RELATED [/FONT] THE ISSUE: Officials say complaints are increasing about hunting with dogs in Virginia. WHAT'S NEXT: The state is studying the scope of the problem and may recommend solutions. THE RESPONSE: Some hunters fear the state wants to ban hunting with dogs. State officials deny that.
Hunting with dogs in Va.
There are about 230,000 hunters in Virginia.
About a quarter said in a survey they hunt deer with dogs, according to the game department.
About 3 percent said they hunt bears that way.
Deer-hunting season continues through Jan. 5 east of the Blue Ridge.
Bear-hunting season continues through Jan. 5 in some mountain counties.
On the Web
Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries: www.dgif.state.va.us/hunting/hounds
Virginia Hunting Dog Alliance: http://vahda.org
By REX SPRINGSTON
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
The western Hanover County forest was cold and damp -- a miserable place for some people, but for hunter Emmett Gray it was heaven.
Sharing his excitement were Petey, Cindy, Chopper and Vicki -- Walker hounds caged in Gray's pickup truck and howling for a chance to chase deer.
Hunting with dogs has thrilled man and beast for centuries.
"The adrenaline when you have a pack of dogs coming to you, and you hear brush breaking, and that deer's coming. . . . The excitement is just outstanding," said Gray, a semiretired businessman.
Some say the tradition could be headed for extinction in Virginia, an assertion Virginia's game agency vehemently denies.
The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries says it is increasingly hearing complaints, often from people new to rural life, about noisy hounds straying onto their land, often followed by hunters retrieving their dogs.
"I think it is safe to say that it has escalated every year for the last several years," said Mike Bise, acting director of the agency, which regulates hunting.
Much of the concern is anecdotal because the department's records are not detailed enough to show trends in dog-hunting complaints.
So the department, assisted by Virginia Tech researchers, is conducting a study to determine how serious the problem is and possibly to suggest solutions. Preliminary findings should be available next summer.
The study has some hound lovers howling.
Kirby Burch of Powhatan County, who led Virginia's parks agency under Republican Gov. George Allen, believes Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, a Democrat, is pressuring the game department to restrict or ban hunting with dogs.
"Our worst-case scenario is . . . they are going to end hound hunting within five years in Virginia," said Burch, who represents a group called the Virginia Hunting Dog Alliance.
"Nothing could be further from the truth," Bise said. "We are only doing this because we are concerned about the future of hound hunting . . . We want to find a way to modify it if necessary -- and I underline heavily, 'if necessary' -- but we want to protect the sport."
Kaine spokesman Gordon Hickey said: "The governor is not putting any pressure on the game department" to ban or restrict the hunting.
In Virginia, hunters can go on private property -- even on land bearing "no trespassing" signs -- to retrieve their dogs. They don't need permission, but they must leave their guns and vehicles behind.
Many landowners don't like having strangers on their property, and the noisy dogs bother people and pets, said Jeff McDermottt. The semiretired investment banker lives on 40 acres on Robins Neck in southeastern Gloucester County. He represents dozens of landowners there opposed to what they consider uncontrolled hound hunting.
"It's almost impossible to turn loose hounds and not have them go all over everybody's property who doesn't want them" in that area, he said.
Some people speak of hunting with dogs as a revered Virginia tradition practiced by George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, McDermott said.
"They also practiced slavery, but that doesn't make it right. Things were different in the 1700s in Virginia than they are in 2007."
McDermott favors a system similar to one adopted in Georgia in 2003. Georgians can hunt deer with dogs on leased land of 1,000 acres or more, or on the owner's land, with permission, if it's 250 acres or more. Confining the hunting to large tracts minimizes the chance of dogs straying onto others' land.
The Georgia law also requires a landowner or hunt-club representative to get a permit to hunt with dogs, in addition to the regular hunting license. The dog permit can be revoked for habitual trespassers and other troublemakers.
"I mean to tell you, it worked like a charm," said John Bowers, assistant chief of Georgia's Wildlife Resources Division. "We don't have very many dog-deer-hunting problems any more."
Even hunters are satisfied, Bowers said. "When this law got passed, the sky was falling and we were putting them out of business. There's no more talk of that."
Last hunting season and thus far into this one, Virginia's game department received more than 900 complaints related to hunting with dogs. Some may have involved hunters legally retrieving dogs on private property.
Many complaints go to local sheriffs. Because of that and other issues, no records are readily available to prove that dog-hunting complaints are going up.
"We don't have the actual numbers . . . but we certainly do have a feel for that just because of what we're hearing from our officers," Bise said.
The problems mainly involve hounds used to hunt deer and, to a lesser extent, bears, officials say. Unlike bird dogs and retrievers, which are under close control, the hounds often stray out of sight.
In Hanover, Gray released Petey, Cindy, Chopper and Vicki, and the barking dogs dashed off into the woods. Gray followed with his Browning 12-gauge shotgun.
Gray belongs to the Newfound River Hunt Club, which owns or leases 2,500 acres near Coatesville. The group rarely has a problem with its neighbors, he said.
Gray called to the dogs -- "Hike! Hike!" -- and they occasionally trotted back to learn which direction he wanted them to run.
"They're very intelligent animals," Gray said.
The question now is whether Virginians can be as smart in helping an old sport survive in a growing, modern state.
Contact Rex Springston at (804) 649-6453 or rspringston@timesdispatch.com.
"NO TRESSPASSING"
