Schultzy

I'm not for it all! I have enough problems as well with stray dogs in my woods. Your in a tough position by the sounds of it, i'm guessing in the future in most states it will be done. I take my dog pheasant and duck hunting, thats what there for in my opinion.

NEW61375

"Release the hounds!!"

I love it. I won't straddle the fence about it. I am fortunate to hunt with a good group of safe hunters who have enough landand good enough relationships withthe surrounding landownersthat we canhunt without encroaching on others. That being said I do believe it will eventually be heavily regulated and one day might be gone all together, I just hope it will be a long time from now.

As far as ethics, fair chase, blah blah, blah. Dogs are just another tool in the hunters tool shed and has been there since before any of us were hunting. Hunting will never be fair, deer have a brain the size of a pear, for hunting to be fair they would have to have a lot more than that. Like maybea brain capable of complex thought capable of detailed communication with other members of its species(no, random grunting, bleating, and snort-wheezing do notcount). As it stands the deer have exceptional senses, that's about it. Which we as hunters counter by using the most technologically advanced camo, scent spray, treestands, food plots, trail-cams, fiber optic sights, range finders, aerial photos, topo maps, bait piles,every kind of deer call possible, decoys, and the list goes on and on and on and of course all of those things are deemed "fair".

Ancient cultures hunted with dogs, native americans used them as well, because theywere and still are a great tool. I am a hunter, I love to bowhunt, blackpowder, shotgun, rifle, deer, turkey, rabbit, doves, ducks(occasionally), I love it all.To those that think hunting with hounds is a walk in the park and is like shooting fish in a barrel, I say you have never hunted with hounds, it definitely is not that simple. It is just another kind of hunting, it requires different tactics and strategies and a good knowledge of the land and deer, some of the most knowledgeable guys about deer you will ever meet are good dog drivers. You want to know where they like to bed, what they are eating now or in January, where the bucks like to hole up, ask a good driver.

Many that post about dog hunting don't really know the first thing about it and their posts usually say as much. Others think all dog hunters areslob hunters because of experiences they have had or "heard of". Slob huntersare slob hunters, it doesn't have a thing to do with dog hunting, there are groups of us that are not like the stereotype (drunk, trespassing, toothless rednecks, who couldn't hunt their way out of a sandwich bag) but acknowledging that wouldn't back up any of the mud-slinging. One member actually said "I hate dog hunting and anyone who does it." Well I don't hate you brother and I'm trulysorry you feel that way.

Having hunted in VA and NC(yesGates County too)for most of my life I have seen plenty of bad dog hunters and bad bow hunters and bad black powder hunters, slob hunters come in all breeds.And being a private landowner myself I have experienced both sides of the coin with dogs and their ownersand yes we did have some guys trespassing and running dogs where they shouldn't be and yesit took a couple of seasons but we got it under control with the help of the game warden and his ticket book.

I new the reponses this thread would get in the Bowhunting Forumbefore the second post hit the screen and after a 30 page marathon dog hunting thread last year I told myself I wouldn't touch this topic again but I must at least this time to say there are those of us out here dog hunting that are not trespassing, we are not drunken slob hunters, we do care about the image we put out, we are safe, and we can hunt with or without the dogs. We like to use them, not have to use them. I love hearing them bump and run and lose out and circle back and so on and so on. It gets my heart going, I've been sitting in a tree since Sept. 8 and have done plenty of still hunting and will do plenty more before seasons endbut this Saturday will be a welcome change.

I've said it before and I'll say it again...."RELEASE THE HOUNDS!!"

Over and out.

JoeyG

New, that was an awesome post.
I live in Va. too, and yes most hunters are in hunt clubs and they do hunt with dogs. I personally do not, but have hunted with a few hunt clubs as a guest. It is intence and is not easy.
Sometimes dogs do chase deer onto our property, sometimes we even shoot the deer that thier dogs send us. I usually catch the dogs, throw them in the back of the truck and return them. It is not thier fault, and I would never shoot a dog. I let the hunters know where the dogs were heading/came from that way hopefully next time they can avoid it from happening again.
There will always be that slob group, thankfully Ive never encountered them.
On a side note, I would be pissed if they threw dogs in the woods during bow and muzzleloader, but as for gun season they can keep scaring thier deer onto my property.

wis_bow_huntr

Im not against it in any means but I really enjoy the old fashioned style of hunting. Sit and wait and an occasional drive. What ever works for you and has worked Im happy for you and hope you dont change the way you hunt.

peakrut

AHH yes the Wisconsin Way and I love it. Well put peanut

Vabowman

New, you make a valid point. I m with you on the guy that says he hated dog hunting and anyone that does it. It is hard for those who have not been raised on this type of hunting to understand it. Again, it is not my favorite way, and truthfully, I could care less if I ever killed another deer in front of hounds. With that said, I will hunt with dogs as long as it's legal. It is the friendships with othersthat I enjoy most. I love bowhunting, it is my passion. I do not blackpowder hunt, bow all the way through til gun season. For those who are against dogs and deer, i understand your feelings, but maybe you should ride down here and participate before you make that decision. We are all not poachers and rednecks.

Planter

I have no experience with dog hunting but have seen the"Pennsylvania Push" and what a sight to behold!!
I was running as fast as the deer with an orange army in pursuit. That was quite a few years ago but gotta imagine with AR it is pretty tough to count points. Be afraid... Be very afraid.
I would think that a pack of dogs tearing under your nice quiet stand sure puts a damper on the old peace and tranquility thing and pretty much finish the day.

The problem with pushed or driven deer of any kind is the number of azz shots taken and the poor performance of buckshot in general.

Igotta imagine it's a blast to hunt with dogs though and I would give it a try just for the yuk yuk.. It would not work here. The cockapoo's and labradoodles don't have enough stamina..

Vabowman

Planter, it is a sight to behold. The deer don't like it, but the dogs are in heaven, it is a big deal down here. Guys run dogs all yr long in fox pens and have field trials. It is huge here Va and NC. You would be surprised at how many big bucks don't get killed, they pattern dogs just as they do humans.

mauser06

i look forward to putting on drives every rifle and flintlock season...heck ya id let REAL dogs do the work and would love listening to them work...assuming they sing as they work, like a coonhound. next to a gobbler going bonkers, a good hound on a good track is my next favorite kinda music!

davidmil

Well being from Yankee land I did get lucky and live in Georgia for 8 years. During those years I got to become real good friends with a bunch of South Georgia good ole boys. They called me their token Yankee. I was raised in a part of the country that detested dogs running deer in the woods. In fact, I was taught to shoot on sight. I never could bring myself to do it though. I always saw them as some little kids pet just doing what dogs want to do naturally. Their mentality is not the same as we human folks.

Anyway, during my time in Georgia one of my redneck friends talked me into joining a dog club. They had 50 members and 20,000 acres of timber land as their lease. The cost to each member was only $50 a year as the head of the club was the regional manager for the paper company. We joined because the dog season was only 2 weeks long and only 4 of us hunted with the bow. That meant we had about 5,000 acres a piece to bowhunt. LOL It was a no brainer. BUT, in the interest of playing the game my buddy and I said we had to join in a couple of the hunts with dogs just to stay in the good graces of all. We also made it a point to attend every work day and do our part. Besides that, if you didn't do the work days you didn't get a key to all the locks on the chains across the gates.

I must admit, I had a ball. It was an organized disorganized chinese firedrill. I never laughed so hard in my life. I even went as far as to build a dog box on my truck and added a half dozen leashes with snap rings for gathering hounds. As was mentioned, everyone of them had a bunch of dogs. Turn loose a couple truck loads of July, Walkers etc, add 20 trucks zipping back and forth over logging and dirt roads, add in CB radios yacking away, throw in a generous sampling of Southern Drawl and names of such places as "The Coka Cola Stand", "The Dry Gultch Ridge", "Bubbas Bayou", etc etc. Well heck, it was non-stop pandamonium.

The day always started with scouts touring the dirt roads looking for big tracks or bucks themselves. (The dog hunters weren't always too particular about horns though. If their dog was running it you better shoot it. That is the only rule I couldn't follow. Again, my upbringing and I was chastised a couple times for letting deer go.) All the rest of us gathered at the same meeting point for a safety briefing, lies, tales and gawfaws and a little tobaccospitting. That get together in itself was Old South Tradition at it's best. I soon developed a fondness for these people and their way of life and choice of hunts. They were just fun to be around. It wasn't my kind of hunting, but you couldn't help but get caught up in it all. By the second year I was fully into this Southern Tradition and lost my Yankee distain for such things. I became a full time groupie for those two weeks. It's a Southern thang for sure. I never fully adopted all their principals or lack of, but I understood them for what it was. Ole South at it's fullest.

I'm back in Yankee land living now but still travel to South Georgia 2 or 3 times a year. My ole ties with these boys still are strong and I'm always treated special when I visit them. In these times of $10-20 and acre leases I still have thousands of acres of private land I can hunt if I make the trip. I just don't seem to have the time to make the trips during hunting season. Now they're over run with wild hogs. I had one small farmer with a thousand acres tell me the last time down, please come and kill some of these damn hogs. He leases 300 acres to some boys from Florida for $10 and acre but saves the other 700 for himself and friends. Yes sir, I've tried the dogs and it changed my way of thinking. The South won't rise again.... it never fell. It's alive and well.