ButchA

I have heard a lot of people talk about "running dogs" while deer hunting in Virginia. I have a ligitimate gripe....

THEY FOULED UP MY BOW HUNT THIS PAST SATURDAY! [:@][:@]

I was in my tree, and hearing deer moving around and (so I assume) coming to my doe bleats and scent bombs. I was hopefully working that big 8 pointer that I missed the shot on too.

Everything was working great and I was quiet, still, and enjoying the sunrise and early morning hunt when out of nowhere, I hear the loud baying sound, "Bowoooowwwooww" of coon hounds or some kind of deer hunting hound dogs! They were up over on the other big trail and probably scaring everything away for miles! [:@] I was hoping they'd bump a deer over to me, but it didn't happen that way.

Afterwards, the woods became dead silent. And I didn't see anything or hear anything except tree rats for the rest of the morning!!! [:@]

Butch A.

eng40sqd

Butch.... Well I am hoping that it was not deer hounds since it is illegal to hutn deer with ohunds in VA until the general firearms season. It is also illegal to use them on most if not all the public oands in VA that I know of as well. The dogs you heard might have been turkey dogs someone was useing.

If not then I feel your pain. I have hunted with and probably will hunt deer with dogs again. I dont make it a everyday practice however on a doe day espically towards the end of the season when everything is in hiding it can be productive and fun. I do feel that there are a number of groups that engage in using dogs in a illegal manner, I however feel that there are far greater numbers who do it legally.

I find myself leaning more toward the use of bird dogs when I am hunting with dogs... they sight chase and they ony run a few hundred yards before returning to where they jumped at to continue the drive. NO running around spending hours looking for dogs. I do however like the sound of a set of beagles in a good chase but most of the time I will go rabbit hunting to get that fix LOL

I guess my point is that while it sucks sometimes dont draw a bad eye toward it due to the acts of some....

I have been in your shoes recently... it was the second week of bow season this year. I was had just climbed up a tree with my new summit and was letting the woods get back to normal. I was on lucky enough to be in the woods on a job site we were working on at the time... I was left with 2 and a half hours until dark... prime time... well about 45 minutes of legal shooting light left and I hear these two beagles cold trailing way off in the distance.... well in a matter of 10 minutes they go right by my stand at 20 yards.. barking every 20 yards.... so I figure damn... my evening is shot.... I started to get down but figured I would sit there until dark just for giggles....Well at the end of legal shooting time I was packing up and had everything packed and was getting ready to lower my bow when I caught movement.. well I watched 3 of the biggest bucks I have seen in the woods work toward me. Well I could not see my sight on my bow so all I could do was watch them as they fed toward and around me.. I ended up staying in my stand a good hour past dark watching and listening to them feed around me.. I even had one of them straight under my stand eating... I had to look through the bottom part of my stand to see him

SO it goes to show you that that does not always mean the end to a day of hunting.. I have seen deer plenty of times later in the day after dogs have gone though...

As far as the two beagles they belong to a older fellow down the road and he lets the run loose all year... he isnt to happy they are devolping the property I was on as he has hunted it for years and still hunts all around it... I disagree with letting hunting dogs run loose all the time but thats just me.



p.s. are you going to be taking up Dave (vasavage) on his offer???

ButchA

Hey Eng....

Yeah, now that I think back on it, it was probably rabbit hunters with beagles (in season) or like you said, it was turkey hunters with dogs (also in season). It was just weird having the quiet morning disrupted with the baying sounds "Bowwwoowww" of the hound dogs. Everything was probably spooked for a country mile after that! [:@]

Regarding Dave's offer: I have been looking for a great place in Cumberland that is big enough for a bunch of us to do a big hunt together. The problem is that I see, is that you either have piece of Cumberland SF, or you have a private hunt club. The two butt up next to each other in some areas. Reggie (bowhuntr09) also hunts in Cumberland from time to time, so he might be able to lend a hand finding a great spot for all of us.

Butch A.

timbercruiser

I no longer deer hunt with dogs, it became impossible to lease enough land to contain the hunt. I honestly had rather hear a good race with some good blueticks and black and tans than to kill a deer. Call me crazy, but I guarantee there are a lot of nuts like myself.

Invented

Well once this Saturday gets here the woods will really be stirred up. I can care less sometimes if people hunt with dogs or not, but there are times it can make you down right pissed!!! [:@]

The redneck hunt club that hunts next to my land uses dogs, they disturb the woods more than anything, and the fools apparently can't shoot too well, last year they had shot over 25 times and then the dogs ran six deer right by me, you cant tell me those dogs were running 31 deer one shot bagged me some meat for the freezer thanks to their dogs. so it has its advantages and disadvantages.

I know some states don't allow you to use dogs right? it's a shame Virginia isn't like that

ORE

Hey y'all. Good to be part of the forum. Figured I'd go on and weigh in on this topic. I've lived and hunted in VA all my life. My experience with dogs and deer hunting has always been negative. It may work out for the group running the dogs, but a lot of people use the dogs as an excuse to trespass and run all over everyone elses land. If you happen to see them they act real nice and claim to "just be looking for their dogs." It really puts a hurting on the still hunter.

There's nothing worse than taking vacation from work to hunt, getting up at 4:00 AM, driving a half hour or more to your hunting spot, hiking in and setting up your treestand in the dark, and then as soon as the sun peeks over the horizon you've got 3 beagles running all around your area barking like crazy, pissing on the tree your in, and ruining your whole day. When you finally give up you pack up to leave only to run into the dogs owners at the road asking if you've seen his dogs and if he can drive down and look for them. What nerve! It happens all the time. My most recent example of this behavior is when I went for the special hunt in the Dismal Swamp this year. It's a National Wildlife Refuge so you can't run dogs in it. But guess what? There's a hunt club that borders it right across the canal. They let the dogs all loose on their side and point them into the refuge to run the deer out and onto their side. The Ranger told me since they didn't let the dogs loose from inside the refuge they aren't actually violating the law.........................just screwing up everyone elses hunting.

Also, hunt clubs tend to run dogs every Saturday. After a couple weeks, the deer get wise and seem to only start moving at night. You see lots of deer sign, but no deer. If you hunt during the week there's nothing moving, and if you hunt Saturday you got dogs running all over. A lose-lose situation.

I've known number of people who's policy is "If the dog's on my land it's a dead dog." Personally I like dogs and realize it's not their fault but rather the unethical practices of their owners. Unfortunately, however, I can see how someone could eventually see no other way to solve the problem.

Anyhow, that's my 2 cents on the topic.

nc bearhunter

i know what you mean about dogs in the woods i hunt western nc and the first day of bear season there were no vehicles in the area i hunt so i went to my stand about an hour before sunrise (its about a 2 miles from where i park) 30 mins after sunrise here came the dog hunters and jumped a bear about 200 yrds from my stand. this type of action gives all dog hunters a bad name since they walked right past me and just looked up and smiled when they came back after the dogs lost the bear i told them that if i saw the bear being run by the dogs it was mine they did not like the idea of someone shooting a bear in front of their dogs. i just told them tuff luck. i know that there are dog hunters that hunt with respect to other hunters but idiots like this a bad

deerdogva

hey butch, if you want to get some people together and need some dogs to hunt with let me know, i too am from richmond and hunt in a private club, but always looking for more people to hunt with and let them listen to the dogs run . good luck Jason

ButchA

Thanks....

Maybe it's just me, but I like the quiet, solitude, and peacefulness of the woods. Running dogs is probably a long tradition in Virginia, but it just strikes me as odd, that's all.

I took Tuesday afternoon off work (and Wednesday too), and hunted Amelia WMA on Tuesday PM for a change of pace. Now I know why I hate Amelia.... I watched a couple (elderly folks) with three white terriers walking down the trail, and what totally flipped me out was
THEY WERE TALKING REALLY LOUD AND CLAPPING THEIR HANDS TO THE DOGS AND CALLING THEM BACK AND SO ON!!!!!

Thank you very much.... [:@][:@][:@][:@] My afternoon hunt in Amelia WMA was officially ruined for the day.... That just totally flipped me out.... They knew I was there. I mean, they saw my truck and some other dude's truck on the other side. WTF?!?!?!?

On the other hand, I hunted back at Cumberland SF yesterday and tried a new spot overlooking a huge, freshly mowed down/clear cutted field. Nice area. Heard rumblings in the woods, but nothing came close or came out towards the field. It's a perfect spot for rifle season too.

Butch A.

deerdogva

hey butch,
have you ever been involved in a deer dog drive? you might actually enjoy it, maybe so maybe not. and when i mean a deer drive. I don't mean hunting out of a truck. Don't get me wrong I also love to still hunt. but usually only do so way earlier in the morning in the evening unless its black powder then i go all day. In the middle of the day why not get the deer moving a little so you'll see more the evening. but good hunting