Here we go again..please read

[Lilred]

The VA Dept game & Inland Fisheries is doin a year long study on huntin with hounds...to ban huntin w/ hounds??
I dont think so...but it's important that all huntin dog owners read or look at this link.

Huntin Hound Study

I know, yall dont live in Virginia and it dont affect you, right?
Well...you're wrong....cause this could be your state next. Bear hunters, fox, yote, coon, bobcat, rabbit & deer hunters....will all feel the push of tree-huggers and snobbish landowners.
In VA...it's growin so rapidly....that most of the "older generation" are now the minority. Sportsmen and houndsmen alike. All those "newcomers" dont want to see trucks with dogboxes, it makes their roads look trashy.
They dont want to see a hound come within 1 mile of their property. Population growth is everywhere...so keep a close watch in your state...and dont throw away the traditions with your hounds!

There are also smaller laws that can make a BIG difference that you might not know about....
In your state, is a hunting dog classified as a "companion dog"?
There is a difference! Here, a person who shoots or intentionally harms a companion dog is punished on a felony charge instead of a misdemeanor and can easily include jailtime.
That was changed a few years ago here in VA..they are listed as a companion dog...but it's a good point to prove that your rights can be trampled upon and you not even know it.

As far as the study goes, the VDGIF is tryin to see if all those complainers are full of bs I think, I'm not sure if there will be a change to our hound huntin laws next year, but I'm dam sure that I'll be there to fight it...and even if you dont live in VA, I hope you will help me by takin part in the online surveys they will be offerin soon. I dont wanna see the domino effect like the apology fer slavery thing did.

I think most of this thing is aimed at deer hounds. I know there is alot of people who have never been here and has never done it, so their opinion and words are uneducated guesses and rumors...their opinions should not count.

Yes, there are a-holes that give the sport a bad name...and it's a shame cause...done legally and correctly...it's a wonderful experience! But, look at it this way....they ban that...and whats next??? How can you control where a hound runs...on any game?
How can you retrieve any hound?
It dont affect one, it affects all kinds of hound huntin.

The first day of gun season is this Saturday...and the hounds will be fillin the woods and singin their songs. I hope hunters will think about this this weekend while their dogs are runnin. I'm headed to town today to post more flyers today, and I've already emailed the local papers.

I am beyond sick of new people tryin to change traditions and I'm tellin you...I will stand to the very end and I've got so fed up...that the next time somebody tries to take somethin as simple as a bubblegum machine from a store, I'm gonna whip their butt right then and there...lol

[DogYeller]

Red, I know what you’re talking about. Several years ago Bob “Truth or Consequence’’ Barker was on a nature hike in Hawaii, when he saw some pig hunters coming out of the mountains. They had a pig they had killed and one or two of the dogs was cut up. Poor old Bob went kinda crazy. He started a campaign to stop pig hunting in Hawaii. Barker wasn’t a resident of Hawaii but he tried everything he could to stop, hunting with dogs. He spent a lot of someone else’s money trying to get it done, even though wild pigs have destroyed much of Hawaii’s native plants and ground nesting birds.

[skeet]

Didn't want to post about it cause I was afraid I'd get lilred all fired up. She is right. If they stop this kind of deer hunting what would be next? Rabbit hunting with dogs?
Lilred, I hope this doesn't happen cause I know deer huntin with hounds is an old old thing in Virginny. But judging from some of the things that are going on in the east...I don't hold much hope for a positive finding.

[Brother Rockeye]

I think that hound huntin deer would be an unforgettable experience...never seen a deer get treed before...

seriously...fight each and every encroachment into our right to hunt with the same passion you hunt with.Every loss builds momentum and precedence.

[fabsroman]

Whatever we lose in terms of hunting and gun privileges is so hard to get back after it has been lost. Thank God for the sunset provision on the stupid assault weapon ban.

[popplecop]

Louisiana goes through this every couple of years. Only allowed in certain areas and certain seasons. If I recall the areas have gotten less and so have the amount of days. In Wisconsin and most northern states has been banned for many years. Will have to say ithas lead to any other dog banned hunting.

[Nulle]

Deer hunting with dogs has never been an option in our area and they have not pushed for more bans on the use of dogs.

[popplecop]

Just looked at my post, either my mind works faster than my fingers or I had a senior moment. Wisconsin has not banned dogs in hunting since the ban on deer hunting with dogs. That law was enacted in the early 1900s. Now anti hunters have tried to stop bear hunting a couple of times in the 20 years, but have had no luck. I continue to wish them bad luck if they try again.

[Lilred]

Update:

The VDGIF has finished the "focus group" meetins...and I thought the result were funnier an hell. They included dialogue of the conversations that went on durin these meetins...and I couldnt have said it any better myself and I thought ya'll might enjoy readin em.
What happens now is hard to say. There is alot of consipracy theories runnin round on who actually started this crap..and even the woods and waters magazine had a hilarious article on the whole thing.
I dont think all the letter writin, comments, emails and news articles will save the tradition of deer huntin with hounds tho. Virginia is in a terrible state...all the baccer farmers got pushed out of a livin with NO help hardly for the loss from the state...(yet the state got 4 billion...yep...billion ..in dollars.. from suin the baccer companies, the biggest in the same dam state in Richmond!!)...but not alot was sent the farmers way...and now all those farms are subdivisions...with...well...(I will behave) city slickers.
If anybody ever wondered what some of them confederates felt like....well this is bout as close as we can git.
I got folks in GA who would part near whoop a wrassler to see me move to GA...God ferbid, I might have to take em up on the offer if things keep goin the way they're goin round here..

anyway...here's the link:

Hound Study Summaries