Postby hawkeye » Thu Jan 03, 2008 11:33 pm
If I'm not mistaken, dogs are an extension of their owners and thus their owners are held accountable of their actions. If they're not they should be. Let's say Jamarcus has a pit bull in his yard, guard dog of course, he would never use it for fighting. One day, said pit bull goes onto neighbors property and attacks their dog, killing it. Once pryed off, it attacks said landowner, giving his arm a good mauling. Chit happens? I think not. Dog owner will face a penalty. Same should hold true for deer hunting with dogs.
I get so sick of hearing that there are a few bad apples, giving the rest a bad name. Bull crap. 95% are bad apples, the other 5% try to do it right. I would say the type of dog you are hunting has more to do with catching them than how many acres you have to hunt. Walkers will RUN a deer slap out of the county. Beagles are a bit slower and usually more catchable. The only problem with that is that most of them have had the chit beat out of them, making them scared of virtually every human being alive. Most dog hunters know full well their dogs are going on the private land, and don't do anything to stop it. Because they know the dogs stand a chance of running them a big buck they might not otherwise see. And all that money and quality deer management the landowner has been practicing for years goes right out the window. The deer will be gone only 24 hours? Right. Not if Billy Joe Bob shoots it off the side of the highway or his walkers run it into the next county, both of which happen all the time. If they get away with it one time, they are more than likely gonna try it again.
I know a group of dog hunters that hunt a BIG piece of land. They hunt primarily off 4 wheelers and every dog has a shock collar. They turn them out, kill WHATEVER the dogs run. If they get hungry, they go get lunch. When they return, they turn shockers up on highest setting and start hitting the red button. When they hear the dogs yelp, they've just located them. Nice. Actually heard from a good friend that still dog hunts some the other day that he went hunting with this group. They turn their dogs out, then go down a piece and everybody gets in a line. They all drive across a grass field, and kill whatever deer gets up. Then they waited for the dogs. Deer runs by being followed by dogs. Guy gets on 4 wheeler and chases them down. The guy is running WIDE OPEN, lets go of the handlebars, picks up rifle(still moving 40 mph) and shoots the deer. Turns out it was a spike. So you know what he did? He left it laying there. I know deer are overpopulated, but they deserve a little more respect than that. I would say these guys kill on the average of 35-40 deer per year per person. This same group had two unreported shootings last year, one guy got it in the leg with a 30.06 because he was in the line of fire, the other guy caught one in the toe because he was riding in the truck with a loaded gun and hit a bump. I've turned them in, and nothing has ever been done. And this is just ONE group. There are plenty more just like them.
Having said all of that, I'll say this. If you can't keep your dogs off of someone else's private property, then you don't need to be dog hunting. Nevermind the danger involved since MOST of the deer actually killed are shot crossing a road. I do a lot of quail hunting, and yes I use dogs. But unlike your dogs, I can control mine with a simple whistle or command. And if I am hunting private property, I obtain permission BEFORE I go. So don't play that game, you're not comparing apples to apples.
Guys, it's not the dogs fault they have a piece of chit owner that doesn't care about there whereabouts or whether they sleep at home in a warm box or in the cold woods without food because the owner was too lazy to find the dogs. And riding up and down the paved roads doesn't constitute looking for dogs. There are no telling how many dogs meet their makers each year from being shot by their owners for poor performance, getting hit on the highway because the dog didn't know that a highway is no place to take a nap, or just being left for dead. I would never shoot someone else's dog, but like the other guys said, you're lucky you got the dogs back at all...some people don't think like I do. For some of you guys, if you can catch the dogs, take them to Ripley to First Monday and give them to somebody. It's better than killing them.
We really need some kind of legislation to control these "bad apples" as you call them and to protect the private landowners who choose not to have their wildlife run all over creation. It is one of the most unethical ways to hunt deer in my opinion, and will probably still be heavily debated years from now. It ranks right up there with bating and headlighting. But to each their own I guess. Just respect other people's property, abide by the law, and try to be as ethical as you can about it, even on public land.