Bill to ban dog hunting

[JABIII]

There are several issues that ANY hunter should have with the proposed bill. First would be 1000 acres in one tract. What about the club who has 900 acres owned by one company and beside it another 900 acres and beside that another 700 acres? That is 2500 acres that are continuous but by definition are not in one tract. Remember, when dealing with legislators you are predominately dealing with lawyers. The next issue would be that the owner of a dog who trespasses on another property is liable for civil damages. Stop and think about that for a moment. The still hunter who uses a lab to track a wounded deer and the lab gets on another persons land is subject to civil charges. No provisions as to what the civil charges may be for, just that the dog owner is liable, whether any harm is done or not. Next would be the $50 charge to be paid to anyone that catches a dog. Please note that the bill does NOT specify where the dog must be caught. Could you imagine how many people will start "earning" their weekend beer money by simply catching dogs on public roads. Remember that some clubs have huge tracts of land that have public roads running through them that anyone can travel or stop on. Next would be the fact that a landowner where the hunt started would also be liable for civil damages. How many people would quit leasing land to dog clubs knowing this? Finally, damages can equal 1/5th of the appraised value of the property. Give me a break.
Personally I am in favor of some type of restriction on the number of acres needed in order to hunt deer with dogs. The groups trying to run 200 acres with 20 walkers every single Saturday are creating a LARGE number of the complaints. The groups turning loose 20 walkers on a small tract with all intentions of running deer off their neighbor are causing a majority of the remaining problems. Eliminate these issues and you will eliminate 90-95% of the problems imho.

It would not eliminate ours. Every single time the 1000 acre +30/30 Club dog hunts, we end up with dogs on our property for the rest of that weekend, effectively shutting down whatever deer hunting plans we may have had. Many a trip has been wasted when friends drove in from D.C. or Northern VA to deer hunt only to watch walker dogs wandering around all day Saturday and Sunday.

[LC17]

Rather than dick around with arbitrary acreage restrictions, why not just incentivize appropriate behavior from the dog hunters? For example, set a penalty scheme that would make them take notice and make damn sure their dogs don't trespass on someone else's property. Maybe stiff fines on first offense (maybe $1000), even stiffer on second offense (maybe $5000), followed by loss of hunting privileges for third offense. If they are subject to those penalties, perhaps they will modify their behavior such that no one is willing to take the risk of running 20 dogs on a small tract.

[uga_dawg]

Rather than dick around with arbitrary acreage restrictions, why not just incentivize appropriate behavior from the dog hunters? For example, set a penalty scheme that would make them take notice and make damn sure their dogs don't trespass on someone else's property. Maybe stiff fines on first offense (maybe $1000), even stiffer on second offense (maybe $5000), followed by loss of hunting privileges for third offense. If they are subject to those penalties, perhaps they will modify their behavior such that no one is willing to take the risk of running 20 dogs on a small tract.

They'd just run then with no collars and say dem aint my dogs bo.

[LC17]

They'd just run then with no collars and say dem aint my dogs bo.

Ok, require collars. My point is, rather than set up some restrictive, arbitrary system, tell the dog hunters to have at it...dog hunt however you'd like. But if your dogs invade someone else's PRIVATE property, break out your checkbook, and then eventually lose your license. Put the onus on them to do it right.

[Sparkleberry Ridge Runner]

It would not eliminate ours. Every single time the 1000 acre +30/30 Club dog hunts, we end up with dogs on our property for the rest of that weekend, effectively shutting down whatever deer hunting plans we may have had. Many a trip has been wasted when friends drove in from D.C. or Northern VA to deer hunt only to watch walker dogs wandering around all day Saturday and Sunday.

Majority of problems not all problems.