Homo****to Dog Hunters

[Finfeatherfur]

The "saga" has been going on for years, and will continue - but not sure how much longer. I have no problem with dog hunters, as long as they do it where it doesn't effect our still hunting. Dang, it wasn't that long ago I was chasing deer hounds myself, and I do alot of pig hunting with dogs - after deer season.

We have called the MS wardens twice this year and they are dropping the hammer. Not sure how much more they will allow, since the dog hunters continue to drop dogs next to private land. We have nice food plots, with big bedding areas, so where do you think the deer are. They are not in the open landscape of the HNF, they are in our thickets. We witnessed some hunters drive down a public gravel road and the dogs went nuts in the truck as they passed one of our deer crossings. They stopped 50' past the posted sign and opened the box. Guess where the dogs went? I spent the next 4 hours trying to catch dogs and the game warden was not too happy with them. The first dog I caught had all the tags and stuff required by the new law. Too bad the number on the collar was answered by a woman in Tickfaw, LA.

The next number I called on the collar went to another woman who said she was hunting 5 miles from us. I tied that dog to a tree and called the warden. Within 4-5 minutes of speaking to her, they were at our gate wanting to get their dogs. They got their dogs after the warden issued tickets. If they would only do the right, and ethical thing by not turning loose where it impacts us, then we would not have a problem. This is only my opinion and wanted to get this out there to see how others would handle it, but I am not sure what else to do. We have had some conversations with other dog hunters w/o problems and it seems to be getting better, but these people turned loose knowing they were going to run across our tract.

The other guy that got a ticket from us was a local that we have had repeated problems with. When he made the comment "I don't have power steering on them" is when I called the law on him. He got popped for all kinds of stuff, including a loaded gun on the road. Being from LA, I was pleasantly surprised how the wardens have handled everything so far. As stated earlier, I am not sure how much longer they will allow the dog hunters to continue, and the judge has been hitting them w/ $200 fines at the court house. The warden told me they had 42 cases last court date. If these guys don't see that the still hunters and lease/property owners are tipping the scales their sport is in serious trouble. Our club president says talking to them is a waste of oxygen so I imagine the tensions will continue.