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.

[Finfeatherfur]

Too funny!!! - Just saw where the site has blocked the title of the National Forest which is in southwest MS. HomoC H itto!

[BIG RED 1983]

Hunted a few times this year with my in laws in ms and they are having the same problem do not know if they called the wardens on them but tied a few to trees and told the guys if they catch their dogs again they will call the wardens the guy i spoke to was nice about it but the power steering comment would have pi$$ed me off too

[Raymond]

Call the dog catcher instead of the game warden, I'll get the number of the one in south lake charles hasslin me and pm ya.

[Ray]

We had issues up in Merryville and Bancroft back in the 80's.
We had to quit hunting deer due to the dogs.
When we caught dogs trailing deer and called the owners,
the sometimes said the dogs were let out 2 or 3 days before
and never could find them.
That was before tracking collars.
What everyone would do is after lunch, all dog hunters go in
different directions and surround an area and find each others
dogs. They used CB's to call each other with who had who's
dogs.

[Finfeatherfur]

Franklin County Mississippi doesn't have a dog catcher! He would be a very, very busy man if he existed!!!! LOL!

[Marshrat]

We have that same problem on our lease between Jena and Olla. I was leaving camp the last time I was up there and saw 2 truck loads of dogs being released on our private lease roads. One of the men in the second truck looked like he came over on the Mayflower.

Some of the guys on our lease have contest to see who can "capture" the most dogs once they start them running.


Warren

[Gerald]

Here is a question.......

If you catch a dog on your property: Can you legally keep the dog, sell the dog and/or charge the owner a "finder's fee" of say $ 100+?

[RaginCagin]

You are a better man then me. I grew up dog hunting also, but i give them one chance to cross me at my property. If i can catch the dog and it has a collar i call the owner. If it happens again i will let you figure out what happens. I spend to much time and money to hunt and usually only get the weekends that gives me 3-4 hunts a week. When dogs come in and run deer and ruin my hunts it really ticks me off.

[Finfeatherfur]

Originally Posted by Gerald

Here is a question.......

If you catch a dog on your property: Can you legally keep the dog, sell the dog and/or charge the owner a "finder's fee" of say $ 100+?

Short answer is "NO"! The same time they made the law to protect the private landowner from the dogs, they also made a law to protect the dog owner - which I completely agree with. It is a $1000 fine for tampering or removing a collar on a dog, an $1000 fine for shooting or injuring a dog, plus restitution to the owner.

I am 3 for 3 on hunting Sundays. Caught my 3rd dog today on the same tract of land and called the game warden. Drove out, took his pictures, issued a citation to the owner. Pretty funny since the warden has a history with this guy spanning 10 years. He also made a good case last night for a spotlighter, which ended up being convicted felon in possesion of a firearm and had 2 active warrants out of Baton Rouge. That guy is going to the "big house" since they filed all the charges through federal court.

And to set the record straight, 2 of the 3 dog hunters I had cited were from LA, and this knuckle head last night was from Zachary, LA.

["W"]

Just chooot the dog and let lie

[wtretrievers]

How does this work if it's all private land (no state land), There is a club that runs dogs next to us & their dogs are always on us. Everything is private land for miles.

[Duck Butter]

Originally Posted by wtretrievers

How does this work if it's all private land (no state land), There is a club that runs dogs next to us & their dogs are always on us. Everything is private land for miles.

Its all perfectly legal.. for now. I know my opinions don't count for much but the way I feel is we are all hunters and we are fighting against other hunters which is not good. I don't like to dog hunt, but to each his own. If 'we' as hunters start going against each other and some form of hunting gets banned then its downhill from there on out. For the record, I would rather watch reruns of The View than sit on stand overlooking a cornpile, but I would never want something to be banned (except for Mojo mallard spinning wing things, you can ban those, they killed duck hunting)

Perhaps there is a better solution than to ban something, like issuing a fine if your dog is on someone elses property that may be the best method

[simplepeddler]

FFF.......I have to commend you on doing the right thing here.
I grew up dog hunting, and while I do not do it anymore, I damn well respect the tradition and legacy that it has.

It's a shame that some feel the need to kill the animal. There are guys out there that take great pride in a good dog.

It's a shame they have to suffer for the morons that have 50$ dogs and do not care if they are killed are not.

There is no easy answer to this one and I am not burdened with all the facts for sure.

But killing the dogs will only escalate the anger on both sides.

[Ragin_Cajun]

Take the GPS dog collar off and throw it in the river......bring the dog 30 miles away and drop it off! Solved!

[Finfeatherfur]

Originally Posted by wtretrievers

How does this work if it's all private land (no state land), There is a club that runs dogs next to us & their dogs are always on us. Everything is private land for miles.

Jeff, not sure if it helps you at all in your situation. The law has to do with the permitting of the dog hunters and the HNF. This tract of land is 305 acres completely surronded by the HNF, so they turn them loose and our tract is a huge bedding area. They surround us and get on the roads. The law states if the dog is turned loose on HNF, they have to keep it on HNF. The minute the dog is on private property, they are in violation. Technically, I could get the dog and photograph the collar with name, permit number, and so forth then go to the court house and sign an affidavit to charge the owner. I however, call and wait for the warden to get there since he can serve the owner of the dog and not have to wait for the court to track him down to serve him which could take a whole year to do. It is helping!! We no longer hear the threats and "10' tall and bullet proof" comments and the confrontations are almost completely stopped.

I think the biggest tool we have this year is the green paper with the big black permit numbers hanging in the truck windows. Accountability is a wonderful thing!!!!

[Finfeatherfur]

Originally Posted by simplepeddler

FFF.......I have to commend you on doing the right thing here.
I grew up dog hunting, and while I do not do it anymore, I damn well respect the tradition and legacy that it has.

It's a shame that some feel the need to kill the animal. There are guys out there that take great pride in a good dog.

It's a shame they have to suffer for the morons that have 50$ dogs and do not care if they are killed are not.

There is no easy answer to this one and I am not burdened with all the facts for sure.

But killing the dogs will only escalate the anger on both sides.

We had a member catch a dog 2 weeks ago that really should have been put down. It was horrible, the warden came out charged the owner, then refused to give him the dog. Sent it to Natchez for care/treatment or the other alternative. The owner accused our member of doing that to the dog and he was a real POS. After that incident, I made sure to video us giving the dog water yesterday while it was tied to the tree so they don't call the SPCA on us or something like that.

[Duck Butter]

Originally Posted by Finfeatherfur

Jeff, not sure if it helps you at all in your situation. The law has to do with the permitting of the dog hunters and the HNF. This tract of land is 305 acres completely surronded by the HNF, so they turn them loose and our tract is a huge bedding area. They surround us and get on the roads. The law states if the dog is turned loose on HNF, they have to keep it on HNF. The minute the dog is on private property, they are in violation. Technically, I could get the dog and photograph the collar with name, permit number, and so forth then go to the court house and sign an affidavit to charge the owner. I however, call and wait for the warden to get there since he can serve the owner of the dog and not have to wait for the court to track him down to serve him which could take a whole year to do. It is helping!! We no longer hear the threats and "10' tall and bullet proof" comments and the confrontations are almost completely stopped.

I think the biggest tool we have this year is the green paper with the big black permit numbers hanging in the truck windows. Accountability is a wonderful thing!!!!

Good for you, you are taking it much better than most people would. Most people try and take the law into their own hands and start shooting dogs. Not good for either side, just makes the dog owners that much more angry at the landowners.

[Duck Butter]

Originally Posted by Finfeatherfur

We had a member catch a dog 2 weeks ago that really should have been put down. It was horrible, the warden came out charged the owner, then refused to give him the dog. Sent it to Natchez for care/treatment or the other alternative. The owner accused our member of doing that to the dog and he was a real POS. After that incident, I made sure to video us giving the dog water yesterday while it was tied to the tree so they don't call the SPCA on us or something like that.

Most deer dogs I have ever seen were in very poor condtion

[Finfeatherfur]

Originally Posted by Ragin_Cajun

Take the GPS dog collar off and throw it in the river......bring the dog 30 miles away and drop it off! Solved!

Nope, it's not the dogs fault, he is just running a deer which is perfectly legal and actually fun........unless you are trying to still hunt a big buck!!!

It is a $1000 fine to mess with a collar and if it is a GPS collar and not a telementry collar, the handheld unit can have the last location of the dog when it was turned off. I know because I own them and use them on my dogs. I just want the dog hunters to run the dogs where they do not interfere with our property. They have 189,000 acres in the HNF, so why do they continue to run on a little section of a corner of HNF that has private land all over?????? Because they know we plant and manage a good herd that's why!!