One Man's Controversial SportJohn Hardzog, a cattle rancher, uses trained greyhounds to hunt coyotes, a common pest for farmers. It's a practice that goes back generations, but is also opposed by some animal rights groups.
To some, hunting whitetails with dogs is a rich tradition that has been around since colonial days, and for those hunters there is nothing more exciting than hearing the music of the dogs as they get on the trail of a deer. To others, hunting deer with dogs is an annoying and outdated method of hunting that ought to be outlawed. Here is an in-depth look at dog deer hunting in America today.Read the rest of the article here. Enjoy.
According to archeologists and historians, man has used domesticated canines to hunt wild game for as long as 15,000 years. When European settlers reached North America in the 1600s, they brought their hunting dog traditions with them. Experts believe that the first authentic pack of hunting dogs in the colonies was established by Robert Brooke of Maryland in 1650.
But hunting with dogs in early North America represented a tectonic cultural shift away from the European style of hunting. For centuries in Europe, hunting wild game was a diversion available only to the rich and powerful. Game animals traditionally belonged to royalty and the landed gentry. Peasants caught "poaching the King's deer" often met their fate at the end of a hangman's noose.
In the colonies and later in the newly independent United States, wild game belonged to all free white males, regardless of their wealth or social class. Unfortunately, women and people of color had no similar rights, but that injustice was eventually rectified. The influx of Scotch-Irish immigrants to America in the mid-1700s ushered in the use of trained hounds to hunt so-called "Virginia deer" in Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.
But storm clouds began to gather early for dog-hunting in America. (Note: Hunting deer with dogs is commonly referred to as "dog-hunting.") In 1738, the Virginia House of Burgesses passed a law that required owners of deer dogs to keep their animals confined except when they were actually involved in a deer hunt. In 1876, Wisconsin became the first state to ban dog-hunting altogether. The bitterly debated Adirondack Deer Law of 1888 imposed tight strictures on dog-hunting in New York. By 1920, all of the Northeastern states had outlawed dog-hunting for deer.
DOG-HUNTING IN THE DEEP SOUTH
As many deer hunters know, dog-hunting can be highly effective. By 1900, whitetail numbers were at an all-time low. Thanks to conservation efforts, the ever-resilient whitetails made a dramatic recovery in the last century. Now there are an estimated 30 million "Virginia deer" spread across 45 states.
Today, 11 states still allow deer hunting with dogs. However, two of the states, California and Hawaii, have no whitetail populations, and state game management officials tightly control the use of dogs to hunt axis, blacktail and mule deer. So the last bastion of dog-hunting for whitetails is found in nine states that were once part of the Old Confederacy: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. Another former Confederate state, Texas, allowed dog-hunting until 1990, when it was banned due to a flood of complaints from landowners and non-hunters. Incidentally, Texas now has an estimated 4 million whitetails, which is the largest population in any individual state or Canadian province.
Deer hunters who believe that their sport is under attack may be surprised and pleased to learn that the country as a whole still overwhelmingly supports the preservation of our hunting tradition. An extensive 2008 public opinion survey indicated that 78 percent of Americans approve of continued legal hunting for wild game. Unfortunately, the same poll showed that support for dog-hunting is dangerously low.
As the Vermont legislative session drew to a close, catastrophe for the states sportsmen and sporting dog owners was averted - at least in round one of a battle with the anti’s.
As the 2009 legislative session was in its final hours, Vermont sportsmen and sporting dog owners were ambushed by last minute amendments to unrelated legislation that would have devastated sporting dog kennels throughout the state.
In HB 136, and later in HB 313, the anti’s tried to slip in language that would have classified nearly all sporting dog owners, even those with as few as just one dog, as kennels and pet dealers. This even after the language attached to both bills was removed from a senate bill earlier this year, due to its controversial nature.
Thanks to the efforts of the many dog groups who came out opposed to these efforts, including the Vermont Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs and the Vermont Federation of Dog clubs, the last minute attack was defeated.
“The anti’s tried to stifle debate on these outrageous amendments and rush them through in the closing minutes of their session,” says USSA vice president for government relations Rob Sexton. “Thanks to the efforts of Vermont sportsmen, the anti’s were unable to avoid that debate and lost.”
Despite winning round one, Vermont sportsmen will undoubtedly be under attack again in the next legislative session. This means sportsmen will need to remain on guard for future bills seeking to restrict their rights to hunt with dogs.
