Virginia Game Officials Want To Preserve Hound Hunting “Done The Right Way!”

By Tom Remington

In an article I posted the other day, I said that the state of Virginia was beginning work on dealing with hunting with hounds. I told you that I had contacted the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries to get some questions answered about the hound hunting issue.

I spoke by telephone with Bob Duncan, Wildlife Division Director, who was kind enough to answer my questions and relate to me the position of the VDIGF on the issue of hound hunting.

I first have to say that Mr. Duncan was quite emphatic and took the time to make sure that I understood that Virginians love their dogs and that hunting with hounds is a tradition that dates back to the very early years of hunting.

Hunting with hounds in Virginia involves many disciplines. There’s hunting deer, bear, foxes and many species of bird and waterfowl. Mr. Duncan even told me about his turkey dogs, reliving the days when he hunted the birds with dogs.

In reading a few news articles about the debate, I got the sense that the issue was about whether hound hunting should be outlawed. I found out that is not the case at all, at least according to Mr. Duncan.

The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries is not opposed to hound hunting, Duncan said. He emphasized the fact that the VDGIF was interested in continuing to provide hound hunting opportunities for its citizens, “but it has to be done right”.

Getting it right is the monumental task that lies ahead for not only the VDGIF but for hunting groups, hound groups, landowners, farmers and any other stake holder in the hound hunting debate, along with the state’s citizens. Once again, I will reprint what is listed on the VDGIF website about the future of hound hunting.

The goal of the process will be to provide diverse opportunities for hunting with hounds in Virginia in a manner that is fair, sportsmanlike, and consistent with the rights of private and public property owners and other citizens.

The process, which will be proposed to begin immediately, will take a multi-pronged approach incorporating biology and sociology, input from stakeholders, modeled after the Department’s Bear and Deer plans with a time line to produce recommendations and a final report by November 2008. Possible solutions that could come out of the process could include non-regulatory, educational efforts, or regulatory amendments or statutory amendments.

Duncan agreed with me when I told him this was no small task. He explained that there are problems that need addressing concerning hound hunting. No one, at least from his department, is suggesting eliminating hound hunting, only making it better in a way that brings together all of the interested stake holders to first list concerns and complaints and then address ways to resolve any differences.

Part of what is a challenge for Virginia houndsmen is the shrinking landscape. Duncan explained to me that the large land tracts, once a haven for hound hunters, have shrunk in size or disappeared altogether. Hunting clubs are losing their lands and as the landscape changes because of development and the rapid changing of land ownership, so too does the opportunity for hound hunting.

Complaints vary somewhat when it comes to hound hunting. It seems that the number one complaint with landowners is trespassing. Mr. Duncan pointed out that land trespass as a whole was a big issue in Virginia and that was true for hunting as well.

In Virginia, private land is considered closed. To hunt on non-posted land, verbal permission is required. To hunt on posted land, written permission is needed. This holds true for hound hunting as well but there are a couple issues that sometime seem to stir up complaints from some landowners.

If a hunter loses his dogs onto private land that he does not have permission to hunt on, he can enter that property, without a gun, to retrieve his dog at anytime. The other is using dogs to drive dear across a piece of land not open to hunting, onto land where hunters wait in ambush.

“It’s all about respect for the landowner,” said Duncan.

As with anything there are abuses and this seems to be the case with hound hunters as well but Mr. Duncan hopes to be able to address these issues during this time of debate and come up with solutions that will make things better and satisfy more people.

Within the hunting community, the biggest complaint seems to be disruptions caused by dogs during certain times. Efforts have been made to adjust seasons in hopes to eliminate some of the disruptions. Mr. Duncan put it best when he said, “Somehow if we could come up with about 16 weeks in November, many of our problems would be over.”

For me, the driving issue was whether or not hunting with hounds, particularly deer, was a necessary tool to manage a one-million deer population. I must say that I was surprised when Mr. Duncan expressed to me that it was absolutely necessary. “If people in Virginia could not hunt with their dogs, they probably would stop hunting,” he said.

Although Virginia has no exact means of tracking the number of hound hunters, he said through surveys and estimates by fish and game personnel, at least 500,000 hunters used dogs. He claimed that 45% of all bear hunters use dogs and there are countless fox hunters.

Duncan worries about the future of hound hunting. He told me inexplicably that if hound hunting stopped, that the state of Virginia would have a serious problem in managing every species of game that is hunted in that manner. He said that it is imperative that groups and individuals be brought together to discuss hound hunting and resolve issues.

The ultimate goal for VDGIF is to create management plans for all game that includes hunting with hounds. Duncan expressed that hound hunting in Virginia is a lifestyle. As the landscape in Virginia changes and more people move into hound hunting areas, he worries that because this wasn’t a part of their heritage, it may not be looked on favorably. This presents a problem all unto itself in finding ways to educate newcomers.

The task that lies ahead for the people of Virginia is huge. If they can pull this off and come up with good game management plans that deal with the bulk of hound hunting issues, they certainly will have my respect. Duncan said that they aren’t going to rush this. He believes that a well planned approach, get people talking and find common ground, will yield a good result.

I’ll keep you posted with updates on the progress being made.

Tom Remington