Sir you are missing the point. Its not just against dog hunters its against all types of hunting and fishing. It is a step toward stopping all types(still hunting included). NO one should be allowed to prosocute any body for being on there land but the land owner not a game warden or sheriff.Dont u think if you have a son he should be able to hunt on your land without wriiten permission and not worring about getting a trespassing ticket without you knowing about it.

Mr. Bullard. I assure you I am not missing the point. I agree 100 percent it should be the landowners decision on whether or not to pursue legal actions. with that said it is also the Land owners option on whether or not to allow you to enter there property for any reason. WHILE it is frustrating to have hounds leave your hunting area it is an issue that has no reasonable way to prevent.
In response to your post as well as the post below on why this bill is in legislature? It is sad to say that whether this bill goes into effect or not there will be more legislative bills that are sent through until a resolution is made.
As I stated it is no secret on why this bill and others like it are being pushed. Land owners are fed up with getting harassed bothered and having uninvited hunters come on to there land without permission. When I first started hunting with hounds there were issues but none were as significant as current problems. There are simply to many times that private property is the center of controversy. As you stated the land owner should have the option to prosecute. Same token they have the option on letting you hunt there land or even enter there property for any reason. A small few hunters fill that since there are no posted signs every 10 feet then it is OK to drive into a landowners property and shoot deer or whatever the reason without first obtaining permission.
Please understand that I am against this bill. I feel that it is a doorway to the end of hunting of all kinds. There are options already in place that allow a land owner to protect there land and not have to put fourth any effort at all. If the land is registered with the NCWRC they enforce the trespassing and hunting on the property and the land owner has little to do other than contact request and register there land.
My point is why should a land owner need to do this in the first place. Lets Say you own 1000 acres of land and spend 5 years with quality deer management programs that set you up with some really nice bucks on your property. Now this is your land you own it and control it. On the last day of deer season Along comes Joe Smuck hunter who sees a very healthy large rack buck standing in a small field food plot you established and have maintained for the 5 years, Joe smuck rolls down his truck window and shoots the deer and runs out to the field and leaves with the deer that you had let walk all year long anticipating that the buck would be there next year as a trophy worth writing home to mom and DAD and Grandpa or kids ETC. How is this in any way fare to you as the landowner.
Before anyone lashes out and says well the land should be posted and marked no hunting. Yes I agree to a point but in the same token why should i as a land owner have to purchase signs and place them every 10 feet just to protect an investment made in QDMP. It is my land I should be allowed to enjoy it manage it and hunt it with out worry of Joe Smuck.
I was raised that if you saw a deer on someone else's property to look at it smile at the Beauty of Gods Creation in a awesome deer. Then find the land owner and ask for permission to hunt, If turned down move on. I see this as proper edicate for hunting. Granted when I started hunting there were a lot less hunting clubs and lots of Game Lands or public hunting land. Also landowners were in most cases glad to allow you to hunt so long as you followed there rules and request of what to shoot where and respected there property.
Over the years the few hunters who don't give a crap has made it to where farmers don't want anyone on there land. Private owners don't allow it and you have to have a bundle of cash every year to pay club fee.
My suggestion relatively speaking is lets approach this and any other bills that come about ( AND THERE WILL BE MORE) in a manner that alleviates the problems that got us here in the first place.
It don't matter who causes a problem or who tears a field up or shoots a cow and or kills a 6 year old buck that has been allowed to grow for the purpose of taking a trophy, The houndsmen are going to get blamed. THE still hunters will gain access to our land for tree hugging and then they will be attacked for the actions of others because there want be any houndsmen around to blame. That will then lead to no hunting.
I don't have the solution but feel that instead of a defensive approach. As an old saying goes cant beat em join em. In this case where you have permission to hunt you myself and anyone who loves to hunt any game make it known show the land owners we are here as friends and are willing to help resolve the complaints rid the bad apples so to speak. Approach the bill in a positive but assertive manner to go back in time where getting permission to hunt land for the upcoming season was as simple as knocking on a door with a smile and a polite request giving the owners peace that as a hunter you will take care of there land and respect any wishes even if it means letting a 4 year old 10 pointer walk. you got a place to hunt and run hounds, that's the end goal anyhow right,,,,,,?????????????????????????? Hope this sounds better for my point...

Marc you are right a few bad hunters cause problems for all hunter, but i assure you most of the farmers are not for this bill that is something Mr. wooten made up. I fox hunt on the outside run broke dogs the question i have besides paying to hunt is a man that goes to duck impoundments or a fox pen going to have to have wriiten permission. Also i agree with you a person should not be where he or she is not supposed to be in saying that why is this bill just pertaining to hunting or fishing why not all people trespassing weather horse riding, riding 4 wheelers or just walking around. TRESPASSING IS TRESSPASSING

Exactly. I am not writing anyone any permission slip to hunt on my farm. If I tell a fellow he can hunt, he can hunt and the game warden can keep his nose out of it.

I will decide who does and who does not.

As for Mr. Wooten, I wrote him and I did get a reply. I will not post it here as I did not ask him if I could but I can give you the gist of it without betraying a confidence, if it is in confidence.

Basically what he says is that the membership voted for this type of legislation years ago and he and his board have no right or power under the bylaws to go against that vote. He says that the vote has been affirmed every year for years.

So according to him, it is the wish of the membership and he has to follow their wishes.

I am not sure that I swallow that. If the members voted to burn the company down, would he? I doubt it.

Frankly I think hunting with hounds will be over in 5 years or less with other forms to follow close behind.

The reason I think so is partly because of what I read on Speeddog and in particular on this thread.

Your post is excellent, but there are others here that talk about how hard it is to hunt on another person's land, how everyone else has ruined it for them and then in the same post talk about closing off their land and prosecuting trespassers.

You don't get hospitality if you don't show hospitality.

And I am speaking as a person who does own a sizable tract for the area I live in.

The only signs are the one that marks the end of the state road and the beginning of mine so that some smart jerk can't stand in my road and tell me that he is on a public road.

And a sign at my kennel so I can enforce my right to keep trouble makers away from my kennel.

Protect your privacy. Replace Google with IXQUICK at www.ixquick.com.


If we do not wish to lose our freedom, we must learn to tolerate our
neighbor's right to freedom even though he might express that freedom
in a manner we consider to be eccentric.

EVERYONE,

WHILE I AGREE WITH A LOT OF WHAT HAS BEEN SAID REGARDING THIS PROPOSED LEGISLATION,CERTAIN FUNDAMENTAL QUESTIONS REMAIN,AT LEAST FOR ME.

THE BIGGEST CONCERN/ QUESTION I HAVE IS THAT THIS SEEMS TO BE PROCEEDING WITHOUT WHAT I FEEL SHOULD BE A NECESSITY, THAT IS,AN ACCUMULATION OF DATA EXPLAINING WHY THIS NEW LEGISLATION IS NECESSARY.HAS WRC OR ANY LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY PROVIDED ANY INFO OR STATS SUCH AS ARREST/ COMPLAINT RECORDS TO SUBSTANTIATE THE NEED FOR WHAT I CONSIDER TO BE ELITIST DRIVEN UNNECCESSARY NEW LAWS.

MAYBE THIS INFO HAS BEEN PROVIDED,BUT I FOR ONE HAVE NOT SEEN IT.

ELITISM,THE NEED FOR IMPORTANT WELL PLACED PEOPLE TO TELL THE REST OF US HOW TO LIVE IS WHAT IS IN PLAY HERE.

JOHN M. MORSE,JR.

It all goes back to ethics and how you were raised! Hopefully you were taught as I was that respect is the most important thing and that ALL LAND SHOULD BE TREATED AS IF IT WERE POSTED!! Whether it has a sign or not. I run dogs outside as well and I have to go hours from home now to do that because of development in my community. I also share a family farm with my daddy and we own several tracts of land. I can't cast here for the fear of my hounds getting on someone else's land. I have already pressed charges on a man that shot and killed one of my dogs as I watched (waiting out by the road for him to cross out) and lost the case. I too, am having to fence in one of our farms to have a hunting enclosure for the pleasure of being able to run my dogs as I please. Oddly enough, as I am putting up wire just the other day a lady stops to ask what I am doing. I tell her and she replies to "oh we were just wondering and if you see hoof prints in the paths, its just me riding my horses". This lady has no permission and I don't even know her. Anyway, will I be able to prosecute her for tresspassing? Oh ye, the tract of land is registered with WRC!!Is this equal rights or what??

I don't like these bills and don't know why anybody should. I have contacted my Reps. and Sentor on my thoughts.

That said it will not be the end of the world either, here where I hunt and run my hounds we have had a written permission law to hunt since 1986, along with no road hunting and no loaded firearm outside a vehicle and not within reach, door closed.

I have my general insurance agent shopping for a replacement insurance policy.

I have notified Wooten that I will cancel as soon as I find a suitable replacement.

I live in NC but do all of my hunting in VA but that could change.

Besides, it is the principle of the thing.

We should also point out to our representatives that when we voted for them we thought they would pass laws that enlarge our freedoms, make government less intrusive.....not this kind of crap.

My premium with them is only $1,200 a year, but just think that if we get 100 people with that size premium to cancel, it would be a loss of $120,000 in sales.

If we could get 1,000 to cancel it would be a loss in sales of $1,200,000.

We should make every hunter we know aware of what they are doing.

CSSJR

Protect your privacy. Replace Google with IXQUICK at www.ixquick.com.


If we do not wish to lose our freedom, we must learn to tolerate our
neighbor's right to freedom even though he might express that freedom
in a manner we consider to be eccentric.

Whether it will be the end of the world is not the question.

There are laws that make this new proposal unnecessary.

We voted for a conservative government in the belief that we would get less government, laws that would expand our freedoms rather than burdening us with more government red tape, and instead we get this sort of thing.

And who is going to enforce it?

I have hunted 12 months a year, if you count running hounds as hunting, for 70 years and I have only run into a game warden 3 times other than at game commission meetings.

So we are going to hire hundreds or thousands to enforce this new law?

CSSJR

My insurance agent has informed me that they do not have an insurance carrier who will cover hunting accidents on my farm.

The only way I can get insurance is to sign an agreement excluding any hunting accidents.

I have no exclusion for hunting accidents in my Farm Bureau policy, so this is something to think about.

If anyone knows of an insurance carrier that does not require a hunting exclusion, please advise.

I am not really concerned about my neighbors but a trespassing hunter can sue for injury and that is something to consider.

CSSJR