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