The VDGIF meeting was held today for the presentation of the "Hound Hunting Study" results to be presented to the Board!!
The presentation was the same as what is published on the website!
There was a large contingent of hunters there & quite a few spoke! The speakers represented VAHDA, Masters of Hounds Foxhunters, Va Bear Hunters Association, Va Deer Hunters Association, and numerous individual speakers. In addition, a couple of the "SAC" Committee members also spoke!They addressed the issue of other members that they felt were not there to preserve hunting with hounds!
Almost everyone cautioned the VDGIF about the validity of the data, outdated technical data, and having some "handpicked" members to push the agenda forward!
None of the hunters wanted any changes to the Right To Retrieval law, and some SAC members thought it wasn't going to be touched; only to find out at another meeting that there were other forces at work to recommend change to the "RTR"!
Needless to say, the hunters felt like there was "collusion"! I do not know if there was; but some question as to the makeup of the "SAC" certainly could be brought forward!!
The most important issue brought to light is the necessity to HIRE,TRAIN & RETAIN, the Conservation Police Officers (Game Wardens) to enforce existing laws and to try and eliminate those from hunting that give us all a bad name & reputation!! This is something we all should support!
And another major issue; one that requires nothing more than common courtesy, is to respect the landowner, be courteous, civil, and work together in the community and gain respect from the landowners & others within the community in which you hunt!
I do not know what the outcome & recommendations from the Committees to the VDGIF Board will be; but rest assured, THIS PROBLEM IS NOT GOING AWAY!! You might as well get ready for ROUND 2 and this time we are going to have to be heard at the VOTING BOOTH, in order to protect our rights as Hound Hunters!!
It may be time for a "LEGAL DEFENSE FUND" to be established to help hunt clubs, hunters, & houndsmen in upcoming legal battles; because they will be forthcoming!! We may never have the $$$ that HSUS,PETA,& politically connected rich folks have; but we're gonna have to take every legal measure to protect our rights!!
Good Luck, God Bless, & Good Hunting with your Hounds!! Enjoy it every day; as we do not when it may be our last day!!

ALLAN BISHOP
(JABBER JAW)

October 23, 2008


RIGHT TO RETRIEVE: Va. hunters speak out for law

By STEVE SZKOTAK
Associated Press Writer

RICHMOND — Hunters defended a Virginia law Thursday allowing them unlimited access to pursue their hounds when the dogs run astray on private property.

A hearing on changes to the so-called “right-to-retrieve” law attracted nearly 150 people, many in hunter orange caps and camouflage. Several speakers forcefully spoke against any effort to soften the law, which has run afoul of landowners who object to uninvited hunters traipsing on their land.

Speakers accused the state Department of Game and Inland Fisheries of stacking the deck against hunting interests, hewing an animal rights agenda and conspiring to curtail or limit dog hunting, as several other Southern states have done in recent years.

“I am afraid we are witnessing the beginning of the end of hound hunting in Virginia,” said Warren Radford of the Virginia Bear Hunters Association.

The department’s board denied any hidden agenda and said hunters should recognize and attempt to correct the abuses of a few to preserve the rights of all hunters.

“To say I’d be a part of a conspiracy, it would be a lie,” board member Richard E. Railey Jr. said. “We’ll never accomplish anything if we don’t agree there is a problem.”

The board accepted a report on hunting with hounds but did not act on any of the proposals. The most contentious, the retrieval law, would require action by the General Assembly on what many consider to be the most absolute in the country.

The changes would require hunters to make a “reasonable attempt” to contact a landowner before retrieving their dogs; land that was not clearly posted as private property, however, would be presumed to be open.

A coalition of hound hunters — mounted fox hunters to sportsmen who tree bears with radio-collar dogs — has mounted a fierce campaign to blunt the proposals, which include ideas such as the hiring of additional enforcement officers and dog tagging.

They contend their heritage of dog hunting, which dates to Virginia’s founding fathers, is threatened.

“We organized to resist your efforts to destroy hunting with hounds in Virginia,” said Kirby Burch of the Virginia Hunting Dog Alliance, which claims 35,000 members.

Hunters who use dogs to track deer, bears, raccoons and other wildlife argue their dogs need to be retrieved for their own safety. A trained dog can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars.

But even fellow hunters have demanded action to amend the right-to-retrieve. Still hunters, for instance, contend their own stealth-based hunts are disturbed by the baying of hounds.

“If you want to know why people are upset, I’m here to tell you why,” said Bobby Smith, a hunter who said he owns 438 acres in Rockridge County. “I’m not against hunting with hounds. I’m against (hunters) going on my property.”

State wildlife officials, who described the issue as the most divisive in their memory, have said they want to deal head-on with complaints about the sport before they have to follow Texas, Alabama, Georgia and other states that have restricted hound hunting.

While animal rights activists have had a say in those battles, the loss of habitat has been a primary source of conflict between hunters and landowners.

The Humane Society of the United States and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals spoke against the right-to-retrieve law, and the Humane Society placed ads in several newspapers to highlight what it said were abuses of hunting dogs.

“Is this the face of a time-honored tradition?” the ad asks under a photo of an emaciated hound.