Right to retrieve law in Virginia under attack

[bearsnva]

Fox hunters and coon hunters, when the chase begins on other lands, shall not follow their dogs on prohibited lands without the permission of the landowner, and hunters of all other game, when the chase begins on other lands, shall not go upon prohibited lands without the permission of the landowner to retrieve their dogs, falcons, hawks, or owls and shall not carry firearms or bows and arrows on their persons or hunt any game while thereon.

Folks- take 10 minutes to send an email or call your representatives and the delegate who sponsored this bill, Ramadan (DeIDRamadan@house.virginia.gov) and tell them that you firmly oppose HB2345 Retrieval of hunting dogs and HB2343 which allows baiting. IF you don't know your virginia representative you can find out here by simply entering your address: http://whosmy.virginiageneralassembly.gov/

If they take away this right and you haven't contacted your representative then there's no one to blame except you! We need to stick together during this time.

[bearhuntermatt]

I sent my email in the other. I just seen on facebook on several pages that both bills defeated today. Great news for this year and a bullet dodged on both.

[bearsnva]

Thanks to everyone that sent letters, emails, or made calls. Yes, 2343 which was about baiting and 2345, RTRetrieve, were both defeated in subcommittee.
2343 defeated 6-0 with one abstaining.
2345 defeated 7-0
Good news for this year but we will most surely face it again next year.

[twilli]

I disagree with the boys from Virginia. I for one if I had property would be opposed to people trapsing all around it without permission. To me that is trespassing and I surely would grant access for people to retrieve there dog or dogs. I would just want to know who is on my property and why. It's common courtesy. Here in MT we have to find the landowner and seek permission to get our hounds if they stray. I guess it would benefit the hunter to find out the land owners in his area that he is hunting and secure permission ahead of time. Lots of poachers out there at night and I definately could see some people taking advantage of accessing property to get there dogs and hunting along the way. I would also embrace baiting of bears. Its another opportunity to get more people out hunting. We have to stick together as a group of united sportsman and support each other wether its trapping bears, hound hunting, baiting or straight forward spot and stalk. We cannot bait or use hounds here in MT for bear but I sure would support either as another opportunity to use if I so choose. Just my two cents. United we stand divided we fall.

[dhostetler]

twilli, I think you misunderstand this law. Virginia and many southern states have a stronger hound hunting tradition then most other states, all this law does is, not allow prosecution for trespassing for retrieving your dogs. I agree asking permission first before entering the property would be good policy unless it's 2 AM. I have turned loose miles away from private land and ended treeing on private land and not knowing whose property it was and retrieved my dogs without permission and risked losing my liscence by doing that. I could get a landowner chip for my GPS which would take care of that but what would you do if the landowner has no listed phone number or doesn't answer your call or denies you permission to retrieve your hounds. Will you just let your dogs tree for 3 days before they come out?

[WoodwardRedbones]

I have never had a problem with a landowner in getting my dogs, they are glad enough that we do not leave our dogs on their property. I also think enough of my dogs to not leave them. They voted the right way.

[twilli]

Was not sure of how the law read regarding to retrieving your dog. But in the same regard you still are trespassing on someones property if you don't have permission thus being said many doors are closed out here in MT because dogs and cats don't always know the property lines and go over to the neighbors property and that causes problems if you don't have permission. Now I would not leave my dog on someones property but would try to contact landowner and explain situation unless it was late at night. I agree that the hunter should not be arrested if he is just going to retrieve his dog or dogs. Not everyone is dog hunting friendly as far as landowners and it is up to us as houndsman to present a positive image. If the landowner would not allow me to get my dogs I would get them and also let the warden know what was going on.

[JTG]

Many ranchers and land owners, used to not mind and welcome you, now I know many very good people that do mind and for the most part do not blame them. Sometimes there livestock gets attacked and other times they harass deer, leave a bunch of trash and some just simply do not want anyone on there land. Other hound hunters are dam good people you would not have any problem with them and do not mind them on your land. The issue is it's hard to separate the good from the bad on a moments notice. These days you will get sued in a New York minute, if you own a ranch and some trespasses, gets hurt bad, there is a good chance you will have a lawsuit against you, some insurance companies will not defend you and they say so on there policy.
In Texas they will shoot your hound in a heartbeat, if they are harassing livestock or chasing deer and sometimes for a lot less. In many states there is a leash law, a game warden informed me of that once I was trying to retrieve a hound.
I have been guilty a time or two and I hot footed in, leashed them up and got out of there. If I would have known who own the ranch, I may or may not have called them if it was real early or late but I sure would not take any game.
It's a sad deal that more and more of us are loosing places to hunt with our hounds.

[bearsnva]

Folks,
Let me make a few points here. I want to say first off I have the utmost respect for landowners property and always try to talk with them before entering their property and have never been turned down. The law says if you are asked to identify yourself you must do this, also you can not take any guns or vehicles on private property without permission. Where the problem comes in, if as said, if it is very late at night and you do not want to wake someone resting for work the next day for example. Their is no requirement for land owners to provide contact information on posted signs and a simple stripe of white or aluminum paint signifies private land so, what if the land owners lives out of state, what if the land is owned by a corporation? If you are miles in the mountains must you come out and go knocking on doors to try to find an owner that may not even live in the area before you retrieve your dog for it's own safety and well being and leave the land? The law is not about abuse at all. We have had a RT Retrieve law that has been working as fairly as possible for both land owners and dog hunters and this new law was in no way as good as the one it was trying to replace. There is no one law that is going to be perfect or totally please both sides of this argument but what we have has been studied and has been proven to be working. I talked with a lot of State legislators and after explaining the true intent of Right to Retrieve was for the safety of the animals and causing as little disruption as possible for the landowner they agreed.