Virginia’s hunting-dog law finds itself in the cross hairs | HamptonRoads.com | PilotOnline.com

By Lee Tolliver

The Virginian-Pilot

© October 21, 2008

John Morse eased his pickup down a lumpy fire road that squeezed deep into a thicket of rural Chesapeake woods.

In a holding box in the truck bed, five of his hounds were going nuts as he stopped briefly to talk to a couple of camo-clad friends.

On this unseasonably warm fall morning, Morse and several members of Jim’s Hunt Club were about to take part in a Southern tradition that has been passed on to them by generations of hunters – using dogs to flush out and chase deer and other game.

It’s a heritage that faces growing criticism from property owners who say a Virginia law – the only one of its type in the country – is allowing unwanted hunters and dogs to intrude onto their lands. Hunters worry that people are trying to do away with their sport.

At a highly anticipated meeting on Thursday in Richmond, the results of a yearlong study on the conflict will be presented to the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries’ Board of Commissioners.

But Morse and his buddies didn’t have time to worry about any of that as they prepared for a morning hunt. Morse backed into a narrow cut in the tree line, got out of the cab and called on the radio. Full Story

Virginia’s hunting-dog law finds itself in the cross hairs | HamptonRoads.com | PilotOnline.com.