This was posted on speeddogs.net and another site that i'm on called southern dog hunters earlier
Panel reviews dog-hunt proposals
By REGGIE PONDER
Staff Writer
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Pasquotank officials got their first look this week at two proposals designed to end a drawn-out dispute over deer-dog hunting, one that divides the county into two hunting regions, the other requiring landowners to post their property and hunters to tag their dogs.
A county commissioner said the Board of Commissioners hope to reach agreement on some type of dog-hunting plan within the next two months.
"My gut feeling is that we're on the right track but that we need to be sure that everybody on both sides of the table has a chance to digest this more than at the present time," said Commissioner Bill Trueblood, a member of the board's special projects committee.
The committee on Tuesday took its first look at two model ordinances drafted by Keith Teague, an Elizabeth City attorney who's also a rural landowner concerned about hunters running dogs on his property.
Teague told the committee both options are designed to balance the interests of landowners who want protection and sportsmen who want to hunt.
The first option, based on Chowan County's ordinance, divides the county into geographical areas where deer hunting with dogs is allowed and areas where it's prohibited.
Teague's map, which he said was based solely on population density, allows deer hunting with dogs in the northwestern and southeastern extremes of the county and bans it in the more densely populated middle.
But when Grover Sanders, president of the Weeksville Hunting Club, objected that some hunting clubs would be "completely wiped out" under the proposed map, Commissioner Marshall Stevenson said the board would be responsible for drawing the boundaries if they chose the map-based approach.
"This is just Keith's suggestion," Stevenson said.
Teague said the advantage of the geographical approach is "it doesn't require any interpretation."
That very simplicity could be the plan's downfall, however.
Randy Meads, president of Dry Ridge Hunting Club, pointed out "dogs are going to run all over everywhere." He said bluntly that the plan would never work.
Likewise, Wade Reid, a farmer who recounted incidents in which hunting dogs had chased his cattle into the road or even attacked the animals, said the map-based option would protect him but might not help other landowners with similar problems.
The second, somewhat more complex, proposal would require landowners to post their land with signs prohibiting both the chasing and hunting of deer with dogs. In addition, hunters would be required to tag their dogs and hunt clubs would have to register their members' names.
The penalty for a first offense under either proposal would be a $100 fine, with punishment rising to the misdemeanor level upon multiple violations.
"I don't want to see somebody convicted of a crime because their dog went on somebody's land the first time," Teague said.
Teague expressed gratitude for the hunters with dogs who "are making every effort to clean things up" and "police their own people" in order to avoid a statewide ban.
Sanders agreed a few renegade hunters are causing problems for everyone. He said hunting clubs are weeding the troublemakers from their ranks as fast as they can.
"They ought to be hung and I'll make the noose," Sanders said of those running dogs where they're not wanted.
Both Sanders and Meads objected to language in the proposed ordinance that targets deer hunters.
Teague agreed the ordinance could omit the word "deer" entirely.
Meads also characterized the club registration requirement as discriminatory. If a hunt club has to provide information about its membership, so should the Lions Club or any other club in the community, he said.
"Don't discriminate against me," Meads said.
Doug Lane, a landowner who has led the charge against hunting with dogs, said there were advantages and disadvantages to both proposals. Hunters might have a harder time hunting under the second option, he said.
"We're trying to find a balance," Lane said. "There's got to be a compromise."
"I'd be happy to live with or try either one of them," Reid said of Teague's proposals.
Trueblood said the commissioners would need to talk more after digesting the material. But he said he didn't think the first option would work.
He suggested another meeting of the committee in 30 to 60 days. In the meantime, all the commissioners can begin reviewing the proposals, he said.
"We're looking for a compromise," Trueblood said
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