When most people envision a deer hunter, they picture someone covered from head to toe in camouflage, sitting in a tree, waiting for their quarry to pass by. This is the deer hunting that television shows and magazine articles oftentimes portray. There is another deer hunting method that often goes overlooked — hunting with the aid of dogs.
Many types of hunting are accompanied with the participation of canines. Rabbit hunting, raccoon hunting, bear hunting and bird hunting often go hand in hand with man’s best friend, but none of these creates the controversy that hunting deer with dogs does.
Lance Thomas, a junior in civil engineering and an avid dog-hunter, said the controversy between dog-hunters and still-hunters stems from the competitive nature of the sport. Hunters are continually attempting to outdo each other and their own personal records in terms of antler-size.
“It all comes down to horns,” Thomas said. “If deer didn’t have horns, then there would be no controversy between dog-hunters and still-hunters. Most people who oppose dog-hunting try to tell me that the dogs do all the work. The corn that these hunters bait the deer with does the same thing. It pulls the deer out of the woods.”
Dog-hunting is a tradition that is deeply rooted in the south. Although it is banned in most states, it is still legal in parts of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Virginia.
“It just gets your heart racing hearing a pack of dogs running a deer,” Thomas said.
Many still-hunters, or those who do not hunt deer with dogs, find dog-hunting as a hindrance to what they are trying to accomplish by deer hunting.
Zack Schmidt, a junior in sociology, said, “I just prefer to sit in the deer stand and sit still and maybe read a book. Still hunting is more peaceful to me honestly. It is pretty frustrating when I go up there [to deer hunt], and the only thing I see and hear is dogs.”
Although Schmidt said he feels like there are good dog-hunters out there, his experiences with them have not been pleasant.
“My experience with dog-hunters has shown that they are irresponsible,” Schmidt said. “They turn their dogs loose, and they run so far. Who knows if they will ever see them again?”
Dog-hunters train their dogs to run deer though, and a deer’s path is not something that can easily be predicted. Dog-hunters understand that people might get frustrated when their dogs run away from them, but they do not believe that they should be punished for this.
“A dog can’t help where he’s going to run,” Thomas said. “A dog just does what he is trained to do.”
Regardless of the controversy that stems from dog-hunters crossing paths with still-hunters, the future of the sport remains unseen. Each year, still-hunters go to hearings or start petitions to ban dog-hunting or put tougher restrictions on the sport. Georgia has already required dog-hunters to buy special permits to hunt deer with dogs.
“I’ve killed more deer dog-hunting than I would have still-hunting,” Thomas said. “I’ve always seen bigger deer killed dog-hunting. [Still-hunters] don’t need to knock it ’til they’ve tried it.”
