Stonewall Hounds Blog

Hunting with Hounds in Virginia

Filed under: General — Cheryl @ 4:42 pm

This is a letter from Lili to our member list regarding the VDGIF survey on hunting with hounds.

Dear Stonewall Hounds Members and Friends,

Hunting with hounds has come under attack by the animal RIGHTS groups. They want to stop all hunting. They are capitalizing on the recent study by the Va. Dept. of Game and Island Fisheries (VDGIF)  and Va. Tech to examine hunting with hounds.  There is a difference between animal RIGHTS and animal WELFARE groups. Animals do not have rights like people but, of course, we are responsible for their welfare. You must understand the difference.

Please respond ( email or letter) as soon as possible to this request that I have received from Joyce Fendley, MFH of Casonova Hunt and member of the SAC. The email that I sent today is copied at the end. Also, please come to the public meeting on Sept.3 at the Appomattox High School. I will be there and probably will be speaking. We need every one of you present. 

Please take the time to email or write your support for hunting with hounds to the following address:
HoundHuntingSAC@vt.edu
or mail to Hound Hunting SAC c/o Sarah Kozlowski, 111
Cheatham Hall, Department of Fisheries & Wildlife, Virginia Tech,
Blacksburg, VA 24060-0321  

FRIENDS OF HOUNDS AND HUNTING

Animal rights groups have been active during the Hunting with Hounds: A Way Forward study process being conducted by the Department of Game  & Inland Fisheries (VDGIF) in Virginia.  The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) asked its members to inundate the Strategic Advisory Committee (SAC) with emails
& letters demanding that hunting with hounds (this includes foxhunting) be restricted or eliminated. 
· Now is the time for foxhunters to express support for our sport, our hounds, & our wonderful landowners.  Voice your opinion today.
· We have fair & reasonable laws already in place; encourage VDGIF to enforce these laws & prosecute those that do not abide by the law.

Virginia’s Right to Retrieve Law is important for the safety and welfare of hounds.  This law provides a huntsman & whipper-in the legal right to go onto posted land in order to retrieve the hounds.  If hounds chase a fox onto posted land & put it to ground hounds will stay there until someone they know retrieves them.  The huntsman and whipper-in need to be able to legally go onto posted land in order to retrieve the hounds.  This is currently in the law, & needs to stay there.  Mounted foxhunters as well as many other legitimate hound hunters have worked diligently to demonstrate respect & appreciation for landowners & their property.  Unfortunately, some unethical hunters have misused this law to deliberately hunt hounds on posted land. 

Rather than lose the Right to retrieve our Hounds, we need to work with VDGIF to ensure that all hunters understand & comply with the existing law & show their respect for Virginia’s landowners.

Improve law enforcement by increasing the number of VDGIF Conservation Police Officers (CPO’s) & coordinate with local Sherriff’s Department to providing better training for all enforcement personnel.  Again, we have the existing laws and regulations to control illegal hunting we need better enforcement. Consideration and compensation should also be provided to local Sherriff’s Departments for their participation in enforcing game laws and these funds should be allotted from the VDGIF budget.

Increase penalties and fines for game law and regulation violations to increase compliance with existing laws and regulations, especially those related to high priority issues like trespassing, violations of the right-to-retrieve law, road hunting, and hunting out of season. Repeat offenders should be dealt with harshly.  These fines should go directly to VDGIF.  With increased penalties & fines, those that break the law will suffer the consequences, not those that are hunting with hounds responsibly.

Improve record keeping on violations and complaints received by VDGIF their (CPOs), VDGIF staff, dispatchers, local law enforcement agencies, & local animal control. The SAC recommends that more comprehensive, consistent, & standardized records be kept in order to better understand where & why there are conflicts between hunters and landowners.  With better record keeping VDGIF in corporation with local Sheriff’s Departments can effectively apply additional law enforcement to areas where hunters are not complying with the law & where landowners are experiencing problems.  This could be much more effective
than passing more state laws that punish responsible hound hunters & will not correct problems with hunters who violate the law.

Email your support to:  HoundHuntingSAC@vt.edu. today.  If you choose, you may also send a letter in writing to: Hound Hunting SAC, co/Sarah Kozlowski, 111 Cheatham Hall, Department of Fisheries & Wildlife, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24060-0321.   Make sure to include your name and address.

More information available on the DGIF website: http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/hunting/hounds/

THE PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD WILL END ON SEPTEMBER 12th

HUNTING WITH HOUNDS IN VIRGINIA: A WAY FORWARD PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD
All comments, whether written, spoken, or sent via email, shall be considered part of the public record.  The comment period closes on Friday, September 12, 2008.

OPEN PUBLIC MEETING SCHEDULE

FAR SOUTHWEST August 26, 7:00-9:00PM: Wytheville Meeting Center
I-81/77 Exit 73 or I-77 Exit 41, 333 Community Boulevard Wytheville, Virginia 24382

SHENANDOAH RIVER VALLEY, HARRISONBURG August 27, 7:00-9:00PM: Spotswood High School
368 Blazer Drive, Penn Laird, VA 22846

NORTHEAST, CAROLINE COUNTY August 28, 7:00-9:00PM: Caroline Community Center
17202 Richmond Turnpike Bowling Green, VA 22427

NOVA September 2, 7:00-9:00PM: Fauquier High School
705 Waterloo Drive, Warrenton, VA 20186

MID-PIEDMONT September 3, 7:00-9:00PM: Appomattox High School
198 Evergreen Ave, Appomattox, VA

SOUTHEAST September 4, 7:00-9:00PM: King’s Fork High School
351 Kings Fork Rd, Suffolk, VA

SOUTHSIDE September 9, 7:00-9:00PM: Gretna High School
100 Gretna Hawk Circle, Gretna, VA 24577

Written comments can be emailed to HoundHuntingSAC@vt.edu or sent to: Hound Hunting SAC c/o Sarah Kozlowski, 111 Cheatham Hall, Department of Fisheries & Wildlife, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24060-0321 

Copy of Lili’s email: 

Dear Sarah Kozlowski,
I am in favor of hunting and hunting with hounds! I am master and huntsman of the Stonewall Hounds in Forest, Va. I started the hunt nine years ago from a desire to hunt my own hounds. We are recognized by the MFHA. Our club is a responsible organization with great relations with our landowners. I do all the work here on my farm and love it. The hounds are very
well maintained. To think that there are people who want to take away my right to continue makes me very upset and angry. The animal rights groups should not even be considered in this study. I think that this study has grown out of it’s original intent to work out a way to continue to hunt DEER with hounds. Please stay within the VDGIF’s initial request and ignore the idiodic pleas to stop all hunting with hounds.

Passionately,
Lili Wykle, MFH
Stonewall Hounds
PO Box 367
Forest,Va. 24551