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Dog Hunting
- Thread starter Treed
- Start date
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Wow ! Looks like I opened a can of worms here. Obviously there a varying opinions on this. Personally, I would like to see some type of managed hunt. As far as dogs altering deer movements, I guess it does happen on occasion. However I can tell you I have seen/killed deer in the same areas where I coon hunt. I think it all comes down to the hunters responsibility. It also depends on how hard the area is hunted with dogs. But all in all I believe coyotes and hogs have more effect on deer movements than the handfull of coon dogs that are in the woods now. At least thats the case in the mountains where we hunt.
GA DAWG
Senior Member
Not to mention BEARS!!! On my trail cams. When the bear move in. The deer leave out. Ive said it before so I'll say it again. Take Dawson Forest for example. It gets hammered by coon hunters and squirrel hunters and rabbit hunters WITH DOGS. Every single day its not a deer hunt. They killed probably 40 trophy bucks this year. BF Grant gets hunted just as hard if not harder with dogs for a MONTH almost before the first gun hunt. This yr in only 3 days of that gun hunt. They killed 30 something trophy bucks. I wonder why the hounds aint running these deer off???????? Could it be some people just cant deer hunt? Yes I think so.
funderburkjason
Senior Member
Some people are just blind and only see what they think to be the truth when in reality its completely different. People that dont hunt with dogs are normally against it because of varying opinions but 99% of the time dog hunters stand up for all forms of hunting. I dont believe that can be said for people who dont hunt with dogs. Just saying that when the time comes that hunting of all types gets outlawed because of all these PETA heads we are gonna wish that we all stuck togeother and supported each other.
I'm saying this as someone who has spent over half his life hunting bears, coons, and rabbits with hounds, and loving it. I wish the bear season here had the first couple weeks WITHOUT dogs. You can say what you want, but I've spent a lot of time in the woods, both behind a pack of dogs and without dogs, and when the first dog is turned loose, you ain't seeing any more bears in the daylight without dogs behind or under them. There is no chance here for anyone who doesn't own hounds to stalk-hunt bears. They should at least open early bow season/muzzleloader for bear without dogs, we have a crazy amount of bears now, but no way to hunt them except with dogs. I see several bears in daylight every year the couple weeks before bear season opens, but it's game over at daylight opening day of bear season. As soon as it opens, the woods are absolutely full of dogs and people running everywhere you go, and the bears hole up in the thickets 'til dark. I'd like to see some kind of compromise here so that everyone can bear hunt, not just houndsmen. Again, nothing against houndsmen, I'm a several-generation houndsman myself.
bullsprig1100
Senior Member
Why not allow for some sort of bear hunt with hounds on the larger WMA's, where there are limited opportunities for deer hunting anyway, and schedule them around the deer hunts. That way the deer hunters get their time in the woods as has been the case, and bear hunters get a new opportunity to run their hounds for bear, without interfering with anyone....
simpleman30
Senior Member
this is the most reasonable statement so far. i've never been bear hunting, but it makes sense. however, as an avid deer-dog hunter, i know this is NOT the case with deer. i respectfully disagree with those above that claim deer-dogging affects regular deer patterns. if you hunt less than a few hundred acres, your deer are merely passing through anyways and the factors outside of your control that affect a deer's pattern are infinite. i could go on and on with this argument but most folks' minds are already made up, despite the cold hard truth.
back to bear hunting... i suppose that the compromise is already there: you can bear hunt with dogs in south ga, just as you can deer hunt with dogs in parts of the southern zone. i agree that a late bear dogging season is a better compromise, but you'll have a hard time convincing your hound-less counterparts.
bullsprig1100
Senior Member
The only issue with the Southern Zone bear season is that it is limited to 5 counties, I believe, and there is little or no public land to hunt bear with hounds in that area. The Northern bear zone has a large volume of public land, for which a better opportunity to run bears with hounds exists for the general public. Otherwise , I would agree with your comment
Blessed
Member
First of all there is no reason for Ga to be broken into any less than 3 zones, maybe 4. There should definately be a mtn zone and the rules and dates should be different. I am not a bear hunter but I do feel like dogging bear should be allowed for at least a two week season. You could do this between bow season and rifle season and have a break in between. This would generate a lot of revenue from non resident doggers and would help control the population which has almost reached a level of out of control here in the mtns. I also feel that deer season should open mid nov. and run thru Christmas. Why should it take a hunter longer than this to kill a deer or two? If you give an idiot 4 months to walk around in the woods with a rifle and know nothing about hunting he will kill deer. Shorten it up and lets share these awesome woods we live in.
redneck_billcollector
Purveyor Of Fine Spirits
Ironically the deer hunters in north GA complain about the bear population taking all the fawns, yet they do not want the best method allowed for taking bears. I have hunted deer most of my life in areas where hounds are used for deer, coons, fox, bobcats and now hogs yet the deer hunting has only got better. I am assuming the question delt with hunting on PUBLIC land where frankly a houndsman has as much a right to hunt as any stump hunter has. In south Ga where they hunt bear with dogs, the deer hunting has only gotten better. I personally have more of a problem when folks from Atlanta come into the woods (on public land) and make racket to beat all after sunrise .....I digress though. I imagine the dog bear season would be early before most of the deer hunting really peaked, simply because the rut would kick in after the bears were all gone to bed.
I see complaint after complaint about all the bears eating most of the fawns yet those same folks who have never hunted with hounds (I grew up hunting deer with hounds along with bears with hounds in N. FLA back when bear were legal game) think that some how hounds mess up deer hunting. I have stump hunted lands in many a south GA county where hound hunting was legal (until recently , I mean the 70's, that is how alot of the hunting was done near where I live). I never understood the divide between houndsmen and stump hunters..... I own land down here and I have a problem with line hunters and poachers, all stump hunters, that doesn't mean all stump hunters are bad.....
I am also a trapper so I argued with houndsmen back in the day (once again the late 70's) and I was really confussed, 'cause I considered myself a houndsman back then also.....ol Ben Franklin had it right when he said "We must all hang together, or we will surely hang together". That could be applied to the hound/stump hunter debate, the hound/trapper debate....the debate outlawed trapping in FLA in the late 70's and guess what, the same folks that egged on the houndsmen went after them next and guess who their allies are/were...the stump hunters. The NF do not belong to any one group, they belong to us all, we keep fighting each other, the bird watchers, the tree huggers and the Atlanta urbanites will surely come after ALL hunters in the NFs if we don't all support each other.
I see complaint after complaint about all the bears eating most of the fawns yet those same folks who have never hunted with hounds (I grew up hunting deer with hounds along with bears with hounds in N. FLA back when bear were legal game) think that some how hounds mess up deer hunting. I have stump hunted lands in many a south GA county where hound hunting was legal (until recently , I mean the 70's, that is how alot of the hunting was done near where I live). I never understood the divide between houndsmen and stump hunters..... I own land down here and I have a problem with line hunters and poachers, all stump hunters, that doesn't mean all stump hunters are bad.....
I am also a trapper so I argued with houndsmen back in the day (once again the late 70's) and I was really confussed, 'cause I considered myself a houndsman back then also.....ol Ben Franklin had it right when he said "We must all hang together, or we will surely hang together". That could be applied to the hound/stump hunter debate, the hound/trapper debate....the debate outlawed trapping in FLA in the late 70's and guess what, the same folks that egged on the houndsmen went after them next and guess who their allies are/were...the stump hunters. The NF do not belong to any one group, they belong to us all, we keep fighting each other, the bird watchers, the tree huggers and the Atlanta urbanites will surely come after ALL hunters in the NFs if we don't all support each other.
GA DAWG
Senior Member
Why not have a bear dog season this time of year. Bears are hid out right now. Bear season is over for the state. Gun and bow hunters have already had a go at em. They have no idea how many bears are even in north ga. I can tell ya now the estimates are waaaay wrong. Bears have took over. Another thing. Why does bear season close the first of Dec. Anybody know? They want more killed. Looks like it would run through and end when deer season ends.
