They blame SCDNR for not enforcing current laws
After SCDNR held three public meetings to gather input from folks on how they are impacted by deer hunters who hunt with dogs, state lawmakers closed the door on the agency’s plan to further the discussion.
When SCDNR called for the forming of a group of stakeholders, which they wanted to form from those on all sides of the dog-hunting debate, lawmakers quickly passed a resolution in favor of keeping the status quo, saying they support the current laws concerning dog driving, and stating dog hunting shall remain legal with no changes in South Carolina’s Game Zones 3 and 4.
Rep. Robby Robbins, (R) from Dorchester said the problem isn’t the current regulations, but rather the enforcement of those regulations.
“I do believe personally that it’s an enforcement issue, and how do we best enforce the laws that are on the books right now,” Robbins said.
Sen. Russell Ott, (D) from Calhoun agreed.
“What I’m not interested in is just passing new rules, regulations and laws that make it harder for good men and women to enjoy the outdoors, enjoy a sport that is cherished,” said Ott.
Game wardens are stretched thin
Of course, neither lawmaker has expressed any plans to increase SCDNR’s budget to hire more game wardens to patrol those areas. A recurring problem for landowners is having packs of dogs released either on roads that border their land, or on small parcels of land that border theirs. Then, those who are tasked with retrieving the dogs are set up miles away, with numerous hunters staged along the sides of the road, waiting for a deer to jump out of the woods. The dogs run through property that those who released them don’t have permission to hunt, or to run their dogs through, and in many cases, this involves dozens of dogs at a time.
When a landowner calls for a game warden, the game warden assigned to that area is often working another call at the other end of the county, and it takes them hours to show up, and by then, the offenders are gone, or the dogs have already pushed through, and the hunters standing along the sides of the road claim they don’t know who the dogs belong to, and the landowners are left with the burden of proof that any infraction has even taken place.
When fines are levied against dog hunters, the penalties are minimal, equating to just the cost of hunting for a day. It’s not enough to deter those hunters from repeating their behavior week after week, year after year.
The same thing happens, all season long, taking valuable resources and time away from what game wardens could be spending time doing. It’s no wonder SCDNR would like to see some changes made to dog hunting regulations.
Same old story
Dog drivers claim too many reasons to list for why they believe they should be able to continue hunting this way. They seem to have a handful of phrases on standby: “It’s my tradition.” “Dogs can’t read property lines.” “My dogs don’t hurt anything.” “They aren’t your deer.” “Don’t buy property in the middle of traditional dog hunting grounds.” “This was never a problem until Yankees that don’t understand our way of life started moving here.”
Some of those phrases are as removed from reality as common courtesy is to those who continue to turn their dogs out in the way they do. And none of them should outweigh the rights of a landowner to say what should and shouldn’t happen on their own land.
Of course, not all dog hunters do it the “rogue way.” But the regulations and fines for breaking them favor the wrong way of doing things so much that it’s only natural for plenty of folks to do it the wrong way, and many have been doing so for decades.
And it will continue that way as long as lawmakers won’t back the DNR in their quest to get the situation under control, and as long as the lawmakers aren’t interested in land owners having the right to dictate what happens on the land they own.
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