The petition
Please join us in trying to make Arkansas Deer Hunting more enjoyable. This petition serves as the beginning of our fight to limit or ban the use of Deer Dogs in the state of Arkansas.
I was born and raised in Arkansas and have grown up deer hunting in the Southern part of the state around El Dorado. I would like to take this opportunity to express my feelings on the deer dog issue in Arkansas. I am strongly opposed to it in any part of the state and feel that it is both unethical and unsporting. I understand what a “tradition” this is to many people throughout the state, but some traditions need to be changed. They will argue that they have the right to hunt with dogs, but I argue that I have the right to sit on property that I own and pay taxes on and not have to worry about a pack of dogs running across it and ruining my hunt. The old days of round ‘em up and shoot ‘em are gone. The so called “trophy” pictures of the “Big Hunters” with mamma bear and the cubs strung up on a pole or the hundreds of deer in a pile for the big photo op represent the same thing to me as dog hunting. The big issues today are management and conservation, selective harvest and habitat improvement. Hunting deer with dogs does not fall under any of these categories. There are very few advantages of dog hunting and many disadvantages. The ill effects on the health of the deer alone are staggering. It is particularly bad that this occurs during the fall of the year when the deer need to be putting on those last reserves of fat for the winter. Instead they are burning them up running from dogs. There are regulations that state that spot lighting (even without guns) is illegal because it harasses the deer and other wildlife. How can that possibly be considered harassment while allowing dogs to chase deer to the point of utter exhaustion is not?
There is no way to control where the dogs chase the deer, nor any way to control what deer they chase. Neither the deer nor the dog have any understanding or concern about what property they are on and whether or not it’s public or private. My family owns some acreage in Union county, but none of us live within an hour of the property. My father and I drive down from Little Rock every weekend during the season. That’s just shy of 3 hours to get our camp. To make that drive, get up at 4:30 and get on a deer stand only to have a pack of dogs run a yearling doe or spike past me and continue to chase the deer throughout the whole morning completely ruins the hunt for all of us! I am sick and tired of having my peaceful morning or evening hunt ruined by the barking of dogs as they chase some poor deer, that nine times out of ten most people wouldn’t even want to shoot anyway, across the land I care for and try to manage.
Hunting with dogs is also dangerous. For instance, if the hunting is taking place near a road or a highway the deer being chased by dogs could run out onto the road and cause an accident. When hunting with dogs the shot on the deer will almost always be a running shot, which means that shooter doesn’t always pay attention to the direction he/she is shooting.
I have to believe that there are many more deer hunters out there that are against hunting with dogs then there are for it. I believe it is well past time to end dog hunting in Arkansas for good.
However, since I know there is most likely no way that my wish for dog hunting to be completely abolished, I would like to propose a compromise that I think is both fair and sensible. Louisiana does this so I don’t know why it would be any harder for us. Simply split the season and add an additional week or two at the end for rifles. Let the non dog hunters have November and the first of December when the deer are moving well on their own then after the first week or so of December let the dog hunters loose and they can use their dogs the last 3 weeks or so of December when the deer movement has slowed anyway. This the only time that dogs would useful anyway, once the movement has slowed.
I am including the signatures of others hunters that feel the way I feel and I hope that you will consider our position in this matter.
Sign the petition
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