By DAVID RAINER, Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources
Although complaints about dog deer hunting have fallen dramatically in the past several years, dog deer hunting has continued to cause conflicts, particularly around the Talladega National Forest.
The Alabama Conservation Advisory Board provided Conservation Enforcement Officers with the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources’ (ADCNR) Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries (WFF) Division another tool to deal with dog deer hunters who cause problems.
At the Board’s meeting last week in Montgomery, Board member Kevin Savoy of Abbeville proposed an amendment to the dog deer hunting regulations that passed unanimously.
The proposed amendment to the current Dog Deer Hunting Regulation adds the following: It shall be unlawful for any person owning, having the care of, or using any dog, to allow any dog or dogs for the purpose of deer hunting to enter onto, cross or remain upon the property of another without written permission of the landowner or lessee of the property. Written permission, which may be a paper copy, email, text or other electronic form, shall be in the possession of each person using such dog(s) on the property of another person and shall be presented upon the request of any Conservation Enforcement Officer.
A first offense of the regulation would result in a written warning. Subsequent violations may result in written citations.
The proposed amended regulation also states that without the permission of the owner it is unlawful to remove, tamper with or disable any GPS tracking collar or training correction collar on a dog used for the purpose of deer hunting.
“For many years we’ve had people come from different parts of the state that had issues with dogs getting on their property, primarily around the Talladega National Forest, where we’ve seen most of the issues as of late,” Conservation Commissioner Chris Blankenship said. “As I mentioned yesterday in a meeting with the dog deer hunters, I’ve been coming to Advisory Board meetings for close to 30 years. The Board meetings used to last from early in the morning until late in the afternoon because of all the complaints and problems with dog deer hunting around the state.
“Most of those have been addressed. It’s in a much different place now than where it was 30 years ago. A lot of that has to do with the responsibility of the hunters and the technology improvements. We have so many less issues that we’ve had in the past. But we are still receiving complaints in certain areas, and, after hearing from the public for several years and talking with Board members, I hate not to address those problem issues that remain. For several years, landowners around the Talladega National Forest continue to have problems with certain folks. So our options are three – one is to do nothing at all and let those people continue to have problems and have their hunts impacted because of a handful of dog hunters not doing it correctly; two is to put more areas on the permit system or do a statewide permit system, which, I think, is not really fair to the dog deer hunters who are doing it correctly; and third is to allow our officers a tool to address the issue with folks who are not doing it correctly and letting their dogs get off on other people’s property. I think this a tool for our officers to be able to handle the remaining problems.”
Board member Raymond Jones of Huntsville echoed Commissioner Blankenship’s sentiment and said during the 32 years that he has attended or been a member of the Board that the dog deer hunting issues have changed significantly.
“I know many of you who are in this room, you guys are doing it right,” Jones said. “I can’t tell you in the 32 years I’ve been around how much it’s improved. But we still have problems. I think this solution will greatly enhance the ability of you (dog deer hunters) to do what you love to do.”
