And reckon how the law abiding deer dog runners felt like when they shut it down? Kinda like your feeling right now? Or worse?

I would imagine they were probably pissed off at all of the other guys who caused problems for so long that they got it banned. Again, it’s a separate fight where one doesn’t have anything to do with the other. How many complaints has there been in the last 10 years concerning trackers? I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say close to none. Heck, there was landowners there today complaining about dog hunters on their property

Meh

Ain’t no doubt.. I hope all gets what they want but I know it probably won’t happen. You’ll be ok either way. And so will I.

Again, one of the BIG differences here is the public support for one versus the other. Dog hunting isnt being made legal again because nobody really wants it to be except for a handful of folks…..Hunters would most likely come out in droves though to support blood tracking. It doesn’t impact me nearly as much as some other guys because many of the counties I track in are dog legal….. I wasn’t the only tracker there though…..I had guys from north Alabama messaging me wanting to know about it before I even got home. I would imagine its just a matter of time before something is done to better define the rules…..I just hope they do it in a smart manner when they do

Out of curiosity…….If they do propose changes…..when is the public made aware of it?.....Is it well ahead of time so it gives folks a chance to voice opposition to anything stupid or will they just announce it one day?

Dog hunting is fine as long as it is a legal for adjoining property owners to remove trespassing dogs.

CNC ,,,, bout the only way i guess you can keep ever body happy and stay legal and keep the dog safe is to keep the dog on a leash .

👍

That would be the worst way of doing it …..If anything gets changed then they need to look at what Michigan did…..They now allow their trackers to legally track at night as well as bay and dispatch deer off lead night or day…….

They do not announce any proposals. Whatever they discuss prior to meetings, someone announces it at a meeting and then it's in the public.

Years ago, someone would announce a proposal during a meeting and then call for a vote. That was abunchabullshit. Unless it leaked prior to the meeting, and was published by the press OR the rumor-reporting-group discussion mills got the word out (like, the dog hunters finding out something was up), no one knew what was coming until it happened. This often also led to 2-3 days before the meeting word getting out about Big Topic Proposal that was coming, and a scramble for those interested to drive hours to the meeting site to hear about or comment on the topic IF it was presented.

I think, if my memory is correct, that when Barnett Lawley was commissioner in the mid-2000s he (or someone on the board) made it that a proposal could not be voted on in the same meeting. If something was presented at the February meeting, for example, it couldn't be voted on until at least the next meeting. That gave the public time to digest whatever was presented and contact Board members, round up the cavalry, complain, whine, celebrate or whatever.

The CAB never has presented a real, legitimate, detailed agenda of the meeting or what is coming. The agenda that is published on the DCNR site is basically this:

Call to Order
Prayer
Discussion by (person from DCNR, Board, etc.)
Presentation by (person from DCNR division, etc.)
Public Comment
Board deliberation-discussion-etc
Adjournment


Similar to the DCNR (or other state agencies) never publishing a legitimate line-item budget, it never has presented a line-item agenda for the CAB meetings. Presenting minimal basics (or really, nothing of substance) leaves everyone to want more, dig for, beg for more or have to formally request X-info. Or, people mostly just shrug and give up, which is what many govenment entities want.

The CAB is a thankless position, and sometimes does good work. But IMO it could do a few things better. Publishing the topics to be discussed would be one good start.

Thanks Clem……Something else I don’t get in this day and age of technology is why the meeting is not live streamed unless they just don’t want folks to be able to easily keep up with what’s happening or being said

What do trackers do when the dog bays on land they don't have permission to be on ?

Non-issue with modern GPS tracking collars and well-trained dogs. Simply tone the dog off the deer when they're approaching the neighbor's property you don't have permission on. CNC talks about having to do that all the time in his tracking stories thread.

Same electronics available for all dog hunters.

I asked about this years ago when I regularly covered the meetings. I was met with shrugs, "Eh, dunno" ... "Costs too much" ... "We don't have the technical capabilities" and mostly blank stares.

When you're happy with status quo and don't want to improve to help the public you serve, not making the effort is easy.

I can learn how to stream an event with my phone on a website I set up myself or on FB. And yet they can't stream three meetings? Pfffftttt.

It usually doesn’t get to that point…….Most trackers are following their dogs through the woods…….some don’t but most do. The vast majority of the time I’m 50-100 yards behind my dogs looking for blood, watching to see how hard they’re having to work to track it, etc……I’m already assessing the situation in case one jumps to see how far we are from roads, property lines, big creeks, etc……All I got to do is hit my tone button at any time and recall them back to me….

One of the questions I typically ask hunters over the phone before even going out is “How far are you from the property lines?”…..I tell them that if they’re anywhere close then they probably need to go ahead and get the neighbors contact info just in case. Not all, but a lot of the time we’re already prepared ahead of time for the potential of crossing property lines and the neighbors have already been contacted…

I agree

Same gps toning technology used in the dog clubs now. Better be gettin you a good lead line CNC

I don’t want to jump the gun but if dog hunters are going to the CAB meetings and putting pressure on the members about trackers then I want to get out ahead of any changes that may be proposed to make sure they don’t just take the easy way out and create stupid rules that don’t make sense……I have a literal chit ton of phone numbers that I can reach out to if the “calvary” needs to be rounded up that includes virtually every high end property and plantation in this area and I’m sure many other trackers do to. I have a feeling that some folks may already be doing such after what was said yesterday about trackers being prosecuted for baying and dispatching deer in non-dog hunting counties.

Wait ... people using tracking dogs in a legit effort to find deer in counties that prohibit "dog hunting for deer" are getting in trouble?

That's two different things. A tracking dog on a blood trail isn't a brace of hounds turned loose to push deer in front of standers.

They're totally separate things.