By Erin Wiltgen
chh@heraldsun.com; 419-6654
CHAPEL HILL -- As hunting season comes to a close, the debate over banning deer hunting with dogs just begins to heat up.
Some residents in northern Orange County have appealed to the Orange County Board of County Commissioners to ban dog deer hunting in Orange County north of I-85. The practice -- which is illegal south of I-85 as well as in neighboring Alamance and Durham counties -- poses a threat to resident safety and property rights, said concerned landowners at the County Commission meeting on Dec. 15.
"We need to cull the deer population, there's no doubt about that, and hunting is a good way to do that," said Bonnie Hauser, a member of Orange County Voice and rural resident. "But dog deer hunting is not the only way to do that."
And though it brought the issue to the forefront, last Tuesday night's meeting wasn't the beginning of the debate. Bernadette Pelissier, County Commission vice-chairwoman, said that the board received some e-mails from concerned landowners a few weeks back, and county management held a meeting between Animal Services, the Sheriff's Office, N.C. Wildlife Resources and representatives of the hunting community on Nov. 4. On Dec. 8, a similar meeting with property owners convened.
Hunters who currently practice dog deer hunting represent the largest force opposing a ban, but a few farmers -- who said they like how the hunting practice scares deer off their property -- have joined that side of the debate.
For members of the Caldwell Hunting Club, a potential ban kills a sport they believe they practice responsibly by using shotguns instead of rifles and hunting only on land they have permission to be on.
"We hunt safely, ethically," said Dave Hughes, a member of the hunting club. "Our hunting club does a lot of good things throughout our community."
But not only do members of the hunting club follow a set of rules to ensure safety, dog deer hunting is to them a pastime handed down through generations.
"It's a tradition for where we live, for our community," Hughes said.
And that fact isn't lost on landowners who encourage the ban, many of which are hunters themselves.
"I am respectful of its Southern tradition and understand the cultural significance this sport means to so many," Peter Rourk of Cedar Grove said in an e-mail to county commissioners. "I have seen the practice of dog hunting applied in the right way, and it is a viable option with the right circumstances and most importantly the right people."
Unfortunately, many dog deer hunters have neglected such responsible hunting, said Steve Graf of Cedar Grove, also a hunter.
Because dog deer hunters depend on the dogs to drive deer out into the road, where they wait in a pickup truck with loaded guns, rural residents have the potential to get hurt, Graf said.
"The hunter is in a heightened state of excitement," he said. "The deer runs across the road, and they shoot at the deer without knowing what's behind the deer. People's houses get shot and their mail boxes get shot."
Graf himself had a close call. Once, while walking down the driveway with his son, a deer ran out onto the road between the two and a deer hunter waiting about 50 yards away. The hunter shot at the deer and killed it -- thankfully, Graf said, because if he had missed he would have shot Graf and Graf's son.
"My kids ride their bikes up and down the road," Graf said. "They can't ride their bikes because we don't know when the dog hunters are going to show up."
The other issue is private property rights, because often times while hunters may release their dogs on property they have permission to hunt on, the dogs don't follow posted signs. Graf said that because deer follow the same paths, hunters know that their dogs will go only a few different ways and will inevitably end up on private property.
"For six weeks out of the year, my property is more public than private," Graf said. "It's not good to institutionalize trespassing, and that's what this is."
With both sides insisting on the integrity of their claims, Hauser said the biggest threat looms in dog deer hunters from out of town who travel to Orange County, since the practice is banned in both Alamance and Durham counties.
"They don't care about the community and are not responsible citizens," Hauser said. "We don't see a way that the northern residents can be safe from dog deer hunters without an outright ban."
Unfortunately, Hauser said the Caldwell hunters -- responsible citizens who engage in dog hunting in a safe and ethical way -- might pay for the actions of others.
But the debate has a long way to go before a decision can be made, Pelissier said. The Dec. 15 County Commission meeting merely presented dog deer hunting as an informational item, and next it must become an agenda item in order for the board members to discuss it thoroughly.
"Everybody needs to understand what are the specific concerns so that we can hear all the sides," Pelissier said. "When the public really raises concerns and there's enough people, we need to really make a definitive decision on whether or not we want to ban deer hunting and what can be done to protect property owners."
