bvelliquette@heraldsun.com; 419-6632
HILLSBOROUGH -- During hunting season next year, residents of northern Orange County should be able to again appreciate the quiet rural life they live.
The Orange County Board of Commissioners has voted unanimously to ask state legislators to allow them to ban the practice of "dogging deer" in all of Orange County before the next hunting season.
During its meeting Thursday night in Hillsborough, the commissioners heard a report on the use of dogs to hunt deer, which is legal in Orange County north of I-85. They also heard from hunters who want to continue to use dogs to hunt deer as well as hunters and homeowners who want it banned.
Because the board is restricted by statute from changing its ordinance directly, members voted unanimously to ask representatives in the General Assembly to pass enabling legislation that will allow the change in the law.
Those against the use of dogs to hunt deer described how the peaceful rural area where they live is overrun each weekend during hunting season by hunters and their dogs. The dogs wear GPS collars so hunters can keep track of them, and their owners drive around in their trucks chasing the dogs and waiting for them to flush a deer out of the woods, according to some who spoke at the meeting.
David Honeycutt and Jennifer Honeycutt said they've been dealing with hunters with dogs for years. The dogs cross their property, sometimes chase their horses and damage their fences, they said.
The sound of shots near their homes scare their children, and they're afraid to invite guests over during the holiday season because of the safety concerns, they said. And when they've confronted the hunters about allowing the dogs on their private property, some of the hunters have been rude and even threatening.
"I've been told by dog hunters on my property that dogs can't read your 'No Trespassing' signs," David Honeycutt said.
Hunters roar up and down the roads near her house in their trucks as they follow the dogs with the GPS trackers and sometimes shoot from the road, which is illegal, or and drive on people's property, Jennifer Honeycutt said.
She believes one of the hunters shot her family's pet dog in the woods behind her home.
Even some hunters who live in the area asked that 'dogging' deer be banned.
Richard Lochamy, a hunter and landowner in Orange County, said he leases land in another county to hunt because the dog hunters have ruined it for regular hunters. He can no longer enjoy a quiet day in the woods in Orange County, he said.
"These people can't control where their dogs go," he said. "If they could, I'm fine with that. The simple fact is they can not and do not control where the dog runs."
There are two major hunting clubs that use dogs; the Caldwell Hunting Club, whose members mostly live in the area, and the Triad Club, whose members mostly live outside of Orange County. The club leases land inside Orange County to hunt with dogs because northern Orange County is one of the few areas that still allows it.
Several Orange County residents who hunt with dogs said they help manage the deer population and that some farmers welcome them on their land to keep the deer population down.
Mark Chapman, an Orange County native, said he has permission from property owners to hunt with dogs and that he is a responsible hunter. He blamed the problems on the Triad hunting club as he pointed at the back of the room at a group of men.
"They won't stand and speak," Chapman said. "They cause the trouble."
In the end, however the commissioners voted unanimously to stop allowing any hunters in Orange County to hunt deer with dogs.
