How the dog fighting issue could affect hunters.

Mike Leonard · Post by **Mike Leonard** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 1:48 pm

I am sure you heard about the quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons, Mike Vick, that is being prosecuted under animal cruelty laws for being involved in a dog fighting ring. Anyway it is all over the news out here and the presidents of both the Humane Society of America and PETA are giving a lot of interviews and sure getting their positive press. I think that just about everyone is opposed to this dog fighting stuff, but my concern is that these animal rights groups will take this momentum and being viewed as "normal" by most people on the dog fighting issue, and attack hunting activities that utilize dogs; namely hound hunting. I mean these interviews that I have seen lately I would not characterize as being extreme, they were well educated and articulate interviews where the head of the Humane Society of America and PETA just stated the facts that made a lot of sense and this is what flat "laid a spook" in me. I have always been one of those people that can see a problem before it comes up and I forsee a big problem coming for dog hunters if we are not careful and police our own. With all the press this dog fighting thing is getting and if marketed the right way I think these animal rights groups could easily sway the average person against dog hunting right now.

This is a quote from a freind of mine who will remain un-named at this time, but he is very well informed and can see a cloud on the horizon for sporting dog owners. While all this controversy is surrounding the pit bull fighting issues and Michael Vick, these groups are getting huge sums of money in to rally against the dog fighting issue. My message here is not to address the dog fight issue because I have my own sentiments about that, but I will leave that for another discussion. Celebreties such as Bob Barker and other are shoveling millions of dollars at the animals activist groups, and with all of this funding beleive me this won't stop with Mike Vick or the dog fight issue it will be carried to all practices with animals they deem inhumane. This could incluse bird hunting, hound hunting, rodeo and what ever else they can dream up.

Now more than ever before we need to portray high ethical standards, and sportsmanship. We must talk to others in the hunting game and ask them to not do some of the things that have really raised eyebrows in the past. Some dog jockeys especially have really gotten out of hand and the word is getting out. Sending videos with gruesome scenes to prove how gritty their dogs are, and some even advertizing (go to my website and see this and this) and it and open invitation for these activist to load up on ammunition against hounds, and hunting. HOW DUMB IS THAT?

Take the high road for the good of all sportman. NOW MORE THAN EVER

Post by **Buddyw** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 2:39 pm

I definately agree with you.
Buddy

whoflungdung · Post by **whoflungdung** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 6:23 pm

Another thing that make me sick is videos of multiple kill shots when the bear is just rolling on the ground and the hunters are hooting and hollerin.
The video I am talking about had 6 or 7 shots fired and no footage of the dogs doing what he wanted them to do. It was just the kill shots.

Bottom line is we have to be careful that's all there is to it. That video might have been someones first impression of hound hunting.

pete richardson · Post by **pete richardson** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 6:38 pm

yup - good post mike -

treeing walkers · Post by **treeing walkers** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 2:06 am

Goods words Mike. Take my state of Washington and Oregon. All big game hound hunting is Banned.

bearhunter77 · Post by **bearhunter77** » Sun Aug 05, 2007 11:45 pm

i definitely agree. there are millions and millions of people who view public websights. i posted some video of my female plott yanking a coon out of a cave. the host was tiny pics and the video was yanked in two days from that sight.

Paul Conway · Post by **Paul Conway** » Tue Aug 07, 2007 1:39 am

I firmly believe that houndmans groups should be putting out official statements against dog fighting. I believe there are a bunch of animal rights folks this will mean nothing to, but I believe there is a large segment of the population that love pets that don't understand hound hunting. I'm not trying to educate them with the statements from hounds groups coming out against dog fighting, just trying to give them pause and make them think, or rethink there position (not entirely set in stone) that hunting with hounds is cruel and those that do it are cruel ( simply put). I believe there are a great many of those folks on the fence or the wrong side of the fence in this case when it comes to houndsman and what they do that is a result of ignorance. time to give them something that is in direct contrast to what garbage the public is being "taught" by animal rights groups about hunting with hounds and hound hunters. I believe statements such as this at times like this give would give our various houndsmans groups a great deal of credibility. In my opinion, many groups from the NRA, to PETA, to the baseball, football players unions (yes I know there a union but still), abortions rights folks, etc. etc. do themselves and thier members a disservce when they blindly carry on thier cause with even in the most obvious of situations within thier particular cause is wrong or thier stance on an event that happens is because it's a gun rights restriction issue, or it's a player being disciplined so you have to come out against it, etc. etc. etc. all it does is harm thier credibility. Paul Conway.

Emily · Post by **Emily** » Thu Aug 16, 2007 9:31 pm

http://img406.imageshack.us/img406/2825/vickjuryoq0.jpg

brandon keel · Post by **brandon keel** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 2:31 am

Actually..i think theres a slight chance this could favor us..When Vick goes to court, with all of his money..IM sure he'll fight to the death..With that being said, im hoping that the NAACP will Put in a little help for him..This could cost both agency's millions of dollars to begin with. They are going to be pressing hard and rolling out of pocket books to do everything about this they can..This will be going on for a while too..We might actually have a good chance coming up to take PETA and HSUS at a weak point..But who knows..

Im just a "Punk *** kid"

Lets just see if the NAACP has his back..i sure do hope so

mikec · Post by **mikec** » Sat Aug 18, 2007 6:48 pm

These days any bad press can be bad for dog owners. Most hounds when in good shape look starved to the average citizen, and we do keep them chained sometimes. I like it best when out of sight out of mind... I wish that were true but we face many possible threats to our sport, and this is just one more black eye for dog owners, even though most of us do not or would not engage in illegal activities.

Post by **Buddyw** » Wed Aug 22, 2007 8:22 pm

USSA to Stand Up for Hunting on Fox News Program

The U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance, the nation’s leading sportsmen’s rights advocacy organization, will tonight address comments made by a Washington Post columnist and an NBA star that compare dog fighting to hunting.

Rob Sexton, U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance Vice President for Government Affairs, will be a guest on Fox News Channel’s O’Reilly Factor to respond to the ridiculous comparison.

Tune in to Fox News tonight, Wednesday, Aug. 22, at 8:00 p.m. (replay at 11:00 p.m.) for the interview.

The U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance is a national association of sportsmen and sportsmen’s organization that protects the rights of hunters, anglers and trappers in the courts, legislatures, at the ballot, in Congress and through public education programs. For more information about the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance and its work, call (614) 888-4868 or visit its website, www.ussportsmen.org.

rich h · Post by **rich h** » Wed Aug 22, 2007 11:28 pm

Buddyw...I saw Rob Sexton give his side of the story on Fox this evening.
Hat's off to him for standing up for us. Although when O'reilly asked him to justify shooting deer it would have been a lot more effective if he would have said...deer have an average lifespan of 4 to 6 years and deer almost never die of old age. They die from disease, get hit by vehicles, get taken down and eaten by predators until they die, or they meet their end from a hunters arrow, or bullet and their meat is put to good use. Much better than rotting in the sun alongside some highway. And further more, it is the sportsmen that pay for wildlife management NOT PETA, nor the general public. Sportsmen's money also goes to support many non-game species. And while we're on the subject of PETA...they killed a lot more dogs than the football player!

Post by **Buddyw** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 2:17 am

I looked for this show but couldn't find it.. Really wanted to watch it.
I'll have to see if I can find the re-run and record it tonight..

Buddy

coongtr · Post by **coongtr** » Sun Aug 26, 2007 4:49 pm

I feel for all of the big game hound hunters. I am mainly a coon hunter but we have a lot of bear hunters in my area. You have everyone against you. Even some avid hunters here say, "its unsportsmanlike to run a bear or bobcat up a tree and kill it. It has no chance with those dogs after them". Of course most of them have no idea what it is like to get a hound to put a bear up a tree or hold the pressure on a bobcat. They think a house dog can do it. Just giving my opinion. But no matter the game, we are all in this together.
Troy

How the dog fighting issue could affect hunters.

How the dog fighting issue could affect hunters.

link to cartoon

Watched it on Fox...

banning