So true.

And even then, you never know for sure how a guy's attitude might change once he gets a gun in his hands and has the chance to shoot something.

I've been told golf clubs have a very similar effect on some people.

Well I know enough to know that you have trouble going out coon hunting without people shooting at you or you getting into an altercation. You said so yourself. That indicates that you have a poor relationship with a lot of folks in and around where you hunt. It isn't usual for any of the rest of us to be getting shot at or into altercations with people while hunting our own lands, so why is it you think that people are doing you so wrong? Why is it that the problem is with everybody else but you?

I too was raised coon and cat hunting with hounds. My dad sold all of his cat dogs in the late 80's, he said there were to many properties getting split and not enough big ranches to go on without getting into the neighbors. Most old school ranchers around here will still let you go coon, cat, or hog hunting with dogs if a person will just ask to go. I am lucky(or I have tried to keep my reputation clean and my actions honest)I am able to hog hunt some of the biggest ranches in south Texas. Even then getting on the neighbors can happen. Carry a cell phone and call the neighbors up before going hunting and permission is usually granted. If not stay away from that area!!

I am curios as to the ones against hunting with dogs how many of you were raised on a ranch or out in the country, how many of you are landowners and what part of Texas of you are from?

Also I despise most redneck dumbass hog hunters you see these days. They are giving the sport a horrible reputation, but there are still many good and honest dogmen out there.

http://www.buckmovements.com/pages/deer-hunting/deer-movement/do-pressured-deer-fly-the-coop/page-1

This is a good article written about deer movement with dogs pressuring them. Most good and respected dogmen have dogs that are deer and cow broke by the time they are a year old and just starting to hunt

The dog issue aside, studies of radio collared deer have shown that deer don't vacate an area once hunter pressure increases, but simply move more at night and find the smallest places to hide during the day, often right under the noses of hunters. As a kid living in Mississippi, we would often coon hunt at night, the very same area that we would deer hunt the next day. And yet, it never seemed to lessen our chances at taking deer. In fact, if you consider all the findings on how deer are pressured, you might find that coon hunting at night may actually increase your chances with deer the next day by creating the same effect on the deer at night, that hunters create by day. That is, pressure them to lay low at night and they are more likely to want to move and eat the next day. This theory could be easily tested by using dogs to find and remove pest coons from a given feeder, then see if it had any increase or decrease on how many deer used the feeder the following day. Of course, such a test would require the effort of more open-minded deer hunters. A tracking camera positioned at the feeder might yield some very surprising findings.

Of course, this assumes that only well trained and trash broke hounds are used in the test.

I'll even go further and say in an outside the box way, using hounds to remove pest hogs around feeders at night might even create better results by reducing the competition that hogs create for deer at feeders.

Yes, as odd as it might appear, using well trained hounds to chase pests away from feeders at night might be one of the best ways to get deer to use those same feeders during the day. The best hounds men would enjoy a test of their hound by putting them on a deer feeder. That's because the value a hound as much by what he has been broke not to run, as much as what they wish for him to hunt.

Don't think that any of those who posted on here are against hunting with dogs. It is the fact of controlling where the dog could go and the trespassing issues that draws the line for most. The not asking for permission before the even go out is a real problem. The disregard by the trespasser of land owners right to do with their property as they feel their right to do is a issue.
I was raised in the country life style(still live it today) and have lived on or managed ranches in since 1986 now. I have lived or worked in Hill Country, western and eastern Central Texas, and South Texas. All of my life there have been landowners who would let you hunt with dogs if you ask and even back in the 60's there were landowners who would not let you on their land or tolerate a trespassing dog/hunter much less. Times are really not that much different in that aspect of trespassing even today in some areas. The liability issue is a huge limiting factor with new landowners today.

Which unfortunately effects most if not all who pay landowners to hunt their land.

I can tell you from my own personal experiences over the past two years about deer vs dogs. Last year in Jan I was sitting in a deer stand the last week of the season and had just seen my 31st deer (11 of which were bucks) of the morning. This was the best day of hunting with the most bucks seen and deer seen to date. Only to have the deer in front of me go on full alert and then to hear dogs barking close to me. Next thing I see are deer busting from the brush at a full run and leaving that blind area followed by 3 dogs chasing/trailing them. All the deer leave from the blind in a matter of 60 seconds from best day to nothing. From then to the end of the season the deer numbers were way down in that blind. Why? Hunting pressure was the same. Range conditions were the same.
This year was no different when I found that dogs had been on my place. Deer sightings were down.
I can tell you for a fact that in my area if dogs are on a place that they do not belong that it does effect the hunting. These observations are from daylight only but I would not think it would be any different at night time if the dogs were on the land.
I would also think that the density of cover would show different results on a study done. I would think that the amount of dogs traffic in an area vs an area with none would effect the result of a study.
Just my

No argument here. My comments focused only on using well trained and deer broke dogs to pressure the area around a feeder only at night to encourage deer to use it during the day. The removal of pest coons and hogs would only serve as an added benefit.

Again, the studies show that deer don't vacate an area once pressured by hunters, but simply find good and safe places to hide during the day. Why not shake them up a bit by creating a little excitement around those feeders at night when they prefer to use them while you're not there.

As for the overall presence of hounds, I can assure you that if they are broke and well trained, they value your deer and fawns far less than the local coyote population.

I'm certainly not against hunting with dogs. I do it myself.

I'm against trespassing. Seems pretty simple.

Believe me when I say that wild and stray dogs can create as much havoc on deer as the coyotes they emulate. I have shot and killed them myself. But please do not place well trained hounds in that same category.

As I made my case earlier, you may find that a very reputable coon or hog hunter's hounds could be one of your strongest assets.

That is, unless you prefer to feed hogs and raccoons, or prefer tactics that encourage deer to hit your feeders only at night.

There are more efficient methods than running dogs. Running dogs is a sport and form of hunting nothing more nothing less

In the end, it doesn't matter how well trained your mutt is. If he's on my land without permission, it's unacceptable.

I enjoy trapping year round, so I do not have an issue with coons, hogs or coyotes at this time. It is the silent way that does not effect my neighbors. Althought trapping might effect their dogs if they can not keep them on their land(and I have only caught one dog in a snare that I released unharmed). Deer are nocturnal in my area due to heat. They feed more in low light to darkness due to that heat. No deer will be totally nocturnal. He might just live off your land and get there after dark to make you think he is nocturnal. He might just have a great bedding/hiding spot that is not where you ever step foot on your land.

Time to post a topic on which food plots to plant to attract coon & hogs so the doggers can come onto my property which will cause the deer to show themselves more during the day. Then follow that with a post about poaching, and if I am not hunting the animal being poached why should I as a landowner care. Sorry, just stay off my property, the purple fence posts are there for a reason. And you never have any right to bring a gun or your friends on my land. Nor frighten my family at 2:00AM.

Mr. O'Neal, you have to admit, times have changed. The days of running dogs for coons or hogs are coming to a end. Sad, Yes. But as the popularity of leases has risen, the days of running dogs has fallen. I don't like it either, but I have learned to adapt.

I'm real curious what my liability insurance agent would say if I dropped by her office and mentioned that a few hog/coon hunters were coming over for the weekend.

As i type this I have Border Patrol helicopters flying in my horse pasture. I wonder what effects that and the illegal traffic have on deer? I live in a high traffic area. Big time. These are the trespassers we have to deal with down here. I understand the aggravation a trespasser, specially with dogs, can cause. Let us all as hunters keep a handle on each other. Dogmen must improve their manners, and other hunters should not put up with unwanted things happening. Call a gamewarden.

Hunting game with dogs is a form of hunting that is probably dying or on its way out. Just one more hand hold for the government until its all the kings hunting ground.

It's assualt rifles, then high powered rifles, pistols, and shotguns. If they don't wipe us out of ammo first.

Probably wouldn't have to worry about any of this if deer hunters didn't put their feeders right on the fence line!!! hahahaha Just playing/kinda/lol

whats the point in asking? if you own 10,000 acres should not be a problem, coon hunters I have known cover lots of miles and that's the problem

I do not condone trespassing but it is frustrating to be kept off land that was previously permitted because someone moves in and buys 25acres and there's no trespassing/access through his "ranch" Just another product of the times and the population growth. The whole state is getting broken up into small properties with huge entry gates. Ridiculous how many gates and fences can be in one little place and how two neighbors with ten acres couldn't imagine stepping foot on their neighbors property or not having it fenced up. Loving thy neighbor is a forgotten practice especially when everybody is trying to be a harda** rancher. Today it's a whole different reason to keep people off your property.

That plus everybody is a deer farmer these days and apparently the deer are as sensitive as their children. Any other hunting, gun shots, unruly children, farts, frog rabbits, dog barking, or tractors humming will cause them to immediately leave your property and is the number one cause for "why I din't shoot a buck dis year".

You can't really fault someone for not wanting people on their property, if nothing else for the liability of having a bunch of unknown people with guns and dogs coming through at night.

Funny thing how "love thy neighbor" these days often involves somebody who isn't your neighbor who just wants to use your land to hunt, fish, and 4 wheel, relationships that are not symbiotic, but parasitic.

I wasn't faulting anyone just saying its a product of the times, its just annoying it has to be that way. Im fully aware of liability, it's just sad that if we had just listened to the word of God in the first place we wouldn't have all these regulations, practices, and laws that govern the most minute details. No one to blame but ourselves and our ancestors, we have created all of these problems and now have to deal with it.

As is people suing over crap they shouldn't. Landowners would be more open if people wouldn't shoot themselves in the foot, then blame the LO.

exactly