Town Hall: The Sky is Falling

Image by Adam Zubek-Nizol

Remember this: Things have a way of coming back to haunt you. 

Where is the knee jerk reaction that dog hunting in South Carolina is under attack coming from? Is it fear of law enforcement?

I am in your comment section looking for clues. My best sniffer states that supposedly there is no pending legislation and they are just gathering feedback. There is no proposal. Changes to the states hunting laws must be made by the South Carolina General Assembly. So the recipe is: 

Public Input + Point of Conflicts = Potential Solutions

Are these hunters dramatic? Why are you scared? Knees are jerking everywhere.

I am looking at the town hall videos and sipping my Replenish Zero thinking, WTF?

I see this one post where someone named Greenswamp is telling another person he is in NC and "they not finna stop us we goin dump them damn dogs anywhere anytime they not taking my shit away."  

Just in one statement you can see the reason why. I was watching one well-meaning man pleading for them not to take it away from the kids. No one said they were. The SCDNR has plenty of programs for teens and kids.

If anything is threatening the future of dog hunting it is the steady spread of infrastructure, housing, and businesses. It eats away at the forest and runs the creatures further and further away from their breeding grounds. Myrtle Beach is gone in the way of hunting. You have to go on the outskirts of town and that is landlock.

Lets hits some points on the function of the South Carolina Department of Natural Resource in these shenanigans. 

They are not your surrogate mother or father. It is a Law Enforcement Agency that enforces hunting, fishing, and boating laws, taxes and registration. They enforce laws over wildlife such as alligators, bears, manatees, and sea turtles. Did I mention crime? They help other agencies with missing persons, drown victims or body recovery.

Anyone not securing a privilege and abiding within those laws and regulations will be cited per offense and go before a judge for a verdict and pay a fine. Each generation of the public is a target recruitment to funnel financing back into the Agency as either a law-abiding citizen or a criminal of sorts based on what services you get rendered.

The SCDNR is asking for input to help make an informed decision that will be advised to the legislatures so they can amended existing regulations, add or delete. 

The South Carolina General Assembly is the department that handles the actual law-making the SCDNR executes. You need to speak to your legislator and directly ask them what is being built as regulations and put before the Assembly to be transitioned over into a law or regulation. 

You can travel here: 

To look up legislation  https://www.scstatehouse.gov/

To look up your legislator:  https://www.scstatehouse.gov/legislatorssearch.php

It follows this:

1. State Legislature: The South Carolina General Assembly, which consists of the House of Representatives and the Senate, is responsible for enacting laws that govern natural resources and environmental regulations. 
2. Committees: Specific committees within the legislature, such as the Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs Committee, focus on issues related to natural resources and can influence legislation affecting the SCDNR.
3. Regulatory Authority: The SCDNR itself has the authority to propose regulations based on laws passed by the legislature, which are then subject to public comment and legislative approval before becoming effective.

With all this being said, I think the South Carolina dog hunting knows that given the growth of human habitation and the dwindling landscape that shrinks smaller and smaller every year.

If you cannot get satisfaction from the SCDNR or your legislature, then maybe the dog hunters can form a coalition that will buy land and turn it into a hunting property that is shared by members and put in Trust or something like a trust to manage the upkeep and continual use of its members and their heirs. Talk to a lawyer about the particulars. 

~Courtesy of the AOFH~

Renegade Hunting Dogs: Wanted Dead or Alive

Remember this: A bad apple on the ground and a good apple in the hand soon rots away. 

This is a potential sad tell of woe from the lowlands to the highlands. A particular version of Man's Best friend and its owner/hunter and how both finally feel the pressure exerted on them by "what is to come."

How foreboding.

I am sure by now you have seen the social media blitz around the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources calling town halls to give the public a voice to speak on the following for dog hunting:

Requiring dog registration and microchipping

Mandate year-round humane care

Require appropriate veterinary care

Accountability for loose or lost dogs

Meaningful penalties

Clear rules for trespass and dog recovery

Two town halls have been held in Florence SC and Orangeburg, SC.  The next townhall will be on Monday, August 10, 2025 between 6:30 pm and 8:00 pm on Hampton Street Auditorium, 494 Hampton Street Walterboro.

I was perusing these videos and taking note of what each person was saying. From the list above, its birthed from news stories that came out last year about inhumane cruelty in hunting kennels, or inappropriate treatment on hunts to hunting dogs. The other parts are animal care accountability. 

If you have a working dog that you claim is a family member you would expect it to be in good health. These stipulations appear to be good judgement because humane and veterinary care brings less disease spread to other working dogs and common decency to the animal. 

If a person can't take care of his/her hunting dog, how does that reflect on the person in the field? 

I have seen a hunter with his favorite hunting dog that he artificial inseminated have eighteen puppies and take them home only for them to die because he didn't want to bottle feed them because the momma dog couldn't. In the good old days, I can't believe I am saying that, hunting dogs were only tools to run animals and tree. If the dog was lost or died, they were a dime a dozen and could be replaced. Hopefully, the respect to a hunting dog has been elevated. 

Cooch deserves better because Cooch is the one doing the hunting. You just laying in wait like an assassin.

Its an organizational tactic in the field to outline guidelines so hunters don't take advantage of the law and their privileges, be accountable for their actions, act cruelly upon a working animal, or fain ignorance. Hunters at times cannot manage themselves in polite society or in private. Some are quite nefarious and spiteful. There are some that are straight up entitled on all fronts.

When a game warden is called down to private property where the landowner has Uncle Buck's prize hunting dog kidnapped in the tool shed, it would make it easier to identify the canine and return it to the owner without altercation. The officer can assess whether a clear trespass happened or if a law or regulations was not adhered to. 

If you are saying your dog is like your family then Cooch needs to get cited for trespass if Cooch is sporting. They could make an app for dog identification like the night hunting they offer property owners. At this point, this is new so maybe give Cooch a pass. I think they should have a APB of the dog that has the most trespasses so we know who the hardened criminals are. 

When you look at this where is the knee jerk reaction that dog hunting in South Carolina is under attack? It looks like the SCDNR is trying to refine it and set it up not to fail by removing potential legal hazards and angering the public. Safety first!

Other people's bad behavior brings the rule: if one breaks the law then punish the rest. You have to think that, well, someone didn't want to  be a responsible hunter and take care of his/her situation so he/she didn't bring attention to themselves or his/her fellow road riders. Shoutout to pronouns. Pronouns matter.

Lets talk about the road riders. The road rider that is the trouble source is the one that rides the two lane and parks on the side of the road, or rides around a property knowing there is hunting stands with people in a location. These road riders intentionally stops in the road, releases dogs across the adjoining properties to flush the deer out on the other side and it pisses the person that isn't doing all that moving around in the stand. I know. I have picked beagles and coon dogs up from under my stand or out my yard and drove them home like I was on a mystery date. I am talking to this hapless dog. Who are you? Where did you come from? Who is your daddy? Have you eaten yet? Why do you smell? I tend to buy them a hot dog with bottled water because sitting under the stand looking sad in 110 degree evening heat is diabolical.

To be honest with you, most of the time you probably know who these people are because they circle your area a lot. There is a way to undercut them but I am not putting that here. Eyes are everywhere and so is the Green Jeans.

Once a year, I watch people line the roads inside of a residential community and sit in front of people's houses trying to flush animals out that are near the houses. The pressure has driven them out the woods by people being in the woods, or dogs and people walking/running through the woods. This is a trap for murder. You have people on the other side in the road wielding guns and they are a car link apart. Someone in a tizzy to shoot a deer could accidently blast someone. What do they call them in England, a batter?  You have people walking to flush the deer though the woods and they walk up on someone that has beef with them and shoots them in the back. They swear that person stepped out from behind a tree. 

These are the same people that run stop signs. Oh, I didn't see it.

It appears to be true that in the top five, you are likely to be shot by someone that you go hunting with. Chose your hunting partners well.

Here is an example that happened this past deer season. I came home. My mother was in a panic and stated two vehicles were on the shoulder of the road in front of the house. One was behind a tree, the other was across the two lane with a dog box in the back. She returned home from the store. She heard a dog chasing something outside and went to look. She sees a deer run out from behind the house past her and follows it to see where it goes. Someone comes from behind the tree and fires a shell in the vicinity of her and the deer. The blue casing is still in the ditch to this day. I could have come home to my mother murdered in the side yard and never knew who did it if they drove off. These were dog hunters from a hunting club. I got pictures of the one vehicle and the plate with the dog box and called the Gamethief line. The girl answering the phone was not going to collect any info from me except my return call information. I had the plates and vehicle description. I told her to take it and put it in CAD because if something comes from it later as a repeat offender, it would be in the notes. Trust me when I say that I can make a whole post on this inability to transcribe information in the commission of a potential crime. If someone has evidence, take it. You never know when that bit of evidence or information could solve a case, either yours or someone else. 

Memory fades but cellphone pictures don't. 

In this particular situation, if a hunter is found to be practicing this as a flush method that could end a life, their license should be taken and they should be forced to retake a hunting safety class and not be allowed to park on roadsides for X amount of time. This smells like Bad Decisions all day and into the night.

Let us go back to the question. 

When you look at this where is the knee jerk reaction that dog hunting in South Carolina is under attack?

Lets ponder on.....

~Courtesy of the AOFH~