During hunting season my own dogs who don't roam very far kept coming home with deer legs. That is how I discovered that these guys are also baiting with corn and salt blocks not far from the house. In this case one consequence of the human interference in deer traffic patterns results more deer being killed on the highway. Not only is this dangerous to motorists, I have a "waste disposal" problem. When a dying deer makes it back onto my property and passes on to real deer heaven, the carcass is my responsibility. I can either dig a giant grave in my spare time, or take it to the landfill. I can only make it to the landfill on Saturdays. This did happen, and a kind neighbor took care of it. I don't care how.
We have an isolated cabin down in Amherst that belonged to bear hunters for several years. The place is littered with old homemade doghouses for their bear dogs. The only local hunters I've run into down there are raccoon hunters. But a couple of years ago I found shotgun shells right at the cabin. Sure enough, hunters were baiting up there, too, with apples. The apples were on their property but uncomfortably close.
Something very creepy happened up there once. The cabin is situated next to a national forest and is accessed by a rough dirt road. Driving down the mountain I ran into a pack of dogs, about eight of them. These dogs were not very large, but extremely aggressive. They were probably lost hungry hunting dogs, and they surrounded the jeep as if it were prey and were snarling and barking. I'm not very comfortable up there now, and I really don't know what would be adequate personal protection from a pack of aggressive wild dogs. I've run into bears a couple of times, and as scary as that can be, at least they run away.
Guts
In the winter there was a large rotting deer right next to the AT at the Priest, shot but undressed. OK, I can buy that he was wounded and got away. But this year wasting carcasses were all over the place. One person told me that a trail he was on over in Augusta or Highland was nothing but a pile of deer remains with only the tenderloin taken.
This is wasteful. Don't be so lazy. Carry it out and donate the venison.
Someone else was furious because she found - and took down - a new deer stand on her own land. This is all anecdotal, but every person I've talked with has noticed that this problem is getting worse. As it's been explained to me, part of the problem is that corporations that in the past leased timberland to middle class hunters, have tapped into a wealthier clientele and charge much more. So urban dwelling hunters who owns no land have been priced out, and the community is more chaotic.
City hunters. Just because your 12th cousin allows you to hunt on his property does not mean you aren't supposed to know where you are and when you are traipsing about on public lands with loaded guns. Get a map. And anybody who can afford all that spiffy gear, can spring for a little gadget called a compass for cloudy days. And don't drink so much.
Renegade four (and two) wheelers. There are designated places where you can go. Stay out of the parks and national forests where you are prohibited from going. And when the park is locked down in the winter months, just because you can make it around the gates does not make it "ok." You really are a nuisance. Your noise is off the scale, and you really do damage trails and dirt roads when you go where you don't belong. Of course, since you have so little respect for the law that explains your tendency to litter more than any other group I know of.
Did I forget anyone? Yes. The asshole(s) that planted pot in my woods. Get a grow light. Maybe you saw the deputy's business card where your plants used to be. They put it there, not me. I could care less about your getting high, but I'm not going to lose my farm over your criminal behavior.
No doubt 99% of people who enjoy Virginia's natural resources are conscientious. But the few irresponsible ones are so over the top that it gives the whole community a bad name.
Fly fishermen. I feel the same about fly fishing as I do about golf. Which means, I have absolutely no interest in your hobby. Zero. I'd rather sew buttonholes or sharpen toothpicks. But when it comes to fly fishermen, I have no complaints and I haven't heard any complaints about your behavior.
One last thing. In many of these rural communities there are annual events to clean up roadsides and waterways. Folks who take advantage of Virginia's natural resources, may want to consider participating in those off-season activities from time to time to help preserve them.
You have put together a lot of very good points about respect for the outdoors, something that should be important to everyone. That some people mistreat the land and the animals they claim to be hunting for food is sickening and beyond explanation.
Recommended.
When someone is dependent upon hunting for food, that's really a different story, but this reminds me of something interesting.
There's a sheep farmer near here that has a special kind of dog that lives out in the fields with the sheep. OK - here it is - akbash
My grandfathers farm was small (212 acres) and by the time I was old enough to help he had switched from dairy cattle to about 20 head of beef cattle and a handful of sheep and hogs. We had collies to help but Akbash would have been helpful (we lost two sheep to predators one year).
I allways seem to learn something new from your posts, Thanks.
We don't really farm at all, and we give away our hay for the cutting. My aunt and uncle raised beef in Louisa, and my stepmom had family with dairy cattle and sheep down in SWVA, but I don't know anyone right now in Virginia who does dairy.
Oh - I did meet a family once who moved from Loudoun to Giles because of taxes. They were pretty big apple farmers. I wonder how much of that went on. Generally, I am mystified as to why so many people get in an uproar over taxes, but they are an excellent example as to why someone would.
As a lifelong hunter I can tell you that my family has experienced many of the same things that you mention on our property in the Midwest. On several occasions poachers and reckless hunters have crossed over property lines and created dangerous situations with both their arrogance and their bad hunting etiquette, fortunately we have good DNR officials and they arrive quickly when incidents like this occur.
I was out hunting pheasants with my father, brother-in-law and two nephews the morning that 6 hunters were killed and 2 other wounded in Wisconsin and I can say that in my over 25 years of hunting we could never have imagined anything like this.
Sadly, all of your examples are only a further indication of where our society is headed. We even have a Vice President who is not only famous for shooting a hunting partner in the face, but also takes place in canned hunts where they proudly slaughter 75 birds at a time.
To me, and a lot of lifelong hunters like me, this is not hunting but slaughter. It's not really a surprise then I guess that people of the lower strata of society behave like this when they see the wealthy and privileged treating nature and the world as their own private shooting gallery.
Like most things, good manners and good hunting etiquette are things that can only be taught from a young age as the tradition of hunting is handed down from one generation to the next. Regretfully, like money, which can buy many things but can't buy taste, putting on an expensive hunting outfit or buying an expensive gun can't teach people to hunt with respect for nature or the animals that they kill.
As a hunter it saddens me that you and your family have to put up with this. While it may give hunters a bad name to some, I hope you know that such behavior appalls all real hunters who understand the delicate balance of life and admire the beauty and power of nature.
A friend who does hunt responsibly did convey at least in part what you are saying. Hunters do have a heightened awareness of what goes into meat, the fact that it involves taking the life of an animal. They don't kill needlessly and they have an understanding of life cycles and renewal that those of us who like USDA in cellophane do not.
I have a related sense of this when it comes to seafood because my parents moved by the gulf when I was three or so. I don't eat crab anymore, but I never felt comfortable with dead crabs whether they are cooked or not. If I don't see it walking, I'm a little suspicious. OK - and using nutcrackers and picks and hammers is sissy to me.
But I would have to be starving to eat the freshwater stuff like crawdads or mussels. So I'm agreeing with you about the traditions from a young age.