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Subject: fox pen
From: Concerned Hunter
Date: Thu, August 06, 2009 4:07 pm
I have been involved in this sport for almost 40 years. The reason pen hunting in your area was started is mainly because of the lack of outside hunting opportunities.The dog hunt area in Blackwater Forest is situated where still hunt is on both sides and they know dogs will go there eventually so they write hunters tickets even when no one is still hunting. So the pen is the better place to go enjoy the sport at this time.If you could help get more dog hunting area open on public and private land such as timber companies,this might help your cause.I don't think banning pens is the right answer.As I said I have done this a long time and the picture you have indicates to me that when cornered the game stood his ground ,one dog left the other is walking away and the coyote is left to go about his business.I know these people and they are doing what is right by the permit.We aren't out hurting people we are just enjoying our past time handed down by generations and would love to pass it on.Thank You.We really would like your help getting more public land to hunt our dogs on.
------ REPLY ------
Sir or Ma'am,
WE appreciate the email and the tone at which you delivered it. Unfortunately, we have been receiving some emails that, quite frankly, do not deserve a response. These emails do not provide anything of sustenance and do not offer a solution either. Yours did.
While we understand your concerns relating to the limited public lands for dog hunting, we cannot agree with you on the penning issue. Our family has witnessed, firsthand, the attacks the dogs have had on the coyotes in the pen. The pictures that you are referring to were, unfortunately, the only ones taken. At the time of the attack there were five (5) dogs after the single coyote. If it were not for our family taking evasive action (yelling, screaming, shaking the fence and honking their horns), the dogs would have continued. With this pen, it seems the hunters like to congregate near the center and are oblivious to the outlying areas of the pen. It took some time for the hunters to arrive and stop the dogs. The coyote did manage to limp off, but was immediately chased into another corner and then escaped into the woods. About 20 minutes later, we heard gunfire.
The difference between hunting wildlife in the wild and penning is that the animals have the opportunity to escape. As you can see by the pictures you have referenced, the coyote was backed into a corner and had no opportunity to escape. In the wild, the coyote would have continued running and hopefully, remained out of harm's way.
As we started this campaign, we knew that the "passed down for generations" argument would arise. Unfortunately, that does not hold any weight as it does not provide a valid argument for allowing the animal abuse that does occur in the pens. If this argument were a valid one, the same could be said about slavery. We understand that you aren't hurting people in this "sport", it is the animals that we are concerned with. As stated in an earlier email response, we are not your typical "tree huggers" as we do not want to stop hunting nor do we want to take your guns away. We understand that coyotes do not belong in these parts, but, we feel they deserve the decency of being eliminated humanely and not chased on a continuous basis in a penned enclosure. As a matter of fact, coyotes are prevelant here due to the importation by hunters as early as the 1920s.
In the case of this pen, they have never been permitted to chase, or house, coyotes. The original pen owner was cited for this very reason. The current pen is only permitted for foxes. Therefore, they are not doing "what is right by the permit." We truly hope that a compromise can be developed that helps out the hunters and the animals which they are hunting. Putting wildlife in a penned enclosure and chasing them with dogs for hours on end is simply not hunting. We could go on with the issues related to this "sport" such as the lack of revenue it generates for the state ($0) and the means by which coyotes and foxes are trapped. However, these topics will have to wait for another day.
Thank you for the response and, by all means, continue to monitor TrainingNotTorture.org as we try to move forward.
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