Timmons: Protect property owners from trespassing hunters

I live in rural Clarendon County, where deer season is a big event. It also causes a big problem, both here and in every county that allows deer hunting with dogs, because some people are determined to hunt with their dogs even where they have been denied permission. In other words, they use the dogs to poach private property.

The Legislature passed the Renegade Act in 2010 to address the problem, and it does a good job of keeping law-abiding hunters in check. But it does very little to stop the few who deliberately use their dogs to poach.

A cellphone or CB radio call to other poachers alerting them of the sighting of a Natural Resources officer quickly transforms the poachers into legal hunters just trying to recover dogs who wandered onto someone else’s property. This results in a frustrated officer, a frustrated landowner or still hunter and a waste of state resources.

This game is played out throughout the deer season, and it’s becoming more frustrating and dangerous.

Most confrontations are between an individual land owner or still hunter and an armed group whose members are willing to provide alibis or false statements for each other. Destruction of property in retaliation for trying to combat poaching is common. Farmers are easy targets with their fences, livestock, crops, barns and equipment; landowners with commercial pine plantings are threatened as well. This is why a lot of people won’t even try to stop the poachers.

South Carolina’s rural population is growing. with more homes and more people outdoors, using forests for still hunting, small-game hunting, hiking and riding ATVs. There is more traffic on the roads that are being used as shooting lanes by the poachers as well as the legitimate hunters.

Ride the state and secondary roads on any Saturday from September through December, and you may get an uneasy feeling as you pass armed men standing beside the roads and on top of dog boxes hoping for a shot.

Dog hunters say they love their sport, and hunting with dogs is a tradition, and I understand that. I used to feel the same way. But I stopped using dogs to hunt deer 20 years ago because I could not keep them contained on my small acreage.

It is indisputable that hunters should be able to use their own land and leased property to hunt with dogs. It ought to be indisputable that individuals can use and enjoy their property without the threat of intimidation or retaliation from dog hunters who want to trespass on their property.

Some would like to ban hunting with dogs, but Georgia has found a way to preserve dog hunting while preserving the rights of still hunters and non-hunting land owners: Dogs can be used only on tracts of at least 1,000 acres. That would stop poachers from turning dogs loose on small tracts in order to poach surrounding private property.

But one more step is needed: Allowing Natural Resources officers to issue warnings and citations for letting dogs stray off of hunting club property, rather than requiring the property owners to get involved, would reduce confrontations and retaliation.

Surely our legislators can come up with an enforceable law that isn’t filled with loopholes to be exploited by a few selfish individuals bent on doing as they please with no consideration of the rights of others.

It should not take a tragedy to get this sort of law passed.

This story was originally published February 29, 2016 at 12:51 AM with the headline "Timmons: Protect property owners from trespassing hunters."