The chairman of a committee of landowners and hunters disputes allegations made by property owners who have complained to state Rep. Richard Morgan about deer hunting with dogs in Moore County.

Ronnie Williams, who chairs the Moore County Landowners and Hunters Committee, said the committee’s efforts resulted in passage of a law controlling deer hunting and that critics are not giving the law a chance to work.

Morgan announced last week that he has received at least 100 letters from people asking that deer hunting with dogs be banned in Moore County. Morgan told The Pilot that he plans to conduct a public hearing at the county courthouse next month on a proposed local bill.

“We (the committee) worked over a year and a half, holding meetings that were open to the public,” Williams said. “We asked everyone to come, and we couldn’t get anyone to come forward and talk about our work.”

The committee included a mix of people with differing views on the subject. Williams said there were hunters who use dogs to hunt deer, as well as still hunters, landowners with different points of view, wildlife protectors and other local officials.

Williams said that the committee’s work resulted in passage of a law placing controls on deer hunters, especially those who hunt on other people’s property.

The law, which was introduced by Morgan two years ago, requires hunters to carry written permission from the property owner when they hunt on property other than their own. The same law also requires identification on hunting dog collars and prohibits hunting from the right of way of roads and highways.

“Our committee worked real hard and thought we were on the right track,” Williams said. “We just want to give the law a chance to work.”

Sgt. Gary Caulk, the ranking wildlife protector serving Moore County for the N.C. Wildlife Commission, says the law went into effect on an informal basis in late 1999, but became official last October. In that first year, he said, wildlife protectors issued warnings to hunters violating this law, but since October 2000, these officers have been placing violators under arrest.

Caulk said he is neutral on whether deer hunting with dogs should be banned. But he said the new law does help wildlife protectors in carrying out their duties in Moore County.

Prior to passage of this law, Caulk said wildlife protectors had no authority to make an arrest for trespassing. Although the state has a trespass law, it is up to the property owner to sign a warrant against the trespasser. In most cases, neither wildlife protectors nor other law enforcement officers can sign such warrants.

In addition to this new authority, Caulk said the law gives officers some specific material with which to work. When they observe a hunter on private property, wildlife protectors now know that they can ask to see the written permission by the landowner and can check out identification on the dogs. Before this law was passed, the wildlife protector could make arrests only on the basis of existing hunting laws, including hunting and firearm licenses.

“It gives us more material to work with,” Caulk said.

Chief Deputy Lane Carter of the Moore County Sheriff’s Department agrees with Caulk that the law is helpful because it has more “teeth” than previous laws.

Carter said that in most instances, sheriff’s deputies notify the local wildlife protector when they observe violations. The exception is when they act on an issue involving immediate danger to the public.

Under the law, a person convicted of a first violation is subject to a $300 fine and on a second violation the fine climbs to $500.

Williams said the committee worked very hard to come up with recommendations accepted by people holding both points of view.

“Now, they’re not giving them a chance to work,” Williams said. “One year is not enough time to see if the law works.”

The issue was last raised about three years ago. The Moore County Board of Commissioners held a public hearing then delegated the matter to a committee. Williams said this is the third time the question of a ban on hunting deer with dogs has arisen in the last 10 years.

“And it’s a nightmare every time,” Williams said.

Williams said it is not true that Moore is one of the few counties in this area where deer hunting with dogs has not been banned. He said he knows of few counties where such prohibitions are in effect, although such hunting is not carried out in some counties because of varying provisions in hunting laws.

“Hunting deer with dogs is allowed in most of the eastern part of the state,” he said. “But the deer population has been heading west into Montgomery and Randolph counties. It’s not banned in those counties, but they don’t do it there.”

Williams said the reason lies in the complexity of wildlife laws and regulations, which vary from county to county in some cases. Counties where deer hunting with dogs is not done are counties where the hunting law was not written to specify that it is allowed, he explained.

He also disagrees with the assertion that most of the trouble in Moore County is caused by out- of-county hunters. He said that most hunters are law abiding and do not trespass on private property. He agreed that members of a few hunt clubs are careless.

“We’ve tried to work with these clubs and get them to change their habits,” Williams said. “We think we’re going down the right road there.”

He also disagrees with a proposal to change the hunting season to make it identical throughout the county. At present, the hunting season starts in October in the southern part of the county and in November elsewhere.

“If you extend the season, we will have more out-of-county hunters here trying to hunt in Moore County. We think that could be a problem,” Williams said.

Williams said that deer are hunted throughout Moore County, but the northern area is more popular because it is not as heavily populated and there are vast forests of pulpwood, the owners of which are willing to give hunters permission to hunt.

Williams, who lives in the Little River Farm area near Carthage, said there is widespread misunderstanding about hunting in general and about the practice of using dogs to hunt deer. He said that the dogs don’t chase deer, they just chase the scent of deer, something that helps the hunter to find the deer.

In his case, the dogs are equipped with radio tracking collars, a feature that enables Williams to find his dogs in the field and call them back to his position. Obviously, he said, the dogs do not understand the location of private property lines, but owners can keep an eye on their whereabouts and can control their movements if they really try.

“I doubt that my dogs would know what to do if they actually caught a deer,” he said. “Dogs don’t jump on deer and tear them up. I don’t think my dogs would hurt anyone’s livestock.”

Without the use of dogs, hunters must provide food to attract deer, he said. This often involves climbing up a tree to get an unobstructed view of the deer when they approach their feed.

Williams said that every deer he kills is used as food for his family and for friends. He said that this is the reason most hunters seek out deer.

Venison is very lean and low in cholesterol and saturated fat, he said. In fact, Williams said deer meat is so lean that cooks often add pork fat for flavor and tenderness.

“It’s one of the best meats you can find,” he said.

Williams said that government and society are increasingly curtailing the rights of hunters. He said more laws are being passed making it more difficult to hunt and society is encroaching on habitat by spreading out development.

“We are losing our hunting rights,” he said. “I would like to pass this on to my son and to my grandchildren.”

Williams said that dog owners can allow their dogs to run all year round, even when not hunting, and most owners do just that, to keep the dogs in shape until the season opens. He said there are only a few hunters who take advantage of the situation and asked why everyone should be punished for the bad behavior of a few people.