Most of the articles I have read on this subject seem to indicate that hound hunting is coming under scrutiny due to complaints from land owners, home owners (sub-divisions), and non-dog deer hunters. I am sure PETA, et al are involved somehow, but they are not getting much press.
Deer hunting with hounds is mainly allowed and practiced east of I-95. As the area has developed, more complaints are logged every year. I spoke with two members of the game commission and they indicated that no action was likely being taken in the near future, but the issue was and will continue to be closely monitored.
As a land owner and hunter (both using deer hounds and still hunting) I can understand the merits to both arguments and find myself often split on the issue. One suggestion has been to limit the use of hounds to large (500+ acre) tracts of land. However, many hunt clubs in VA are losing these same large tracts to development, thus compounding the problem by causing them to hunt smaller, broken up tracts interspersed with housing developments. Even with restrictions to larger land tracts, dogs can not read a posted sign, and I have picked up many hounds at the end of the day miles from where they originally started. Who knows how many property lines they crossed. Sure some unscrupulous hunters deliberately drop dogs on other's property, but the complaint is from the dogs just following their noses!
Interestingly enough, I know a group of hunters who, for several years, have used Labs to run deer. They claim they hunt closer, really run deer well, and will come when called. They train to whistle commands. Even though the labs do not bark, they claim they would not use any other type of dog now and have more success than previously.
This argument will go on for a while and be quite the heated debate.
