Hunting in the News: Using Dogs for That Extra Thrill

I have two hunting-in-the-news posts for you today. First up is an NPR story from January 3 titled "Hunting with Hounds Under Fire in Virginia."

The piece, which explores the controversy over a Virginia state law that allows hunters to trespass on private property to retrieve the dogs they've used as tools to chase wild animals, talks about property rights and a bit about animal welfare. But there's no talk of animal rights, not surprisingly; there's talk about the hunters' right to retrieve the dogs they've sent out on chase (some of whom "are worth a lot of money," of course), but no mention of the dogs' interests in not being exploited, used, and placed in danger in the first place or of the fleeing animals' interests in not being killed.

The most interesting--and disturbing--comments in the story come, as they often do, from those being interviewed. "It's just like having your favorite meal or anticipating Christmas," said one hunter about the pre-kill "excited sensation." And then there was this:

The plan is to stand in a huge circle around 200 acres and turn about 20 dogs loose — urging them toward the middle.

If the hounds catch the scent of a deer, they'll track and chase the animal, and eventually it will run to the perimeter, where the nearest hunter will take a shot.

This isn't the only way to hunt deer with hounds, but hunter Cecil Robbins says it's the most exciting.

"It's the thrill of that deer coming down through the woods," he says. "When you're sitting in a stand, the deer has no idea you're there. And he walks by and it's kind of like ambushing him."

Killing an unsuspecting animal from a tree stand--that's kind of exciting. But taking a shot at a desperate animal running for her life from a pack of dogs? Now that's thrilling fun. Here we have a happy admission that these hunters don't hunt because they want or need the animals' flesh for sustenance or because they're altruistically working to solve artificial overpopulation: they are hunting primarily for the thrill of killing a fleeing, terrified animal. Of course, this motivation for hunting is no big secret, despite what hunters' groups like to say in their defense, as they try to portray hunting as some sort of noble, selfless, or (spare me, please) respectful endeavor. But it just warms the heart when every once in a while someone admits why they're really doing it.