Bill Cochran

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• A quest to put the word "primitive" back into the muzzleloading season
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Curt Lytle was clearly nervous. Never mind that his business card says, among other things, that he is a speaker. And he has talked before some huge crowds, like during the weigh-in of the 2003 Bassmaster Classic when he placed fifth.

But this time was different. This time was absent of swagger. This time was from the heart.

Standing before the board of the state Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, Lytle, who lives in Zuni, told about fulfilling his dream when he purchased 160 acres of his own for bowhunting, bird watching and wildlife photography.

“I have done a lot for the habitat,” said Lytle, who is a professional bass fishermen sponsored by Ranger and Yamaha. The efforts include a nice chunk of quail cover and a bunch of bluebird boxes.

But his dream has been spoiled by hunting clubs that send their hounds across his property to chase deer. Never mind that they are uninvited and unwanted, and violate the tranquility that Lytle believes should be his. They just come.

And what can you do? Under Virginia law, not much. It can seem to Lytle and other landowners who have been abused by hound hunters that dogs have more rights than landowners.

“I feel like my hands are tied,” Lytle told board members. “If you don’t protect the landowners and the landowner’s rights, I don’t know what the future of deer hunting is going to be.”

Lytle wadded up his notes and set them aside. He said he forgot half what he wanted to say. His eyes grew moist. When a red light flashed on at the speakers stand, indicating his time was up, Lytle didn’t see it.

He said he understood hunting deer with dogs is a long-held tradition in Virginia. He doesn’t want to stop it. He just believes that people, like him, who don’t want to be part of it, should get some respect on their own property.

There were emotions on the other side, too.

C.W. Miller, the president of a deer hunting club in Gloucester County, pointed out the positive aspects of hunting deer with dogs.

Dog hunters provide more revenue for the local economy than any other form of deer hunting, he said. They also help control the deer herd while keeping crop damage down, because their dogs can nose deer out of the thickets and marshes where they otherwise would escape other hunters.

Then there are those intangible things, hard to describe: the camaraderie, the storytelling, the memories, the music of hounds flowing across the frosty air, the introduction of youngsters to the tradition.

Miller admitted, as do most creditable dog hunters, that there are outlaws in their ranks and they must be dealt with for the good of the tradition.

“We should not let these bad apples spoil it for everyone,” he said.

Board members could have backed away from this controversy and told Lytle, Miller and the hundreds of others who have responded to the DGIF Web site on the issue that their hands are tied, that this is a matter for the General Assembly.

But they didn’t.

“I would ask all parties to keep an open mind on this issue,” urged Jimmy Hazel, incoming board chairman from Oakton.

Marshall Davison, board member from Hague, challenged the various factions to come up with a solution.

“You guys know what is going on,” he said. “You know who the bad guys are. You know who the good guys are.”

Establishing regulations designed to place more control on dog hunters is a matter for the General Assembly, but the board and its staff must be active in the issue, said John Montgomery, board chairman from Sandston.

The agency already has started bringing together a cross section of people to embrace the issue, said Bob Duncan, chief of the DGIF wildlife division.

“The response has been very positive,” he said. “We want a very candid discussion of the dog hunting issue in Virginia and what the problems are,” he said.

Some states have taken a hardnosed approach and passed stiff regulations to control deer hunting with dogs. Certain timber companies that hold the key to thousands of acres of deer terrain have ban hunting with dogs in several states.

There is a chance that this can be avoided in Virginia, but only if sportsmen work hard to deal with circumstances that are giving deer hound hunting a bad image.