Right to Retrieve - constitutional?

Twelve individual private landowners from across the state sat in a room at the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries Headquarters in Richmond.

The meeting attendees represented the Key Stakeholder Group, Private Landowners. They came from all corners of the state — Chesapeake to the east,
Botetourt Co. to the west, Prince George’s Co. to the south, Fairfax Co. to the north and other counties in between.

The group came together as part of the VDGIF study called “Hunting With Hounds in Virginia — A Way Forward.” The goal of the VDGIF study is “To provide diverse opportunities for hunting with hounds in Virginia in a manner that is fair, sportsmanlike and consistent with the rights of property owners and other
citizens.”

The mission of the group of 12 landowners was to review the draft recommendations proposed by the 18-member Stakeholder Advisory Committee for the study.

Two-thirds of the Key Stakeholder Group membership were hunters, the rest were not. No one in the group opposed hunting that is conducted in a manner that supports the goal of the study. Each member had their own story to tell, but all agreed. They are fed up with the current status of hound hunting in Virginia and the draft strategies currently proposed by the SAC offer little or nothing to rectify the problems.

The biggest complaint: Hound and hunter trespass.

The biggest problem: Most of it’s legal according to Virginia Law (or lack thereof.)
The biggest culprit: Virginia Code 18.2-136 — commonly referred to as the “Right to Retrieve Law.”

18.2-136. Right of certain hunters to go on lands of another; carrying firearms or bows and arrows prohibited.

Fox hunters and coon hunters, when the chase begins on other lands, may follow their dogs on prohibited lands, and hunters of all other game, when the chase begins on other lands, may go upon prohibited lands to retrieve their dogs, but may not carry firearms or bows and arrows on their persons or hunt any game while thereon. The use of vehicles to retrieve dogs on prohibited lands shall be allowed only with the permission of the landowner or his agent. Any person who goes on prohibited lands to retrieve his dogs pursuant to this section and who willfully refuses to identify himself when requested by the landowner or his agent to do so is guilty of a Class 4 misdemeanor.

Members of the group asked, “Why bother posting your land when anyone claiming to be retrieving their dog can legally trespass?” As a matter of fact, it just so happens that the hunters’ Right to Retrieve supercedes the Trespass Law under Virginia Code. If you’ve ever wondered why the hound hunters in your area are so brazen and bold, now you know. They are empowered by Virginia law. No other state in the union has such a law.

So what about the rights granted to all citizens by the U.S. Constitution under the 5th Amendment? No person shall…be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
In 1964, Ronald Reagan gave a speech called “A Time of Choosing.” Here he stated, “Private property rights are so diluted that public interest is almost anything that a few government planners decide it should be.”

The state of Virginia is literally giving permission to the public to enter the lands of others. Isn’t it odd that there is a law enabling a hunter to retrieve a dog yet a parent retrieving a child is legally trespassing?

The Public Comment Period on the study will end Sept. 12. There will be an Open Public Meeting in Bowling Green on Aug. 28 from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Caroline Community Services Center Auditorium, 17202 Richmond Turnpike. Anyone wishing to make an oral comment will have an opportunity to do so. Written comments can be e-mailed to HoundHuntingSAC@vt.edu or mailed to Hound Hunting SAC c/o Sarah Kozlowski, 111 Cheatham Hall, Dept. of Fisheries and Wildlife, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24060-0321.
For more information on the study process, dgif.state.va.us/hunting/hounds/.