New leader at Game Department

Bob Duncan has an idea. “Our first obligation is to the resource,” said Duncan, Director of the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. “The role of Fish and Game is to always look ahead.”
Wow! What a refreshing approach to game management as displayed by the new Director of VDGIF, Bob Duncan.
In a casual phone conversation with the always-approachable Duncan, he and I discussed the controversy of the hound hunting study now underway and soon to come to fruition. The study will culminate in proposals that will hopefully balance the concerns of landowners with hound dog owners who sometimes encroach on the property of others.
“The landscape is changing,” Bob pointed out. “There are now 7.7 million people in Virginia. We can’t ignore what is happening in other states.”
In Georgia, for example, new legislation allows hound hunting only on tracts of 1,500 acres or more. There are few such tracts available in Virginia, and similar legislation would end hound hunting for deer as we know it. North Carolina is also considering drastic measures to restrict dog hunting. Other states are now requiring dog registration.
“Virginia needs to address the problem before it’s too late,” Bob remarked.
Because of the study, many hound dog enthusiasts are assuming that the Game Department is out to get them and use the study as an excuse to drastically restrict or end dog hunting. Nothing could be further from the truth, the Director said.
“We need dog hunters,” Bob said. “They are very important to us. There are many hunters who have said if they can’t hunt with their dogs, they’ll give it up. We want hound hunting, but we want it done the right way.”
Bob continued by expressing admiration for fox hunting organizations.
“We might want to take a page out of their playbook, which emphasizes a strict code of ethics for mounted fox hunters,” he said.
A lack of ethics on the part of a very few hound hunters is a main cause of conflict between hunters and landowners. Virginia has a law allowing the right of a hunter to retrieve his dogs without permission from a landowner. The hunter, however, must not be armed when encroaching on said property. But unscrupulous hunters and hunt clubs regularly release dogs from a piece of public property or even from adjacent roads, pointing the dogs clearly in the direction of private property where the dogs push deer towards hunters stationed on the other side of the private land. Bad blood ensues. Thus, an attempt by VDGIF to stave off a major problem before it’s too late.
“The purpose of the study is to bring people together in a meeting of the minds,” Bob emphasized. “I’m optimistic and confident that we can arrive at a fair and equitable solution and prevent the legislature from restricting hound hunting as has been done in other states.”
Duncan said that the biggest hurdle facing the Game Department is adequate funding
“Fortunately, the sale of hunting and fishing licenses is holding stable,” Bob said. “But expenses are on the increase. We are trying to cut costs and save money every place we can in order to stretch the sportsman’s dollars.”
The Director mentioned, however, that his department has identified over $18 million in needed dam repairs to lakes across the state.
“Many of these dams do not meet current standards for safety,” Bob stated
Certainly, Virginia sportsmen and the Game Department face many challenges in the future, but with Bob Duncan in command, hunters, fishermen and conservationists have every right to feel optimistic.
“It’s a privilege to be able to serve this department and the sportsmen in Virginia,” Bob Duncan concluded.
The privilege, I think, is ours.