Debate over deer-dog hunting in Mississippi continues after Supreme Court ruling

For centuries, hunters have trained dogs as their companions. First President George Washington even had a collection of hounds for hunting foxes. 

Fast forward to today, hunting with dogs – specifically for deer – has a more complicated reputation. Using dogs to hunt whitetail deer, the most common type of deer in North America, is only legal in nine states, including Mississippi. 

Hunters and private property owners have butted heads for years over the practice, with land owners complaining about hunting dogs straying onto their land and disturbing their peace. While hunters use dogs to chase down several types of game, dog-deer hunting typically covers more ground. According to the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, the state receives such complaints every year.

In May, the state Supreme Court tackled one such dispute. In 2020, a couple of Prentiss County landowners, the Dickersons, sued a group of nearby dog-deer hunters, the Allens, after years of complaining to the local sheriff about the Allens’ dogs winding up on their land, which the Dickersons used for their own “still” hunting. 

A lower court imposed an injunction preventing the Allens from letting their dogs on the Dickersons’ land, and the Supreme Court affirmed the decision this spring. In his opinion, Judge Leslie King wrote: “Two long-standing but competing interests are at issue in this case: the right to the quiet enjoyment of property versus the right to hunt and harvest wildlife.”

Greg Beard, an attorney for the Dickersons, said this was the first such case in the state to find a hunting dog to be a nuisance. While he believes the case set a precedent, Beard argued that the decision still leaves a gap in regulating dog-deer hunting. 

“The Dickerson’s had to take matters in their own hands because there was no other remedy,” Beard told Mississippi Today. “Technically the Allens were not violating any criminal law. As long as they stayed on the public road, their dogs can’t trespass…I think you do have leeway as a dog runner where you’re not going to get an injunction against a dog runner unless it’s a frequent occurrence.”

Other hunters in the state, like Preston Sullivan in southwest Mississippi, agree that dog-deer hunting can be a nuisance. 

“We’re hunters, too,” Sullivan said. “But property rights take precedence over hunting rights.”

In 2009, Sullivan started the Rural Property Rights Association of Mississippi to speak out against the sport, advocating for a permit system that would punish hunters when their dogs stray onto someone else’s property. While they successfully lobbied the state to create a permit system for the Homochitto National Forest in 2011, Sullivan’s mission has fallen short in the rest of the state.

Lawmakers’ attempts in recent years to address the issue have not gone far, including in the 2024 session. 

“A hunter himself can’t legally go on somebody else’s property, but their dog can,” he said. “Their dog can go wherever it wants, and there’s no consequences for that. We want there to be consequences.”

David Smith, president of the Mississippi Hunting Dog Association, said Sullivan and others mischaracterize dog-deer hunting, and for the most part hunters are able to keep their dogs away from others’ private land. 

He explained that modern dog collars have GPS tracking, and if the dog strays too far, the hunter can send a shock or vibration to try to stop the dog. 

“You’ll have a dog from time to time get out of pocket, but not very often,” Smith said, estimating the collars do what they need to 90% of the time. 

Smith added he didn’t think it’s fair to punish hunters if they’re on a large swath of land where dog-deer hunting is legal, and their dog then strays onto someone else’s land. He said private landowners should consider adding rightS-of-way where hunters can stop their dogs. 

“It’s legal to hunt in a 280,000-acre national forest…you buy five acres and a dog comes across your five acres, and I got to pay a (fine),” Smith said. “That to me is just ridiculous.”

In a statement emailed to Mississippi Today, MDWFP said there’s little it can do to prevent hunters from running their dogs on other people’s land. It’s only if they see it happening, the agency said, when they can issue a citation. 

Part of the issue, the agency added, is the change in land use over recent years. 

“Quite simply, there are fewer and fewer large undeveloped tracts of agricultural or forest lands,” MDWFP said. “Dogs don’t care if they’re too close to someone’s house when they’re chasing a deer – they only care about staying on the scent. Homeowners get antsy when they hear gunshots or see deer being chased by a pack of hounds, unless they grew up doing that very thing. Wide open spaces and the ability to roam at will are casualties of the evolution of society.”

UPDATE 12/19/24: This story was corrected to clarify what hunters have traditionally trained dogs for.

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