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by RandyTravis from Fox5 I-Team

Last Post 4 days Ago


Fox pens: fair hunt?
Nov 23, 2007 | 10:32 AM
Category: News
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With all the talk of illegal dog fighting, there’s another controversial sport that’s getting some renewed attention in Georgia and across the country these days:  the sport of fenced fox hunting.

 

It’s a form of fox hunting without the galloping horses and red jackets. Instead, the fox is placed in a fenced-in area out in the countryside. Dozens of dogs, usually walker hounds, are also placed inside the fence with numbers painted on their sides. Just before sunrise, the chase begins. In this case, though, the fox can’t sprint to safety. There’s an electric fence around the perimeter.

 

Supporters claim this is the best way to train their dogs to follow a prey’s scent. Critics argue this is state-sanctioned animal abuse.

 

Coming up Monday at 6 and 10, I’ll introduce you to one former fox pen worker who describes a horrific world where foxes and coyotes are sent to their death, dogs injected with drugs to make them run faster, and a big-money operation that dealt in cash and secrecy.

 

Cameras have always been banned inside these pens. For the first time, we’ll show you videotape of what really happens outside of the public’s eye. Plus, you’ll see why game wardens in eight states and the federal government spent the last two years going undercover to expose a thriving smuggling operation that supplies fresh meat for this sport.

 

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Member Comments Total Comments: 996
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Centauri65 read my blog
Nov 23, 2007 | 7:51 PM

Hopefully your report will help put a stop to this practice.
howel042
Nov 26, 2007 | 3:26 AM

I'd hate to ruin this report with facts because they can really get in the way of what is being sold here but in case anyone wants to know the truth...
Most fox pens are several hundred acres in size with some close to 2,000 acres. A fox or a coyote has lots of room to get away from the hounds and they do sprint to safety in artifical structures that are placed in the pens to protect them. Foxhunters in these pens have no desire to kill the game animals. We love to hear the hounds chase the fox until he decides to run for cover. When one fox runs to safety, the hounds look for another one to chase. Not only is the practice fair and ethical, it is more progressive than most other types of hunting as there is no intent to harm.
There are no secrets to hide among honest foxhunters. Anyone is welcome to join in the chase if they think they might like it. I must warn you though, if you are looking for a bloody dog fight, you won't find it with us. The most offensive thing you will come across is the strong brewed coffee being sipped by the fire.
kdr123
Nov 26, 2007 | 6:18 AM

Mr. Travis,

I hope you tell the whole true, becuase your information is wrong. We all know how the media can make stories sound the way they want them too.

Your blog says the fox have no way to escape. Which is wrong. The pens have housing placed in the pens to give the fox shelter. It is usually the same housing the food is placed for the fox, so the dogs dont eat their food. The houses are placed all over the pen.

Howe, in the above post is right. The pens are hundreds if not thousands of acres.
The wire around the pen is to keep the fox and dogs from getting hit by cars and becoming a nuisance to local residence.

If you really want to know what fox chasing is all about, go to Foxdawgs.com and read the lower coverpage portion. That is just one example of fox chasing.
borofoxhunter
Nov 26, 2007 | 9:14 AM

Mr Travis,
You have no idea what foxhunting about, its heritage of our for-fathers enjoyed, its about fellowship we say a prayer before each hunt(something you probably never do), we give thousands of dollars to groups such as American Cancer Society, The Shriners, Boys and Girls Club of America, Joseph Home for Boys, Jerrys Kids and numerous local charities. What you have is a digruntled former employee and she is trying to make something personal that has a bigger following than she can imagine.
Foxhunter76
Nov 26, 2007 | 10:08 AM

Mr. Travis

As stated above you have no idea what foxhunters do for the community and people in need. We are always first to donate out hard earned money and time to help families in hard times, children or anyone who needs it. We always put GOD first something you probally no nothing about.Fox hunting is a family sport that we are not afraid to take our children to, as we know that anyone there would help them if they ask. The fox in these pens live a better life than they would on the outside, with food at all times and housing they would never have in the wild. Please get all your facts together before tring to destroy something we as fox hunters love.
creeksidelc
Nov 26, 2007 | 10:11 AM

I agree, The media almost always puts a spin on things, and this is just another case of that. There are actually many foxes in the pens, and the pens are huge as above mentioned. The fox is not harmed, and in many cases the fox will play tricks on the dogs and they lose the trail! There is nothing unethical about fox pens, and I would appreciate you pulling this article or at least making it less misleading.
Thanks
foxhunter4life
Nov 26, 2007 | 10:42 AM

There is not one thing true about this post and the media should not put out false information on stuff they do not know about, you guys need to get your facts right before you put it out in front of the public and everyone believes what your telling them, all your doing is making us foxhunters look bad and its actually a great sport!
ALB1
Nov 26, 2007 | 10:55 AM

What a biased slant of your words prior to even airing your report. All for the sake of a STORY! Why don't you take the time to reserach all the good things that also happen as a result of foxhunters coming together to help others in need? Guess that would not make "good airtime"! Ask a young lady in Virginia that was paralyzed as a result of an accident what she and her family think of us "foxhunters"! They were & still are appreciative of the thousands of dollars raised to help her and the family with untold medical expenses! Ask the family in Florida that lost their "children in an auto accident"; about the foxhunters that came together to aid them in a dire time of need!
Ask the many folks in Alabama that receive financial suport from an annual field trial that is held to benefit others! Ask the man in North Carolina that lost his job, medical benefits; and then had a stroke; about those "foxhunters" that came to his aid in such a time of need! These are just some examples of the GOOD" that results from us "foxhunters"...you don't seem to care about that!
Ask those that receive the economic benefit of the millions of dollars we pour into the economy about us "foxhunters"!
The primary goal is to have the hound "chase" the fox not "catch" it! There are casualties in any sport; football, basketball, boxing, wrestling, etc. All of these require stamina, skill, cunning, and endurance. And even though we don't like for it to happen; the weaker species sometimes does not survive. The same as with mother natures "checks & balances" in the wild!
Spend your valuble time help
sbfox11
Nov 26, 2007 | 1:42 PM

Mr. Travis,

I take it that you must not have much background in the outdoors or hunting in general. As it has already been stated in the above post, foxhunting is a heritage that our for-fathers enjoyed. People use to foxhunt primarily on the outside but due to urban development and growth, pens were structured to keep from agrivating the common folk who wanted to complain about dogs going across their land, etc... Although in some places, outside hunting is still practiced, pens are a place to foxhunt to keep up with your hounds and to keep them off of lands and places that they are not suppose to be. The hounds hunt, trail, and jump the game, and then chase the game, using their keen sense of smell and brains to run the game. At a field trial, they are scored as they cross in front of a judge, speed and drive, or they can be scored for hunting, trailing, etc... The purpose is to do these above things and to chase the game. The game, in most cases stays so far ahead of the hounds, that it is funny, alot of times losing the dogs to the point of making the hounds go elsewhere to hunt for another. It is done for pleasure on weekends, to watch and hear your hounds and it is also done at trials, to compete and see which hounds look and can run the best. There are also bench shows at hunts, to show hounds and judge them on their looks, features, confirmation, etc...

Foxhunting involves some of all kinds. Older folks, middle age folks, young folks, and kids. It provides an oppurtunity for fun, fellowship, and just simply having a good time.

Hunts are held

kdr123
Nov 26, 2007 | 2:22 PM

"cash and secrecy"

cash-unfortunately nothing in life is free. There are entryfees involved. Which pays for judges gas, trophies, etc.

secrecy-not sure where your going with this Mr. Travis. Its hard to hide a dogbox on the back of a pickup. Foxchases are open to anyone.
julydogg
Nov 26, 2007 | 2:31 PM

as usual, some reporter out there trying to get his face out there and get noticed has once again reported on something he has no idea about. the fact is, he has never been fox hunting or probably any kind of hunting. foxhunting has been going on since way before any of us were even born and will continue after we are all gone in one form or another. this reporter should get his facts in order first. i could say he is bank robber or worse, but i would do my homework first before accusing him of something illegal.
MCT07
Nov 26, 2007 | 2:33 PM

Mr Travis
I dont know if you have kids but think of it like this. I have fox hunted for years, same as all of my family. I was introduced to this sport by my grandfather, in the same way that i introduced to my kids. It has been in my family for generations. I hunt know in the pens to keep people from fussing about my dogs running across there land ect. Now yall are trying to take that away from us. I would rather have my kids growing up around fox pens with good hunters in a good family oriented sport than on the streets doing drugs and drinking!! The game in the pens are being taken care of better there than in the wild anyway. In there they do not have to hunt for food, they have a buffet supplied for them anyway. They do have plenty of places to hide to get away from the dogs, if they chose to do so. When they are in the wild they are problems to cattle farmers, crop farmers, they get shot and killed, run over by cars, they kill house hold pets ect. the list goes on and on. By airing this THE WAY YOU PUT IT you will be trying to kill a good family sport that has been around for generations and generations. I really hope that you would reconsider.
jeastman28
Nov 26, 2007 | 2:36 PM

Mr. Travis,

I am so sorry to hear that a man with your education could assume such a thing about the last pure sport in AMERICA. I am a 28 year old man and have been raised in foxhunting all of my life and I am raising my my family in the last pure sport alive today! I can very well tell you if I didn't have the option of hunting every Friday night what else I could have been doing. For your and the public information, we do not hunt in a small, but very large areas such as 200 to 300 ACRE enclosures that the game have been naturally acustomed to. We also take very good care of the game such as feeding them then highest quality feed available, because the object is not to catch or kill the game, but watch and LISTEN to the chase. THe fun of this sport acctually is to see how many times a piece of game can out fool us and the dogs in pursuit. I hope with a little more KNOWLEDGE with the sport now YOU and the media have a different opion of what we do!!
ncfieldtrialer
Nov 26, 2007 | 2:48 PM

Mr. Travis,
Please feel free to come with me to a field trial any time you like. I am positive you will not see these horrible things you are describing. Instead you will see fun and fellowship. You may like it enought that you buy your own pack of foxhounds.
Blessed07
Nov 26, 2007 | 3:02 PM

I imagine all fox pen owners will not take it lightly by stating untruths, such as the fox pens not having a way for fox and coyotes to get to safety. I believe that with telling such untruths about fox pen owners, that one could preceive that Mr. Travis is trying to cause defamation to pen owners' character which I believe is grounds for a law suit. Report the facts...not a spin!!!! God bless
MuchLoveInEssence read my blog
Nov 26, 2007 | 3:02 PM

Thanks Randy Travis for bringing this report to the light. From all the response you got so far it is amazing how so many people can think that dog fighting is wrong but to hell with the other animals. When it comes to America double standards and ignorance run freely. How can you condone one form of abuse just because your forefathers did it but yet condone a black man for killing petey the pit-bull... The response to Michael Vick was over the edge but by looking at the response to your blog-ignorance still has a place here in America…


Education or not common sense and sensitivity towards all life should be the standard. But I guess people will justify their wrong with some meaningless family ritual…. My goodness how vague and immature
Blessed07
Nov 26, 2007 | 3:09 PM

ok...so I guess some people believe, by what they are stating on here, that ranching and farming cattle is also wrong because the cows are in the pen...farmers go and pick a cow...slaughter it...and then you eat it. My my my...what spins people put on issues.
RandyTravis read my blog view my photos
Nov 26, 2007 | 3:15 PM

Thanks for all the comments so far. Our series begins tonight at 6 and 10. We have a second part Tuesday at 6 and 10.

As many of you know, law enforcement authorities in eight states plus the federal government recently wrapped up their two-year investigation into fox pens and illegal smuggling of game for those pens. We plan to discuss that in Tuesday's installment.

Our story tonight deals with a couple of big size pens: a 400-acre pen in Alabama and an 1800-acre pen in Georgia.

Since we're a Georgia TV station, we tried to get the owner of the Georgia pen to talk to us on camera and let us videotape inside his pen. He said no to both.

If any of you are from Georgia, I make the same request.
julydogg
Nov 26, 2007 | 3:24 PM

why would any pen owner want to talk to you now???? no matter what he or she says, anyone who doesnt know anything about this sport has already made up their mind. you have already done alot of damage to a sport ive enjoyed for 30 years.
MuchLoveInEssence read my blog
Nov 26, 2007 | 3:33 PM

Randy
My grandmother always told me the TRUTH HURTS!
When you expose evils dirt, you can best believe you will be hated for your action. But don't worry about the non-thinkers do what you do best -expose the dirt that they try to hide and condone. Your report is not damaging its truth and the truth hurts the ones that live in the dark...

No matter how many response you get you will have the haters constantly trying to condone their behavior... But one thing that I have learned in life-when you judge a man for his wrong you better make sure you glass house is shattered free...

Thanks again Randy...
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RandyTravis

I've been a WAGA reporter since 1990. I joined the Fox5 I-Team in 1994. I grew up in Athens, Georgia, the son of a UGA professor and a hard-working mother of four. And I covered UGA sports during some of the greatest sports years in school history before graduating there in 1982. These days I spend my time traveling across our state, looking for examples of government waste, corruption, consumer fraud and anything else that I think you'll find interesting and important.

Member Since: 2/28/2007


 

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