| Indiana Beagler's Alliance |
| Awakening a Sleeping Giant |
| By Jack Hyden |
| There seems to come a time in everyone's life when they are just feed up. When they feel as though they have been pushed to their limit, and regardless of the outcome, they have to stand up and be counted. That time came to a small group of rabbit hunters and beaglers in Wabash, Huntington, and Kosciusko Counties in Indiana early in 2000 when the property managers and fish and wildlife specialists for the upper Wabash Valley Reservoirs conspired to close dog running and training from February 28 to October 1 each year. The action was to include all of the wildlife areas of three major reservoirs and two fish and wildlife areas. Most of our group had grown up hunting and fishing on those areas and some, like myself, were old enough to remember a time before the big lakes were there. It was time when many small farms (and some not so small) dominated the land. And it was also a time when, because of the hard work the farmers and landowners did to maintain the fences, fields, and crops, there was an abundance of rabbit, quail, and other small game. It was time when the land was almost barren of the great whitetail deer, and as a youth we could hunt, fish, and work our dogs freely with no worry or thought of hunting restrictions or trespass laws. Over the years many of those things changed drastically, but even with the coming of the reservoirs we could still hunt and fish freely on the land that had become the property of the people of Indiana, by way of lease from the Corps of Engineers. Each year, after the state took over the land, we watched the landscape change, and eventually it became almost impossible to distinguish where one farm ended and the next farm began. The fencerows rotted away and scrub brush grew up in the fields. Yet that one constant still remained, we could use the land to hunt and work our dogs just as all the years before. |
| Then came February 2000, as everyone stared in amazement and disappointment (and most with disgust) at the signs posted on the check-in stations on all three reservoirs. The signs announced the ending of an era. They announced the closing of the wildlife areas to dogs, dog running, and dog training for seven months of the year. It was then that the idea for the Indiana Beaglers's Alliance began. Several hunters were so incensed at the callused actions of our state Department of Natural Resources that we started a phone campaign to get the action reversed. Our efforts payed off when we reached the law enforcement division of IDNR. Law enforcement gave us the number to the executive branch, and it was there that it was decided that property manager Dennis White, and fish and wildlife specialist, Tyson Edwards had over stepped their authority and were forced to take the signs down. Within a week, however, the salamonie Reservoir personnel posted more signs announcing the implementation of a “Small Game Management Area”. The areas that would be affected were areas three (3) and thirty (30) and they took up 840 acres of the best hunting on the reservoir. At first Edwards and White was quite verbal about wanting to use the area to prove a negative impact on small game and upland birds from the presence of dogs. The provisions of the plan were in essence to shut off most hunting and all dog training and running on the affected areas for a minimum of five years. We attempted to have meetings with Edwards and White to no avail. Again we contacted the different areas of DNR. And again White and Edwards were forced to remove the signs. This time, however, they very quietly worked from within to convince Deputy Director, John Davis to authorize the small game area idea. Finally we decided to file an appeal with the Natural Resource Commission. Because our group didn't have a name the action was filed in my name, which complicated the communications process. At the first hearing it was decided that instead of going directly to a hearing the two parties would work toward a compromise. During this time our group was becoming well know within the beagling and rabbit hunting groups, and we were being contacted about taking up further beagling concerns. |
| We began to realize that what we had started was going to be around for a long time, and just perhaps our group really did need a name. We did some brainstorming, but nothing we came up with seemed to sound right to us. Before we could decide what to call our group the property managers figured out that they wee not going to get the results they wanted by using the small game management area as a test plot to stop dog running. We had already gotten some assurance through Deputy Director, John Davis, of IDNR, that there were no plans to take away dog running on a statewide level. So the property managers met with the Indiana Division of Fish and Wildlife and devised a plan to ban dogs on all state ground, April, May, and June, and possibly March and July. They used the idea that the small game and upland birds should not be disturbed during the breeding season as their reasoning. And, frankly, unless you have done your research, the idea does seem to have merit. Unfortunately for DNR, there is no research available that indicates that dogs, under the control of the handler, have any negative effects on small game. Also, at the same time, I became active on a new beagle message board called Rabbit Hunting Online. Or www.rabbithuntingonline.com. The Webmaster, Chris Miller, also had a nationwide organization started that he calls the National Beagler's Alliance. We contacted Chris and asked about becoming the Indiana Chapter of his organization. Of course he was excited about the idea, and thus the beginning of the Indiana Beagler's Alliance. It was now time to turn our attentions back to the negative actions our State DNR was attempting to deal us. |
| Through the aggressive actions and attitudes of our group, we were able to come to a compromise agreement with the state that included doubling the number of days we would be allowed on the small game management area, having the Salamonie personnel give us a detailed 5 year plan for the area, and an agreement from john Davis that no new areas of this nature would be implemented until and unless the current one at Salamonie was reopened to the public. Though the management project is due to end in the fall of 2007, we are anticipating DNR attempting to extend it indefinitely. Along with all the small game management area wrangling, we still are dealing with the three to five month closings on state land. At one point, I was contacting John Davis so often that I referred to our phone conversations as my bi-monthly meeting with Davis. At this time the picture is not a good one. I stopped at the state house the week of the Indianapolis sports show and was told by Mr. Davis that we would be invited to a meeting and that the DNR would be telling us when and where we could run our dogs. Davis told me that DNR's job is to manage and that was what they were going to do. John Davis' office phone number is (317) 232-4025. I'm sure he would like to hear from all of you beaglers and rabbit hunters (all dog owners for that matter) expressing your feelings on his statement. Our position is that even if they can make a case for closing dog running and training on state ground in the spring, that there are too many hunters and dog owners that do not have access to private ground to allow for a complete 100% closing of state land. We have asked for small areas on all the properties to be considered “dog running areas”, and that those areas be available on a year round basis for all dog owners, trainers, and handlers to use. It is our contention that even good sound game management practices must be tempered by the needs of the individual residents of the State of Indiana that not only use, but pay for state land. Our efforts have not been unrewarded for sure. |
| In the last several months hundreds of individuals and most of the major field trailing organizations all over Indiana have come to know of the Alliance. Many, actually have either aligned with us in support or are considering doing so. You could say that thanks to the negative actions of our State Department of Natural Resources, a very large sleeping giant is now awake. As the Indiana Beagler's Alliance continues to grow in numbers and concerns, it our mission to become a positive force for all Beagler's, rabbit hunters, and hound owners over the entire state. Indiana Beagler's Alliance has a web page and we welcome your visit and comments. You can find us at www.beaglersalliance.org/indiana/. The Alliance also has its first Regional Director. John Arnold, of Liberty, Indiana has taken on the task of recruiting and organizing the southeast portion of the state. John comes to us from a long line of hunters, and he tells us that he was almost born in the woods as he mother would go coon hunting with his dad during the time she was expecting john. John's email address is unioncountybeagles@aol.com John will be more than happy to talk with you about any of your beagling concerns. |
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| Indiana Beagler's Alliance / Beagler's Alliance of North America |
