My name is Evan Nuzzo,  I am from James city county and a life long Virginian but most importantly a houndsmen. I am asking you to oppose the proposed bill.This will be devastating to hunting with dogs in this great state. The change we need is not more laws governing hunting but more enforcement of the laws that are in place and the facts prove it the facts are The trespass regulation will create a Class 3 misdemeanor for dog trespass. More importantly, it specifically creates a criminal trespass offense for a targeted group of people: deer and bear hound hunters — not all hunters with dogs, and not all dogs in the general population.

1076 out of 6128 hunting dog complaints have to do with hunting dogs. (17.5%)

Of those 1076, 749 did not constitute a violation of the law (12.2%) and 327 did have a hunting related violation involving a hunting dog or a person hunting with dogs (5.3%)

Of those 327, 188 are for dogs being on private land without landowner permission and do constitute a violation of the law. This is the point of the proposed regulation.

188 complaints out of 6128 is 3% of all hunting complaints.  This narrow regulation is focused on that 3% of all hunting complaints.  Meanwhile, 97% of all hunting complaints have nothing to do with hunting dogs being on private land without landowner permission in violation of the law.