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![handle is hein.sag/sagsc0028 and id is 1 raw text is: ALAN WILSON ,,.i. jjjc.
ATTORNEY GENERAL OuIa
January 2, 2014
The Honorable Glenn Reese
Senator, District No. 11
P.O. Box 142
Columbia, SC 29202
Dear Senator Reese:
By your letter dated September 10, 2013, you have asked for the opinion of this Office
regarding the interpretation of current dog hunting legislation, which I understand to be
Section 50-11-770 of the South Carolina Code, also known as the Renegade Hunter Act (the
Act). You further inquire as to whether DNR is interpreting legislation as intended and have
attached a constituent letter in which the constituent alleges he and members of his hunt club
are being unfairly targeted and ticketed. Our response follows.
Background
As stated in a recent publication, the hunting of deer with dogs is a popular sport...
practiced for hundreds of years in the coastal plain of South Carolina. Jae Epsey, Final Prog.
Rept., S.C. Dep't. of Natural Res., Dog Deer Hunting Working Group, p. 2 (Nov. 2008). The
sport utilizes hunting dogs to track and drive deer within range of hunters and is normally
practiced on large tracts of land. Id. Typically, the dogs are released on one side [of the land]
while hunters wait or 'stand' on the other. Id. The land used is either owned by an individual
or leased by a hunting club during hunting season. Id. According to the report, hunting dogs
[a]t times . . .will run off the tract of land intended for dog deer hunting, ending up on the
property of adjacent landowners. Id. Complaints from landowners have ranged from property
damage, diminishment of still hunting opportunities, and general upset that their private property
is being overrun by unwarranted dogs. Id.
On June 11, 2010, the Renegade Hunter Act (the Act) was enacted. 2010 S.C. Acts,
118 Legis. Sess., Act No. 239. Pursuant to section two of the Act, Chapter 11, Title 50 of the
Code was amended to add Section 50-11-770. 2010 S.C. Acts, 118 Legis. Sess., Act No. 239, §
* 2. According to the legislative title of the Act, Section 50-11-770 was enacted to make it
unlawful... to hunt from a road, right of way, property line, boundary, or property upon which
REMBERT C. DENNIS BUILDING * POST OFFICE Box 11549 * COLUMBIA, SC 29211-1549 * TELEPHONE 803-734-3970 * FACSIMILE 803-253-6283](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.sag/sagsc0028&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)