Hunting with dogs has long been part of Virginia’s rural tradition. But as the Commonwealth’s rural lands become more developed, it's created conflicts between landowners and hunters. And a new lawsuit is adding to those tensions.
According to Eastern District of Virginia federal court filing, Retired Brigadier General Billy Don Farris moved to Gloucester County for peace and quiet. But he says that peace is being disrupted by hunting dogs, allowed to enter his property without permission under a state law called the right to retrieve.
Such claims -and legal fights over the law- aren’t new, especially for Pacific Legal Foundation, the firm repping Farris. They fought the law in state court years ago. The Supreme Court of Virginia sided with dog hunters but in a way Farris' legal time thinks may help in federal court.
Nate Hotes is the Pacific Legal Attorney behind Farris’ new complaint against Gloucester County Sheriff Darrell Warren. After repeated requests to Warren to stop dogs from entering Farris’ land, the local Commonwealth’s Attorney weighed in, saying in an opinion state law allows the access and it's Farris who could face charges if he tries to intervene.
But Hotes says U.S. Supreme Court precedent from 2021 overturning a California law that allowed labor groups the quote “right to take access” of a farm to organize could be used to force changes to Virginia’s right to retrieve.
“We view it as asking people to be neighborly. You wouldn’t feel comfortable walking into your neighbor's house without permission and participating in a popular leisure activity doesn’t change that,” Hotes told Radio IQ.
Kirby Burch is the head of the Virginia Hunting Dog Alliance. A Powhatan native, he’s been dog hunting for more than 60 years as has his family for generations. He said Farris’ complaint is on another in a long line aiming to change the fabric of rural Virginia.
“What have they done to the tranquility of the whole community because a vast number of people that surround this gentleman own and hunt on for generations,” Burch said in an interview.
Farris’s complaint asks the judge to block Sheriff Warren from enforcing Virginia’s right to retrieve and instead aid in barring hunters from accessing his land. Warren has yet to respond to the suit and did not respond to requests for comment.
