DEER DOG HUNTING LEGAL CHALLENGE

Some Northwest Florida residents want the State Supreme Court to hear a case aimed at eliminating “deer dog” hunting on property around the Blackwater Wildlife Management Area. The residents that such hunting has infringed on their property rights and created a nuisance. “Deer dog” hunting involves hunters using dogs to flush out deer and has long been allowed in the state’s Blackwater Wildlife Management Area. The legal battle stems from hunters and dogs trespassing on adjoining private land and property owners filed a lawsuit in 2016, seeking to prevent deer-dog hunting in the wildlife-management area.