Bill aims at hunters

FLORENCE -- Few things in this world will make someone pack their belongings, leave their beloved home and build another home some 70 miles away east, just to get away.

But that’s exactly what Florence resident Kathy Andrews said she did to put some distance between her and hunters who use hunting dogs to track prey across her sprawling country property.

During hunting season, the baying dogs, closely followed by gun-toting hunters, streaked across her property and disturbed her peace, she said.

Andrews said she begged them to stop, but they wouldn’t.

She put up no trespassing signs and they get torn down.

She’s called law enforcement, and the officers do nothing, she said.

“Some people leave during hunting season. I built a home at the beach just to get away and keep my family safe,” Andrews said. “It’s unfair that hunters make up less than 4 percent of the population and they are wreaking havoc on the rest of us.”

Andrews and other residents who feel hounded by hunting dogs and their owners may have a new law to protect their property through state legislation that originated in the Senate.

If passed into law, the Renegade Hunter Act would fine those who intentionally or unintentionally trespass on another person’s land with hunting dogs and a firearm, said state Sen. Yancey McGill, D-Kingstree, who is sponsoring the bill.

“This bill takes into consideration personal property owners and renegade dog owners,” he said. “What violates the law is if a hunter has a loaded weapon on unauthorized property.”

McGill said he decided to sponsor the bill because renegade hunters have caused problems for years. The bill protects landowners and hunters who are respectful of other people’s property,.

“It’s been an issue nobody has addressed,” he said. “… People don’t deserve other people taken advantage of their legal rights.”

Andrews said she commends the senator for his efforts and looks forward to a time when the law will protect innocent property owners.

“The only way we’ll get any protection is through tougher laws and better enforcement. Unless these trespassers are prosecuted for breaking the law, the abuse of landowners will continue,” she said.

Andrews said she would like to see the Palmetto State pass a hunting law similar to that of Georgia which requires a hunter to have at least 1,000 acres before a hunting dog can be released.

“As one hunter told me, ‘Dogs can’t read signs.’ Well, if a dog can’t read a sign, the dog needs enough land to run on,” she said.

Andrews said she remembers getting ready for a family funeral when a pack of hunting dogs followed by men with high-powered weapons surrounded her home.

When at her home in Florence during hunting season, she’s constantly calling law enforcement officers to her property in an effort to keep the hunters away.

In response, some of the hunters have begun to taunt and intimidate her, Andrews said.

“I’ve had people shoot around my home at close range … destroy property and basically terrorize me. As an African-American, while going through this, I just imagined how my ancestors must have felt as they fought for equality,” she said. “When I’m outside, I always feel like I have a gun aimed at me. It’s frightening when you have people shooting around your home.”

Andrews said she feels that state Department of Natural Resources officers who patrol the land around her property are protecting the hunters who trespass.

“I don’t know of any arrests by DNR in my community, yet they are aware and have found trespassing hunters on my property, ” she said.

She moved back to South Carolina from Washington, D.C., during the time when law enforcement officers in the D.C. area were searching for a sniper who shot and killed people at random.

“I moved back to get away from the sniper, but I’d rather face a sniper than this,” Andrews said.

McGill said the residents he has spoken with about the bill seem to be in favor of it.

“Once people understand the bill, they like it,” he said. ” Most of the time their first reaction is they worry about what it will do to their hunting.”

The bill will hold irresponsible hunters accountable for their actions, McGill said.

In some cases, they can have their hunting privileges taken away for a year. Violators also could be required to take a hunting safety course, the senator said.

The bill already has passed in the state senate and has been sent to the House of Representatives for consideration.

House members may send the bill back to the Senate for with amendments before it is passed into law.