Deer dogging hunters plead guilty to federal charges

Just a few weeks after a judge in Poplar Bluff made the strange ruling that state laws banning the use of dogs and vehicles while deer hunting were too vague to enforce, seven southeastern Missouri hunters have pleaded guilty to awfully similar federal charges of conspiracy to hunt with dogs.

The lazy man’s hunting tactic has been outlawed in Missouri since before wildlife officials can even remember, but the Missouri Department of Conservation says that more cases of deer dogging are working through the courts, and additional guilty pleas are likely.