I'll jump in on this one as well even though I just posted to the same question a few days ago in the growth and future of our sport thread.
First, yes there are guys who run dogs who are complete slobs. You find the unfortunately in every group of hunters. Yes some people run there dogs where they do not have permission, same as some call land they do not have permission for. Sometimes dogs stray from land the owners have permission for onto land they don't have permission for. Heres a news flash for ya - they are dogs, they know no concept of property lines. At this point a responsible houndsman catchs his dog(s) and moves on.
Anybody that says running a yote with dogs is too easy or unsporting has never participated in the sport. Training a good dog is no easy task and coyotes are very good at fooling a dog. They learn real quick to avoid roads and run circles in the middle of the section till the dog loses their trail. As far as skill level goes, once you get the dog trained you still have to shoot the coyote. Trying to pick up and tag a yote running from brush patch to brush patch is no easy task. People who sitting trucks along the road probably only see a third to a quarter of the yotes their dogs run and then only kill about a quarter of those. Personally I don't like sitting and waiting in a truck so I chase the dogs on foot. For those bashing dog hunting please try this method some time. After spending a day trying to get ahead of a coyote often trudging through 2 plus feet of some, I'll bet anything you change you mind.
Finally, and for hopefully the last time, chasing coyotes with dogs isn't about killing coyotes, its about the dogs. The whole competition is between the dog and the coyote and the pleasure comes from from watching the chase unfold. Success isn't in the body count but how well your dogs played the game. Watching and listening to a good set of hounds run is one of the finer pleaures in life and if you have never experienced it I can't help but pity you.
Most of my coyote hunting involves calling, but I try to go with family that run dogs 2-3 times a year, just as I try to get my golden retrieve out to the pheasant fields on a regular basis and if I'm real lucky going coon hunting once or twice. I've been a dog person from day one and walking a good dog do its work still makes my heart beat fast too this day, whether it be a border collie working my cattle, a golden retriever getting birdy, or a pack of hounds running a coyote.
From my point of view their are something things in life that you have to experience before you can claim to have really lived. A partial list of out door related ones are:
1. Sat around a campfire and heard the coyotes or wolves howl in the distance.
2. Encountered a grizzly with cubs (or some other dangerous critter) at close range while unarmed and realizing that you are no longer at the top of the food chain.
3. Pushed some piece of performance motor vehicle to the absolute limit and road the jagged edge of out of control
4. Rode a bull
5. Rode a horse at full speed through the forest whipping and weaving around trees.
6. Had a bull elk or gobbler sound off behind you at spitting distance.
7. Called a coyote across the snow on a moonlit night.
8. Watched a well trained dog work its magic.
I could go on but you should have gotten the point, I've done everything on this list except buggled up and elk, but that will change given time.
Oh, and by the way. I've never even shot at coyote running from dogs, but I've killed a bunch of them calling. And personally, hunting with dogs the way I prefer to do it makes calling look pretty damn easy.
Just the the not so humble (in this case) opinion of someone who has been there and did it.
