By admin 
NORFOLK, Va. – A retired general is suing the Gloucester (Va.) County sheriff in federal court alleging that by allowing hunters and their dogs to enter his property without penalty despite “no trespassing” signage, the sheriff is violating the Fifth and 14th amendments.
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The complaint filed this month in the Eastern District of Virginia points to repeated instances since 2020 in which hunting dogs have ventured onto the roughly 80-acre, partially fenced property owned by Billy Don Farris II in Gloucester’s Ware Neck area, leading to incidents including a dog peeing on someone’s clothes during a family event and multiple confrontations with hunters. Farris says he has attempted to resolve the issue in discussions with Sheriff Darrell Warren over the years but has been told law enforcement can’t intervene unless the hunters intentionally released their dogs onto his property.
By taking the position that Farris could be charged with a crime for telling hunters to cease and desist, the lawsuit argues Warren’s policy amounts to “an unconstitutional taking of Mr. Farris’s property under the Fifth and 14th amendments.” The Fifth Amendment protects citizens from private property being taken for public use without compensation, and the 14th Amendment protects against being deprived of property without due process.
Nathan Hotes, an attorney with the Pacific Legal Foundation who is representing Farris free of charge in the case, said the right to retrieve doesn’t apply because Farris isn’t trying to get anyone arrested or seeking criminal damages.
“He’s just looking (for a ruling) that, when he says cease and desist, the hunters need to leave and that is Fifth Amendment-protected regardless of what Virginia law would say,” Hotes said.
Farris described the scope of the issue in a January 2025 letter to the sheriff, saying that his wife reported seeing four separate packs of dogs on their property within four hours and that they’ve seen hounds in their gardens, on their boat dock, at the entrance to their home, in their yard, and inside the fenced area where they kept their neighbor’s horses.
He added that his family hasn’t felt safe releasing their own dogs on their property.
“My family and I have the right to the peace and enjoyment of our property without harassment and intimidation from hound hunters. As these confrontations continue to escalate, I remain concerned for the safety of my family and potential acts of vandalism as retaliation,” Farris wrote. “My wife is sick with worry that one of these individuals will eventually escalate to violence.”
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In an email, Major Ryan Cookson with the sheriff’s office said they’re “only following the guidelines set forth” in Virginia’s right to retrieve law, along with Dusewicz’s legal opinion and guidance from the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources.
“We have no personal positions or agendas regarding the matter outside of what that code section specifically states,” Cookson said.
Experts say that while the sheriff’s office has some discretion when it comes to how they enforce trespassing laws, landowners do have a right to file a civil lawsuit against hunters.
“On the civil side, the landowner definitely has a remedy,” said Eric Kades, a law professor at William & Mary. “He could sue whoever is coming onto his property for a civil trespass, a private lawsuit.”
Rich Hynes, a law professor with the University of Virginia, said landowners have limits on their ability to compel people to get off their land.
“Part of that is that you think you can invoke criminal trespass, but the problem is that criminal trespass probably doesn’t apply here unless there’s an intent to, as the sheriff is saying, to intentionally release the dogs on the property,” Hynes said. “It’s a conundrum and it’s one people have been fighting about for generations. … I don’t have a good answer on where exactly the lines are.”
Both sides cite advice from the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources as supporting their arguments. In a December 2024 email from DWR Major Ryan Shuler replying to Farris, he says, while a DWR officer doesn’t have the authority to tell a hunter to leave private property if they’re only there to retrieve their dog, the landowner “can take civil legal action against any hunter that enters your property to retrieve a hunting dog.”
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“The right to retrieve is a carveout for criminal trespass only,” Shuler wrote.
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This story was originally published September 23, 2026 at 2:41 AM.