Buck Hollow Sporting Goods - click or touch to visit their website Midwest Habitat Company

So, what would you have done?

Being that it was eating livestock, I might have shot it right there.. otherwise, i give them one chance. Last year i had a beagle come through the woods howling all over the place.. it had no collar and i know all my neighbors well enough to know what dogs they have and i had never seen this one before.. I climbed out of the stand and picked up a chunk of a log and threw it at the dog and hit him in the side and he tucked tail and got the heck outta there.. couple days later (very next hunt) i was in the same stand and here he came again howling and chasing everything through the woods.. he got got a 100gr montec through the front shoulders.. a couple days later i was checking cams on a different property about 1/4 mile away and that same dog was on that cam like the day before he i shot him.. if he would have had a collar i proba ly would have tried to find the owner, but repeat offender and a stray as far as im concerned gets the death penalty
 
I've shot more than my share of cats, but on a couple of occasions have tried to shoot a dog and couldn't do it. This dog taking out livestock clearly deserves the death penalty, but I think you did the right thing by letting the livestock owner know about it. Too bad you didn't have a video camera along and could pass that on to local authorities.

NWBuck
 
Now as a landowner at what point are damages too much to tolerate? I for one would not shoot it the first time. But it eating the lamb I dont think it will ever reform. Lets say you get no trail cam pics of it and 3 years go by and you happen to see it again. I get right down drive to the owners house and tell them point blank this cant continue to happen. Next day its chasin deer on my property well you know my answer. At that point you have done everything possible and there is no changing the dog or the owner. What if people were running around tracking deer and yelling on your property??? You would call the law and do something about it. Let the owners deal with it but in the future you must do something about it or otherwise give up all rights to your property.
 
I would suggest to the lambs owner turn it in to the dog owners insurance. We started doing this with the neighbors cows doing damage. Hit em in the pocketbook that seems to help.
 
Every dog owner I can ID will get ONE warning from me for their dog(s) running deer, livestock or harassing birds in my flight pen. I would hope they would do the same if one of my dogs was misbehaving. I even gave the neighbor ladies cat a "get out of jail free" card in a live trap once. Thankfully he learned. Usually cats don't get that privilege...:rolleyes:
 
I have had the same problem. 2 years ago i had the neighbors labs on my trail camera everyday. I saw them multiple times while i was in the stand. One time I was at full draw on a bobcat and the dang dogs came busting through the cedars! It took everything i had to let my bow down... But another neighbor has a dog that use to get out of his fence everyday. I went and spoke with him about the issue and now he ties a 2 gallon bucket to the dogs collar during deer season so the dog can not fit through the holes in the fence or dig under!!! Pretty funny to see a 85 pound dog running around with a bucket hanging from its collar but i never see it in the woods now!
 
I'm gonna follow up with the sheep owner to she what she did. I know she was not very happy when I told her what I saw. She wished I had shot it. I agree it's not all the dogs fault but when the owner has no concern what his dog does then something should be done. Maybe next time it won't be livestock but a 5 year old playing in the yard.
 
Several years back in our hunting area a guy nearby had something like 18 dogs that he just let run wild, so naturally they ran in packs and you would see 5 or more at one time. All breeds too, you would see a rottweiler, some sorta pointer, a lab, a beagle, a mut, and some little cat sized critter etc, all in the same pack. The guy would go around to different rescue kennels or whatever to get them, and even went so far as bragging about shooting deer to feed his dogs, so the dogs naturally chased deer. Needless to say, every hunter in the area that year had seen them, and all had a vendetta against those dogs. We had multiple turkey and deer hunts ruined by those dogs for a couple of seasons. The guy is no longer living in the area, think he may have even died, but needless to say, a lot of those dogs didn't make it through that deer season and the following turkey season, though I never did get a shot at one. We talked to the warden in the area, and he basically said he couldn't do a lot about it, seems the state gets sued if a warden shoots anything these days, and also more or less proposed the SSS solution. I don't think I have ever seen someone so irresponsible as a pet owner, or so irreverent of their neighbors.
 
danielboone said:
Several years back in our hunting area a guy nearby had something like 18 dogs that he just let run wild, so naturally they ran in packs and you would see 5 or more at one time. All breeds too, you would see a rottweiler, some sorta pointer, a lab, a beagle, a mut, and some little cat sized critter etc, all in the same pack. I don't think I have ever seen someone so irresponsible as a pet owner, or so irreverent of their neighbors.
Click to expand...

Well, I had some neighbors that were probably related to that guy. They couldn't say no to people who thought that a dog "was better off in the country" and in their "natural environment" and dropped them off at their house. They had all breeds of dogs, one was a lab that had 8 or 9 pups, which they let run.:mad:

If I wanted dogs running all over my property, I wouldn't have mine in a kennel.

I paid them a couple of visits, called the Sheriff who said he would pay them a visit, commented he really couldn't do much, but gave me a couple of hints on what to do. ;)
 
@AZHunter Its not the dog's fault, its the owner's fault.

It is the dog's fault. He killed the lamb. That's what's wrong with society. Never anyone's fault.

I love your posts AZHunter but here I totally disagree with that comment.
 
JNRBRONC said:
Well, I had some neighbors that were probably related to that guy. They couldn't say no to people who thought that a dog "was better off in the country" and in their "natural environment" and dropped them off at their house. They had all breeds of dogs, one was a lab that had 8 or 9 pups, which they let run.:mad:

If I wanted dogs running all over my property, I wouldn't have mine in a kennel.

I paid them a couple of visits, called the Sheriff who said he would pay them a visit, commented he really couldn't do much, but gave me a couple of hints on what to do. ;)
Click to expand...

Yep every time we've called the law to complain about dogs they just tell us to shoot them and get rid of the carcass. Paying the owners a visit is a waste of their time.
 
JOSHBRNDT said:
@AZHunter Its not the dog's fault, its the owner's fault.

It is the dog's fault. He killed the lamb. That's what's wrong with society. Never anyone's fault.

I love your posts AZHunter but here I totally disagree with that comment.
Click to expand...


What he meant and I totally agree with is, it is the owners fault he has been allowed to become a deer chasing, livestock killer, by not raising him right and allowing him to run loose all over, doing whatever his instinct made him do.

I have a 3 year old wolfhound and jack Russell terrier that if not taught better would be the the most bloodthirsty deer chasing, critter killers on earth, but from the start were taught that's not acceptable. I never have to kennel them. They never leave the farm yard area and totally ignore the dozens of turkeys and deer that come into their yard every day and night. Raccoons are a different story and I have failed at convincing them to not kill them and SKUNKS:(

The point is, it's the owners fault they are allowed to run loose, develop the bloodthirst and get in trouble.

Don't get me started on people that move to the country and buy a hunting dog or 2 and allow them to run loose. Now who's fault is it when they start doing what comes natural on their own, every day. Has anyone ever owned a hunting dog that was allowed to run loose, worth a crap?
 
SEIowaDeerslayer said:
Yep every time we've called the law to complain about dogs they just tell us to shoot them and get rid of the carcass. Paying the owners a visit is a waste of their time.
Click to expand...

I've not had that problem around here. My wife once visited the neighbors and told them that their dog had run through the food plot in front of her chasing deer. When pointed out that she didn't get that many chances to hunt and didn't appreciate dogs ruining a hunt along with informing them that many folks will shoot dogs that run deer, we never saw that dog loose again. I once tied a note to a dogs collar that said "Run deer once, BAD DOG; run deer twice, DEAD DOG". Never saw that dog again either.

I have hunting dogs but hey do not run loose. However, stuff happens & I won't say they could never get loose. If anyone ever shot one of my dogs without at least warning me, I would cease to be a good neighbor on very short order! Dogs with owners deserve one warning. Unfortunately, if the owner is not a responsible owner the dog will pay the price...
 
All depends. Were you on your own ground? Who owns the sheep? As a hunter I do not make the choice on whether or not to shoot a neighbors pet, on someone else's land that they are LETTING me hunt. The landowner and pet owner may be neighbors and get along just fine, and if a hunter goes in and kills a pet, that could definitely start quite a fire.

But if it were my livestock, I would shoot, then report the shooting to the owner of the dog. I have done it before with my calves, and would do it again in a heart beat. Law is on my side with my livestock, and the dog I did shoot (had a 5 day old calf down and I ended up having to kill it) owners paid me for the calf.
 
In the case of a live stock killer like that i would make any attempt to kill. We have show calves and no stray survives around our farm. On my own land or land that I manage for clients/friends we do not tolerate dogs harassing deer or other wildlife the solution is always run a trap line gives a chance to return or release first time offender . I have witnessed first hand the dogs taking down deer and calves not pretty. I would feel 10 times worse if I mistakenly shot a button buck than 10 deer chasing dogs.
 
6x6 said:
What he meant and I totally agree with is, it is the owners fault he has been allowed to become a deer chasing, livestock killer, by not raising him right and allowing him to run loose all over, doing whatever his instinct made him do.

I have a 3 year old wolfhound and jack Russell terrier that if not taught better would be the the most bloodthirsty deer chasing, critter killers on earth, but from the start were taught that's not acceptable. I never have to kennel them. They never leave the farm yard area and totally ignore the dozens of turkeys and deer that come into their yard every day and night. Raccoons are a different story and I have failed at convincing them to not kill them and SKUNKS:(

The point is, it's the owners fault they are allowed to run loose, develop the bloodthirst and get in trouble.

Don't get me started on people that move to the country and buy a hunting dog or 2 and allow them to run loose. Now who's fault is it when they start doing what comes natural on their own, every day. Has anyone ever owned a hunting dog that was allowed to run loose, worth a crap?
Click to expand...

Thank you, 6x6. That is exactly my point! I quickly pointed fault...at the owner. Humans are supposed to be smarter and more highly evolved than dogs, but many fail in every regard. The dog was poorly trained and quickly reverted to its evolutionary instinct. Dogs are less removed from wolves evolutionarily than most humans realize and GSDs are closer genetically than most breeds. My old girl GSD chased a deer one time in southeast Arizona while on a hike. I made sure that she knew that was unacceptable and that was the last time she chased one. As a responsible pet owner (currently 3 GSDs), I take FULL RESPONSIBILITY for my dogs. Fault goes to the individual who is "supposed" to be the higher being for not being a responsible pet owner.

I also agree with everything Nanny said.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom