re: Shooting Dogs

I could never bring myself to shoot a dog unless it attacked me or a family member but if these are wild dogs then I may be able to pump a round in 'em.

This is a very touchy subject and watch what you say or do when it comes to shooting dogs. You better know with out a doubt it does not belong to anyone and never tell anyone you shot it. The owner or some animal rights group could nail your arse to the wall. It don't matter that it was on your land much less lease land.

There was a case 10 yrs or so where a guys shot a guys dogs on his own property and had to pay big time for it. It's also a felony to abuse animals which is what you would get accused of if you got caught killing someones dog.

Now if I ever found out you shot my dog I would beat your arse! My dog was shot about a month ago with a .22mag she lived and is doing fine but there is no way I can prove who shot her. I am pretty sure I know who it was and if I ever catch him away from his house I am gonna stomp a mudhole in his arse.

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the last two ran deer out of my food plot 2 weekends in a roW

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I think I would have to lay the hammer down too.

I don't shoot dogs.

The only exception I could imagine is if it were showing aggression to me or my family.

If I saw a dog on my land, I would have a problem with an owner. If it was a stray and starving, I would probably try to catch it or at least give it some food . . . but that's how I am.

The land we own is around my grandparents house in the middle of nowhere (no houses within miles). When my grandmother was alive, every stray cat or dog that was able to make it to her house got fed and got to stay there until it moved on or died. So, I will feed any stray that comes through. I feel like that's something I owe to her memory. That's also how my parents ended up owning a 120lb Dane/lab mix (great couch potato dog, but when he was younger he would catch and kill deer) and a cat. And thats how the wife and I own a black lab mix that showed up at my grandparents house so starved as a puppy that she didn't have any hair. Now she is fat and happy and continually irritates me because she won't let anything stay on the faucets outside. So, no, I'm not going to just shoot a dog.

Another story: When I was young and just starting to hunt by myself, I had two little dogs, about ten pounds each, run a big doe by me one morning. They looked like Jack Russells or Rat Terriers, the memory is faded now. I heard them run the deer for a while and then start heading back my way. I shot at the doe as she crossed the shooting lane and she kept running. By the time I climbed out of my stand and started looking for blood, the dogs showed up. We (the dogs and I) picked up the blood trail and found her about 30 yards away in a thicket. The dogs did a little "Yah!!! We killed a deer!" dance that only little dogs can do and then took back off through the woods never to be heard from again. We asked around and no one knew who owned the dogs or had ever seen two little dogs like that out in the woods. So, seeing a dog in the woods doesn't bother me that much.

I've shot two hunting dogs on our property, both the same year. Both in the middle of our 2000 acres of hunting land. Yeah, the dogs don't know property lines, but the owners do. Do a better job of keeping your dogs off of land that I pay money to hunt or reimburse me my hunting lease fees. One was starving and bleeding from it's paws it had been run so much and the other was scavenging around our campers. Buried the collars and all. Was about 14 yrs ago and never had a problem again.

eta - I should clarify.. the people running the dogs left evidence they were pushing deer off our property towards theirs with the dogs the previous year. And the one that had bloody paws, you could also tell the thing hadn't eaten in about a week, it was nothing but ribs and couldn't get near it without it going cujo. Don't think it was rabid, but it was too weak to attack.

I added an edit. We know the owners were running our deer and wasn't about to get our campers burned or clubhouse burned over their damn dogs.

We didn't have hogs where we hunted, just deer. And we were a stalk only club. I know there are good and responsible dog hunters, but every club I've ever been in, or bordered, that ran dogs was crap. They either cut off deer on drives or ran them on property lines to push other deer out. I loathe running dogs for deer with a passion because of the experiences, and if any ever end up in the middle of 2K acres, they'll never make it out, if I can help it. Having said that, fortunately that club lost it's lease and there are no clubs bordering our land anymore. As far as pets, there's been several run under my stands and they can keep on keeping on. I've never shot someone's pet that is just out chasing squirrels or whatever else it's sniffing. There's a difference between dogs meant to chase my deer out and little Jimmy's lab just out and about.

If you had recurrent hunts interrupted by little Jimmy's lab despite asking little Jimmy to not let his lab out an about would you feel the same? At what point does little Jimmy's lab become a pest?

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If you had recurrent hunts interrupted by little Jimmy's lab despite asking little Jimmy to not let his lab out an about would you feel the same? At what point does little Jimmy's lab become a pest?

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As an adult, I realize that other people's rights may overlap mine too, and deal with it accordingly. I wouldn't kill Jimmy's lab. I would most likely pen him up.

A super minority of the population feel the way you do.