It's legal to shoot wild dogs chasing deer in Ohio. Dogs will run a deer all night by taking turns chasing till the deer is wore out then they kill it, just like wolves do. The alpha dog (wolf) will bark commands to the others during the chase. This is the reason our domestic dogs listen to and follow our commands.

They may or may not eat their kill. The dogs that people let run all night then come home and sleep on the porch all day (which the owner thinks is cute) usually eats at home. The wild dogs will let the tame ones do most of the work then get their fill. These are for the most part dogs that irresponsible pet owners drop off in the country that turned wild. Some are coydogs that were always wild and also run with coyote's.

I live a 1/2 a mile from my nearest neighbor in the country. People drive out here and say "oh this looks like a nice place for fluffy, run free with the wind" then I have to finish the job. It's not something I enjoy doing but something that has to be done. I have young kids. Tell your city dwelling friends, when you drop your pets off in the country YOU are signing it's death warrant. Again, what I call irresponsible pet ownership.

But how can one tell a "wild" dog from someone's pet?

Good question and one I had no answer for when I first moved here. The best way I've found is look for the shifty eyes. The wild one's have those shifty eyes that never stop moving and their head hung low, also their coat is usually scruffy looking. They are never fat and mostly will take off when they see you. Overall, body language would be my answer.

Now I would never shoot a gundog or anything that even remotely acted friendly. I have had many dogs that were lost come in my yard cause I'm the only house around. I tie them up and call the number on the collar or if there’s no number just wait till the owner shows up looking. Never waited more than 3 days. I have gundogs of my own that I would not want to lose so I know the feeling. One dog supposedly traveled 7 mile from where the guy lived, I think he was hunting out here but he wouldn't admit to it.

Dig this. Before light one morning I climbed into one of my favorite tree stands on the outskirts of a bedding area. First three doe's walked by at first light. 20 minutes later, two lesser bucks took another path right through my zone and none of them knew I was there. I'm pumped now wondering when bullwinkle is going to show up when I heard leaf noises in the brush. Now I'm really pumped. Checking the edge of the brush I see it's two dogs hunting. What? A Sheppard looking thing and a big black lab looking mutt. As soon as they broke into my zone, they saw me. Now instead of leaving they ran to my tree and started aggressively barking at me like I'm some treed coon. BS. At first I thought the Sheppard was the leader but the black mutt was really being aggressive so I stuck an arrow through him and pinned him to the ground. He let out a spooky death howl. As I went for another arrow the other dog split in high gear. I dragged him out of my hunting area and my morning hunt was over. I always wondered what would have happened had I been in my ground blind?

Usually the way it goes is I hear dogs barking and when I look I see a deer running out ahead of them. I will then position myself where the deer ran then wait for them to show up.