I'm pretty sure it's not a felony in Wisconsin. It's the law to keep your dogs on a leash though...with the exception being if you are bear hunting. Don't send them through my property.

Man,This is about the 1000th time that this has been gone over.Personally I live in "Dog hunting" country.I have belonged to clubs that use dogs.I have also seen what can happen when they disregard others property and rights.It makes for a bad time for all.I don't think that running dogs will screw up a hunt.The dogs will come through stir everything up.Then things will settle back down.Oops what is that sneaking by behind the dogs about an hour later? It's that big ol' buck that side stepped the dogs,now easing out after everything has gone.I guess that you have to try it before you can understand.A lot of people think it is unethical to hunt deer with dogs.I think it depends on how and where you hunt.If I am having a slow day and am not seeing much I hope a pack of dogs will come by.As for shooting the dogs.That should never be an option!The dog is just doing what dogs do.I know about the cost and time when it comes to hunting.But that is no reason to kill a hunting dog.If it is a pack of wild dogs or some manged(sp) up cur.Sure take them out or put the sick one out of his misery.But how would you like to go to some farmers house and tell his little 4 year old daughter that you shot her puppy because he screwed up your hunting trip.I don't think I would like it myself.JMHO

Danville Va.LAST CAPITAL OF THE CONFEDERACY

Well I have a little experience in this area since we used to run cattle and hunt on a couple of hundred acres that was surrounded by houses and subdivisions. My father and I had a couple of simple rules.

1. Any dog under 15 to 20 pounds was usually pretty safe(unless it was constantly in the pasture ie see it 10-15 times a month).
2. If we saw the larger dog in our pasture more than 2 or 3 times we shot it.

Reason - Dogs will pull down a young calf and since I have a fence to keep my cattle in you should have a fence to keep your dog in. When the dog being out starts to become a habit we took care of it. A couple of times some small mutt dogs were constantly in the pasture so we eventually took care of them as well. We would give them a chance but repeat appearances in the pasture meant they were dead dogs.

I have an English bulldog that sleeps with us and is a member of the family, but that is why I keep him in a fence. It is amazing that people move out to the edge of the country and think their animals can just run free. JMO

Later
Gone_Huntin

Different states and counties are going to have different laws concerning wildlife and dogs. Like comparing oranges and apples and it can't be rationally discussed here. Mentality and the way different hunters were "brought up" are additionl factors.
One thing about it the (and I use the word hunter loosely here) hunters that have the lease that shot the neighbors dogs probably will lose their lease over this and they should. Even if it is timber company land, they do not like controversy and problems with their neighbors over hunting. Most will pull leases and offer them to local people or just close the hunting on the lands they own.

Ok, sorry it took me so long to find this thread. I can't beleive the number of guys who say it is wrong to kill a dog on your property!! I'm dealing with this exact same situation right now, here is my story.

We own/lease over 800 acres out of town. There are rual subdivisions on 3 sides of the property. Used to dogs didn't seem to be a big problem, however that has changed in the last couple years. This year we have seen no less than 20 <u>different</u> dogs running and barking thru the property while we were on deer stands. We even have pictures of them at our feeders waaaay back in the woods taken by our game cameras. Yes, we have also personally seen them chasing deer. The problem has become epedemic. The problem is with the dog owners, NOT us. It is their dog who is tresspassing on our land. Used to people kept their dogs penned up, tied up, or trained to stay on their place. That doesn't seem to be the case anymore.

So what are we supposed to do? There are literally hundreds of houses around the property so contacting the dog owners is not a possibility. We are left with two real choices: 1) let the dogs keep running deer all over the country and ruining our hunting or 2) start shooting dogs. It is real easy to say that you should just forget about it and let the dogs go. Just wait until their are dogs in the woods barking and dogs chasing deer EVERY single time you go in the woods! I'll be honest, I don't like the idea of shooting someone's pet either. I hate the thought of shooting a domestic dog because there is no sport in it. However, this isn't for sport, it is for neccessity. However, I'll add that as of now, we have not killed any dogs. We have been hoping and praying the problem would slow down. Instead it is getting worse.

My folks have spent over $300,000 buying this land in the last 10 yrs and the land we lease is an additonal $2,200 per year. We put in 10 acre food plots, mow roads, put out feeders and minerals, and practice and an extreme QDM plan. Don't tell me that I have to let some 2 cent dog ruin my hunting.

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Hunting the Piney Woods of Deep East Texas.

and most of you folks will shoot a cyote in a hart beat! If it chases deer, it's gone!!!!!

Hurry up and wait.

TxCowboy - the problem is just going to continue to get worse. We were in the same situation with the place we used to have and we ended up shooting somewhere between 2 and 10 dogs a year that made a habit of being in our pasture. In a perfect world it wouldn't happen, but I at least don't live in a perfect world.

Later
Gone_Huntin

Bruce, GH, I'm glad that I'm not the only one that holds this opinion! I'm not too proud to admit it. I think some of these guys take the &quot;ethical game&quot; way to far. Hey none of us are wanting to shoot a dog, we are being forced into by their owners who don't really care about them.

One particular time a couple years ago we had 3 labs that were chasing deer every single day across our hay pasture. I mean every day! We were also no longer seeing any deer in the pasture because of this. (so much for the theory that the dogs won't bother the deer) We knew who owned the dogs so being the good neighbor we went up to his house which was over 1/2 mile from our place. We very nicely explained to him what was happening and told him that they were really causing havoc with the deer and our hunting. He quickly told us that he moved to the country so he could let his dogs run free and he wasn't about to stop them. Even though he only owned 1 acre he felt they should be able to freely run on the surrounding 2,000 acres. Nothing changed and he was given another warning. I was fully prepared to start dropping dogs like flies. It was a blessing when he moved out of town of few weeks later!

Guys, I'm no idiot I don't want to shoot a dog that got loose one time and ran over on my land. However, I'm not going to stand for these &quot;repeat&quot; offender dogs who think our land is their playground. All of you have a problem with hunting deer with dogs, however, you can somehow justify a dog running a deer on his own as ok?

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Hunting the Piney Woods of Deep East Texas.

The problem we have with dogs on our lease is not the family pet it is the people who have the leases on two sides of our property who do run dogs. Dog hunting is a tradition and very popular in South Carolina and I respect that and that it fine. But, these a$$holes let their dogs out on one side of their lease and run them right through our lease to the other side. We have had more than one confrontation with the owners but they just keep saying they can't control where their dogs run. B.S. Neadless to say there have been more than one come up missing. I personally have never shot one but I am not so sure that I wouldn't. These people have had numerous warnings and if they do not personally care for the well being of their dogs why should I.

Txcowboy I think you've said it best, no one wants to shot a pet but if the animal is a problem and the owner doesn't do anything what else is there to do. Up here (ny) we can shoot dogs if they're chasing deer. There is a reason for this the dog runs the deer especially in the winter, the deer gets tired and can't fend for itself then it dies an unnecessary death. The deer uses calories trying to get away from a dog Which means its going to need to eat more, and at this time of year food is scarce. I don't think anyone that shoots a pet wants to but sometimes we're placed with our backs against the wall.