I stopped posting in this thread for a while and just sat back to see what would happen. It was getting pretty bad for a while. I have read every post though.

I have observed a few things.

A) The problem appears to be worse and more widespread then I, and I suspect many others knew. Some of you have had VERY bad and excessive experiences with dogs / pets.

B) Most are saying you are at least making attempts to warn the owners and / or give the pet a chance. I truely commend you as I was feeling like this was a shoot first never ask questions deal.

C) There are clearly some pet owners who have no regard, care, or responsibility for their pets. It seems also they have no respect for others and how their actions or lack of them affects others. I really feel like they should be punished not the pet.

D) I have not seen ONE....NOT ONE (please point out if I missed it) decent alternative or creative suggestion other then killing the pet. Maybe one doesn't exist. I suggested a few early in the thread. I would think with all the hunters we have viewing / participaiting in this thread we could help each other out instead on focusing on to kill or not to kill. That question simply will not result in mass agreement.

I certainly do not relish the thought of fellow hunters missing oppurtunities on account of this problem. I wonder if we might finally turn this into a positive and start with some creative ways to solve it in all except the most extreme cases.

red dawn-contact the dog owner first?how do you know who the dog belongs to?what if the dog has no tags?what if the dog is chasing game or killing farm animals?if the owners truly care about their dogs they would either keep the penned up or kept at home during hunting season. no excuse for an owner to allow their animals to roam all over others property.is a dog just being a dog by killing chickens of your neighbor? is the dog just being a dog by chasing animals thru the woods?how about the owner being an owner and keeping track of his or her pets.if they are stray dogs not only will they chase and kill animals they will also carry disease to other pets and animals. lets be realistic here.

I would NEVER kill a dog and if i acidentaly hit one with my pick-up i would probably cry unless it was like a poodle or something but i would still feel sad. My friend dog just got hit by a car while he was out hunting and i still feel ticked off because i found out the guy could have slowed down and waited but instead he just went ahead and hit it. If i would have been hunting with him(witch i was originally supposed to) i probably would have hit the guy.

scaring deer dosent justify shooting a familys dog. there are alot of familys that consider their dog or dogs to be part of the family and would go to lengths to protect them as they would one of their children. god have mercy on the poor soul that would even THINK about harming my dog. my advise would be to enroll yourself in the witness protection program. with that said, i dont live on a farm, i never have, but i'm sure having dogs on a farm to protect the live stock from predators is an issue for hunters and land owners alike. but the bottom line is- i dont care who you are, you havnt invested as much time and money in your hunting trip as the live stock owner had invested in his farm and live stock. in fact, chances are your feeding your family with his services, so have some respect and find another place to hunt if its that big of a deal. as far as the "roaming dog", a pet owner with half a brain would not let his dogs roam free during the 2 or 3 week hunting season. even if the hunting season in two months long, for christ sake, the person should have some common sense, take a proactive approch to the situation and keep the dog on a leash until the season is over. but killing a persons dog for spooking deer is wrong no matter which way you slice it. a snarling dog faoming at the mouth is one thing, but a dog running through a pasture because thats what it does, thats not cool.

All I can say is if you love your pooch then tie him or fence him up during deer season cause if he comes by my stand he's dead. I don't care what you think of that, if the people love their so called pets so much then it would seem like common sense to me to protect it. If you don't have enough respect for me as a hunter to keep your animal tied, oh well, can you say "Live Target Down Range"! I will however let a collared deer dog or rabbit dog pass but no sooners! I like the others spend entirely too much money to watch some mutt run bullwinkle off down the holler!

Edited by - scrub hunter on 12/03/2002 20:41:32

So ahhhh yeah, lets see trying to seek legitimate solutions is just out the window then right? We are just going to continue with the bantering right. Okee dokie then.

these so called owners that care so much have pretty much all not said a word about their animals running loose during hunting season and on someone elses property that they know is being hunted. i do not want to shoot a dog but will do so if it is causing problems. no witness protection needed here. the owner should hide for allowing the dog to roam on others property. the responsibility of the owner is to be responsible for the animals. is allowing the animal to run free onto property with hunters is failing at their job. if they care so much then get off their duffs and keep tabs of their pets.

OK.. I hunt public land, and if I saw a dog without a collar I would shoot it because they will probably starve anyway and wild dogs are a problem in GA, and legal to shoot.

Except this happened a few years ago.. the dog walked up to me wanting food and I just couldnt shoot it.. so I gave him some of my sandwich.

I wouldnt shoot a dog with a collar.. but the owners are a-holes if they let their pets on public hunting land.

I'm not to comfortable with what happened, but don't know if the dogs were wearing collars, or menaced the hunters. It wasn't one dog, they'd sort of formed a pack at that point. Whether they did or didn't, I'm also not too comfortable with dog owners who open up their door and let the dogs run off. It may be different in the country, wide open spaces and all that. I've cared too much for the dogs I've had to let them run off unchecked. And I'd certainly have more respect and concern for the dogs, and for the hunters, to let them interfere and endanger themselves during hunting season.

One more comment. A neighbor has two large dogs, a Doberman and a Boxer. They run free all year long; and chase deer and anything else they can. The stepson and I were hunting in the woods on our land when we heard his father's goats screaming. (His father lives on the neighboring farm.) He took off and went up to find the cause. The two dogs had the goat down and trying to eat it alive. He got a quick shot but missed, and they ran for home. He also found another goat alive but chewed on. Last year I asked the neighbor to tie the dogs during season. He cussed me out and ordered me off his property. Can you guess the chances of these dogs the next time they run a deer past my stand? Or the stepson? We have a split season here, one with dogs and one without. We had some hunters that turned their dogs loose on a ten acre patch, and then they ran the deer through our 100 acres and through our pasture and hayfield which borders the road. After freeing the dogs, they drive down to the field and shoot from the road, totally illegal here. Tell me I shouldn't shoot these dogs.