Feral dog "hunting" questions

[Scorch]

They've attacked her livestock, yet trying to prove that is pretty tough.
They've also shown aggression towards my mother and her husband.

In any state I have ever lived in, including CA, that right there would be enough reason to shoot them. My brother shot a neighbor's dog that was harassing livestock, then called animal control to pick up the carcass. They did, then charged the owner for the privilege. Too bad my brother doesn't shoot very fast, he could have had two of them.

Get caught doing this in Tx-straight to jail you go

I'm going to go along with Art on this one. Not trying to start an argument, but in every state I have ever lived in (7 Western states so far), shooting an animal to prevent damage to livestock or domestic animals will not get you arrested, fined, cited, or even noticed. LiveRanchers, farmers, and their lobbyists would have none of that, and up until very recently they pretty much set the rules.

[sc928porsche]

Trap them in a live trap. Then deliver them to the pound. That takes care of all the legalities.

[hardluk1]

People that think dogs don't break bad in a group need to spend a bit of time around a feral dog pack . They will make a coyote pack seem tame by all other comparisons. Also coyotes if there packs get same will mate dogs and bring them into the pac and the offspring can look like anything but a normal dog or coyote. Much more like a mutt. Anyone that hunts around al or ge knows what i mean about the mutt look. Blond, black any color but the typical coyote picture. So you see a pack of mutts running loose contact your fish and game or sherrif let them know about them and start kill'n. In areas the ranchers carry rifles year round just for them. And like said before a 22 will work or shotgun does just fine if near homes.

[Art Eatman]

"Trap them in a live trap."

You live in town?

Have you ever checked the price of the largest "Hav-A-Hart"? They're only raccoon sized. They don't give them away, either.

If you're gonna trap, setting three or four #4 Victors under some bait hanging from a tree limb works real good.

[W. C. Quantrill]

The big problem any more is that people dont know how to keep their mouth shut. Shoot, shovel, shhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. End of problem.

[hogdogs]

You can't touch a dog size live trap for under $150.00 bucks!
Since it constitutes a home made dangerous weapon/ gun and the barrel is nonexistent I won't detail the construction of a 12 gauge/rat trap device....
Works real nice at point blank range.
Brent

[Tuckahoe]

Are you sure these are not coy dogs? That could change things. In NC you can shoot dogs if being attacked or they are killing or attempting to kill your livestock.

[hogdogs]

In florida, A dog is a dog.... A yote is a yote.... A coy dog could be claimed a property of a person. While they may face a 250 dollar fine, You risk buying all the unborn offspring. Sure, if said dog is attacking than fine but if no evidence exists, 10 years at $1,000 per puppy twice per year and 8 per litter is a bunch of money if you lose.....
Brent

[700REM]

Yep-Same here.Aint got nothing to do with no legistlature.Its done by county.Or it is here anyways.You get caught shooting one and you better have some money to pay the tree huggers cause they will be after you.Happen to a friend and his chickens and I aint talkin no egg chickens-I am talkin Livestock Show chickens,he shot two of them so called feral dogs,cost him right at 1500.00.End of story.

[Daryl]

On coy-dogs...

I've hunted coyotes for over 30 years (actually, closer to 33 years), and I've yet to see a coyote that looked like anything but a coyote. I see a domestic dog loose often enough, but they're obviously used to humans and are domesticated pooches.

Feral dogs around here hang out in areas at the edge of town, and beg scraps from those who'll share. Some get adopted by tender hearted folks, but I suspect that most eventually starve. The desert is a harsh environment to dump your pet into.

Now, having shot well over 1000 coyotes in my years of hunting/calling them, I can honestly say that I've NEVER seen a coy-dog. Coyotes look like coyotes, and exhibit the characteristics of coyotes (walk with tail down rather than up, and so forth). Dogs exhibit the characteristics of dogs (tail up, friendly towards people, and so forth).

I know that it's biologically possible for them to interbreed, but I suspect that because of their natural activities, habits, and characteristically suspicious nature towards dogs, that it's almighty rare for a coyote to breed a dog, or for a dog to breed a coyote. In fact, I've some SERIOUS doubts about a bitch coyote letting a dog breed her. To understand my doubts, you'd have to study up on coyote habits though; they aren't typical dogs by any stretch of the wildest imagination. They don't have the same breeding habits, nor do they raise their young the same way a dog does.

Not saying it can't happen, but that it's almighty rare. I've shot an awful lot of coyotes in areas inhabited by both coyotes AND dogs, and I've yet to ever see a coy-dog...ever.

Daryl

[700REM]

Daryl;
where are you located ??

[Suwannee Tim]

I'm astonished by hogdog. He vehemently claims that it is illegal to shoot trespassing dogs, it is not. He makes reference to making a trap out of a 12 gauge shotgun which is a second degree felony in Florida, you can get life in prison for making or possessing. Some people make it up as they go, hogdog is one and he ain't very good at it. My guess is he lets his dogs run the neighborhood.

I have lost count of the dogs I have killed and I have gone to court once, the civil lawsuit was dismissed, I whacked two very expensive afghan hounds to earn that. I killed a dog as a Jacksonville Sheriff's officer watched. I have killed several dogs as the owners watched, dont' do this unless it is really necessary. I killed a champion AKC registered doberman worth thousands of dollars, the owner of the dog called the Sheriff's office, the Sheriff of Clay County himself, Jennings Muhree responded (he rode patrol one day a week), told the owner all he could do was sue me. He didn't sue me. Two days later I watch one of Sheriff Murhee's officers kill three dogs serving a warrant. No big deal.

You have to know the local law, both state, county and municipal ordinance as the case may be, and you might be sued which is rare. It can cost you some money which is rare.

Do what you need to do and keep your mouth shut.

You can chum up any feral dog with dog food, makes it easy.

223 will do the job just fine. I use a handgun or 22, a lot of times a 22 to the back of the head as they are in a live trap. If the dog has an owner, a 22 short will force the owner to pay a big vet bill, he may learn something. It's only illegal if you get caught.

By far the best way to deal with dogs is to trap them, turn them over to the local dog catcher, or not as the case may be. Most animal control agencies will loan you a trap.
Heart of the Earth Products makes good traps, I have a 48D, it gets used regularly.

http://www.animal-traps.com/animal-t...ng-dog-tc.html

A couple of these are handy:

http://www.animal-traps.com/animal-t....html#dividers

[guntotin_fool]

start raising hogs, feral Dogs LOVE the harrowing barn, I must have shot 25 over the years trying to sneak in to the barn and snatch a squealing piglet.

Killing a pet and killing a feral dog is two different things, one is threat, one is a pest. I tried hard to never shoot a collared dog, it happened, but only after they broke the rules and tried or succeeded in grabbing what they should have left alone.

I Have never met a tree hugger who freaked out less by seeing a feral dog shot, than being attacked by a dog pack when they were hiking.

[Art Eatman]

A round trip to my nearest "local" dog-catcher is eight gallons of gasoline. IOW, there's no "one size fits all" in this deal.

As far as generalizing about "feral" dogs: Don't get carried away. A friend of mine living just outside of Georgetown, Texas, lost sheep to feral dogs. He managed to shoot a couple of them. Both had collars, and one of the dogs--a Collie mix--had been at home in town just that morning.

[Suwannee Tim]

I don't make any distinction between feral and domestic. I have never seen a feral dog that I considered very dangerous but I have seen dozens of very dangerous domestic dogs. Neither tree huggers or animal rights wackos get upset over the humane killing of feral dogs, the owners can get really upset when you whack their "puppy." Keep your dogs off my property and off public property and I won't kill your dog.

[hardluk1]

Daryl A lease we hunted in al was also looked over bio the fish and game bio to get your doe tags and he was the one that confermed the coy-dogs in that area and to shoot all we could. Those did act much more like coyotes in there travel but i never saw many coyotes trqvel in the day light hours in a pack, Them sucker travels day and night in a loose pack just don't sound on each other as much as regular coy pack does at night. We were hunting between clayton and eufalia al.
Suwanee Tim, When i lived in sw fl i had a nieghbor that had 3 dogs that ran loose 2 sheps and i mutt, and they could be a pain. We had laws that you had to keep your dog leashed if not hunting . One night or screen porch cats came running in, my wife went to see what was up and opened the door to those 3 ****** off dogs. I got a 357 with rat shoot and fire all 6 rounds at them as they hauled butt. Then called the owner,, Reminded him of our leash law and told him if his dogs came back on my property and growled at anyone i would kill themand put them on his door step. Then asked if he had a problem with that and he said no. Turns out he was the ass. district attorney jerry brock..His brother was the DA. Glad i never went to court for anything. He did get rid of his dogs instead of makeing a run or fence in his yard. Guy had horses and money. O well.

[Suwannee Tim]

A couple of succinct thoughts, the best and easiest way to do this is trap them and whack them with a 22. Dump the carcass on the side of the road, looks like road kill. Keep quiet.

[roy reali]

http://www.animallaw.info/articles/a...atedoglaws.htm
Go to the above website. Click on a state then go through the dog regulations. You will find each state's laws concerning shooting stray and/or feral dogs.

[hogdogs]

Roy,
Linky no worky for me.
Brent

[roy reali]

Try again. I fixed it.

[Daryl]

Daryl;
where are you located ??

I'm in Southeast Arizona, about 20 miles southwest of Tombstone.

Some of the best calling country to be found.

Daryl

[Daryl]

Hardluk1

Bear in mind that I didn't say it CAN'T happen; only that in my experience, it's VERY unlikely.

A lot of people say "coy-dog", and later find out it's just a wild mutt.

I've seen people claim lion attacks on their horse, when the legs were chewed up and the sign showed it to be dogs. Lions do not attack the legs of it's prey.

I've seen a lot of people claim damage done by coyotes, when in reality it was dogs.

Not that coyotes, mt lions and such don't cause problems once in a while, but many folks would rather talk about "coy-dogs" or "mt lions" than "someone's mutt". People sensationalize things, and many times they're wrong. Some biologists are just as guilty of this at times, from what I've seen.

If a biologist said "coy-dog", I'd be tempted to ask to see blood sample verification. It's certainly possible, but I know an awful lot about coyotes, and I strongly suspect it's not as common as many would like to believe.

Again, yes, it's biologically possible, and I'm sure it can happen, but out of the many, many coyotes I've seen up close and personal, I've never seen it.

If it were common at all, we'd have lost the coyote as a species many years ago. The blood lines would be so contaminated with mutt blood that the coyote would no longer exist in it's native form. But the coyote still exists, and is very much surviving in a world that's getting tougher all the time.

Daryl

[hogdogs]

Suwanee, You are dead wrong about me.
I stated it is against florida law to shoot a dog not attacking or posing an immediate threat of attack. I also mentioned that the 12 gauge rat trap is out there. I didn't suggest folks make one nor did I suggest instruction on how to do so. I did also mention the bacon grease on a poly sponge. I did not say I was one who feels you should leave feral dogs alone. I simply stated that random hunting of domestic dogs is not legal here.

You are also dead wrong about my dogs roaming the neighborhood. One of highly regarded TFL members who is a regular reader of this section may pipe up if he wishes that I do have some house dogs that go outdoors off lead but are hardly roaming the neighborhood which is no less than 5 acre wooded places. I also maintain many dogs in my "dog yard" of 10-15 foot chains.

If a stray so much as shows me his teeth he is skating on the thinnest of ice....
If he breeds to my gyps, I will let the owner of the male know I expect them to buy all the feed. If they refuse I give them a knuckle samich.
So you may choose to stand down before you make too many claims about who you know nothing about!
Brent

[Ian0351]

Roy:
Thanks for the link... I now know that should anything ever happen here in WA, I am free and clear to take care of my problem. I would probably use a shotgun, since I live in the burbs.

[Kishido]

Had a Cur digging up my yard, going after my Dachsunds and chasing me on my lawn mower. Neighbor thought it was funny. Caught up with her in a remote area and put the pipe to her. If a dog is collared with ID, I hold, if not.........

Okay now I'm pretty sure doing away with neighbors is frowned upon by most states.....sadly