What's the dog policy on a hunting lease?

By dog policy I mean a random dog showing up on your trail cam.

I have what looks to be a khaki dog on my trail cam. It's hard to tell if it's wild or not. The pictures are too far away to tell if it has a collar. I would sure hate to shoot a neighbors dog...

What's y'all's policy?

I hope you don't have the problem I had when I leased land in Southern MS. You can't win with dog hunters even on your own property. Best thing to do is file a police report, catch the dog hopefully it has a tag on the collar and turn it in to the police. At least that way there's documentation, if it keeps happening usually the police will confiscate all dogs from the owner. It takes alot for me to shoot a dog so I wouldn't shoot it just for showing up, if it was aggressive probably would take it out, I have young kids that hunt with me and mingle around the camp and we are a long way from the hospital can't take any chances.

First time I would try to find the owner and tell them to keep their dog on their property. I then explain to them what will happen if it continues.

Dealing with dog owners is worse than dealing with the dog in my experience. I have learned years ago not to tell a dog owner I would personally destroy a dog (unless it is aggressive), if it runs 5 miles away and gets hit by a car, you will be blamed. I tell them there are coyote traps and many "other" hunters in the area, plus I do not want their dog on my land. An aggressive dog is easy, BOOM.

SSS is still the easiest way with less drama. I have let many a dog walk that was an obvious "pet" that may have just got out an open gate. Then there are the ones that are owned by nut-jobs that feel a "country dog" should be able to go any where and do anything, those are the ones that become a problem.

Then being in the country, you get all those "dropped off" dogs that where cute when they got'm, but now require "to much attention" Those are the sad cases for me. I would be embarrassed to say how many I have destroyed and each time bothers me as I like a good dog, would also be embarrassed to admit how many I have let walk as well.

I guess I'm pretty blessed that my places are so far out in the boonies that neighbor or stray hunting dogs are never an issue. Yotes would clean them up before I'd have to as well.

Rusty, when we had a bit more land, our closes neighbor was about 3/4-1 mile, only ever dealt with their dogs one time in over 10 years. The ones I dealt with there, where the ones folks "dumped" , cause you know everyone in the country needs more dogs

Where I am now, we have a county leash law and yet morons allow their dogs to roam free half the time. I hardly fool with yotes now, as the roaming bulldogs (pitts and X's) cause a bigger headache, the yotes I could catch pretty easy here.

Yep that would suck western. The long drive to the end of the road doesn't seem so bad anymore.

I have had way too many sheep killed or maimed and a few Ibex killed. A neighbor had 17 goats killed in one night. And this was by so call pet dogs. In the past I talked to neighbors about keeping their "pets" at home. That usually went over like a lead balloon. Now the only way a dog leaves here is if I miss it. The talking days were over a long time ago.

http://www.hcpawpals.org/TexasAnimalLaws.aspx



The defense under Section 42.092(e)(1) is in this link http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/txstatutes/PE/9/42/42.092

Pretty selective DC

iirc it would only be a state jail felony, after 2 prior convictions.

That is why you S S S. Nobody knows nothing.

Exactly. I didn't see or hear anything.

Thanks for all the input! Hopefully the dog doesn't come back around so I don't have to worry about it. I will keep my eyes peeled and if I see a wild dog without a collar I will just have to make a split decision.

A person has to do what he has to do. It may offend some but there is an easy solution. Keep track of your dogs. If you loose a dog it is no ones fault but yours.

On our lease we can use our tags, and wild varmits. I would not shoot a dog, but would call the ranch manager if there was a problem

Exactly, don't miss. A few years back not far down the road from you (near the Gun Club) a friend gut shot a dog so it would run off and die somewhere else. Sure enough it ran right back to it's owner who put two and two together and found out what happened. It cost a vet bill, then a dog replacement after it died, $3000 total.

Threatning someone about shooting their dog is like threatening someone you're fixing to hit in the nose. It serves no purpose and could get you into a bind. It's best to just do what you need to do and never tell anyone about it.

My experiences are like Western's. The problems vary and so do my responses. It's a case by case thing. Even my mood affects my response.

SSS only works BEFORE you post it on a public forum.

And no contact with anyone else, "loose lips can get you fined and jail time".

Here's my policy, keep your damn dog on your property. On the road to the nth gate of the ranch several new houses have been built and every one of them have dog's running lose, one in particular really broke my heart. Every day about 3:00 he sit's right by their front gate waiting for their kid's to get off the buss. Many times he and I have had long conversations while I was waiting up on the main road to lead a crew into a well site. Just a big old slobbering boxer that loves pecans as much as I do, I'll crack one for him and one for me. About a week ago he got turned into a big red skid-mark on the pavement when a water hauler came flying around the turn. Sorry but I love my dog's far too much to allow them to run loss and endanger themselves.

I have never threatened anyone. In the past I had animals killed or bittened and knew whose dogs they were. Told them about it and they of course denied it was their pet. Kind of funny though after sending one a bill for $2000 for a dead Ibex they all of a sudden got rid of their 2 dogs. And no they did not pay me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOLjbwoJeBI

When livestock is involved things change quickly.

I have very similar views to this^^^

Any dog on our place doesn't belong there if it isn't ours. I already have a dog and I don't want another. Ammo is cheap and buzzards gotta eat.

^^^^^^^

Dog handiwork.

Tried that once, but the first time the dog turned up missing a deputy sheriff came to visit me. Luckily I had proof I was out of town at the time. After that I never saw a dog, not even a hallucination of a dog that I ever told anyone about. If you don't complain or talk to anyone about a dog, it must have never existed.

No room on the lease for dogs, I don't see or talk about dogs on the lease.

Out here, the ranches are larger than most parts of the state and the rural population is very small. If you see dogs on a ranch, chances are very good that they are hounds or hog dogs that are there at the landowner's request. They will have collars identifying ownership as tracking collars and you can bet that the owners are nearby. If the landowner has given permission to someone to bring their dogs onto his ranch, the dogs are usually trained and broke to trail or run a specific predator or hog. No rancher wants dogs on his property that will harass his livestock or chase deer.
I am aware that poaching can be a problem but not as much in Menard County and west.
Adios,
Gary