I went turkey hunting on our property and had a tom gobbling hard. He was on his way to me and then he went silent. Moments later several large dogs came running through. Didn't get my bird. Next week I went again and the same thing happened. I was quite upset. I went to the suspected neighboring property and found the owner. I told him I don't want to shoot or trap the dogs, but that is exactly what I'll do if it happens again. He got pretty upset. He told me he lets them out to hunt in the mornings, but that he will construct a fence in the next few days. I called the game warden and he said that's not good enough and that's it's a $500 fine per dog for hunter harrassment. He also went and talked to the guy in person. He told the game warden that he will keep them inside until he can put up a fence. Did I go too far by threatening to kill the animals?

Sounds like you have a great GW. You did not go too far IMHO.

I really don't mind confrontation but thinking you did way better than I would have.

Decades ago I found out that it is better to not talk to dog owners, most value their dogs more than they do their wife and children.

in Texas you CAN be charged for killing a pet unless you can prove it was attacking you or livestock

and I am not sure of game animals count as livestock

in cases like this if that is the route you want to go it is best to say NOTHING to ANYONE

A friend told me if you ever accidentally shoot one, make sure to remove and dispose of any tags.

Sounds like the dog owner was very cooperative ----------- seems like problem solved. IF you live out in 'the country' and you let your dogs out, so what,, just normal thing to do. After being made aware of the problem he offered to correct it. I"d bring the guy some sort of gift for being so nice.

You never know how someone will handle a confrontation these days. Best to let the GW handle if a law is broken.

it could have gone sideways, you are lucky the owner was nice about it. making a threat to kill dogs can get problematic

I did tell him that I understand we are in the country and its normal to let dogs run free. He was not nice from the get go. Yes I was upset about the hunt, but I did not show up angry or with an attitude about it. Lol definitely not bringing a gift.

Wisdom

I literally drew down (with my bow) on a dog last year that was harassing and chasing deer off of my stand. I chose not to release, and never saw the dog again. This year, my neighbor who has two dobermans, called to ask me if I had shot and wounded a turkey on my place. When I told him "no" he tells me one of their dogs brought a gobbler to the front door of the house, when the dog let go of it, the turkey took off and across his field (hopefully survived). My neighbor and I are buddies, and I did not have to say anything for him to know how I felt about it. Dogs will and do catch game animals, and Imo owners should be more restrictive of pets in hunting areas.

my .02 have a great week

Animals that run game get shot immediately.

Well played. IMO, trespassing by proxy. No reason to tolerate dogs or anything else that comes onto your property and ruins your hunt.

Have shot several running the cows. They go where the pigs go to disappear. No tolerance for dogs running livestock or anything on my place.

I always want to understand the back story and more details before I decide. Ex. -- IF your property is 20 acres and the neighbor is 300 acres, you are hunting his turkey anyway, not yours. Knowing the size of the property is vital before any thinking individual can make a decision here.
I have seen leases on here for 15---,20 acres, and they seem to actually find hunters to pay them to hunt it. That is poaching ,,, its legal, but you are shooting your neighbor's animals.

I'm hunting a 50 acre plot. He has 10 acres that are diagonal to mine but only a small portion of his is wooded.

Total BS. The animals don't "belong" to anyone based on their acreage size. The animals by law "belong" to the state of Texas. And yes, I have been on both sides of the equation. Hunting larger properties with a 40 acre patch in the middle that shot everything that walked or ran through, and on 100 acres surrounded by large but mostly absent landowners.

Never ceases to amaze me the odd thought processes of some on THF.

So if my dog is legally treeing a raccoon you would shoot her? That would put you in a very dangerous situation.

You use dogs to hunt coons during daylight hours?

On my property? I had some coon hunters that thought it was OK to let their dogs chase coins on my place. Told me their dogs followed the coon and they could stop that.
The GW explained to them that they could not let their dogs run on property they did not written permission for.
So if your dog has trees a coon on my property then it is legal in any way.

That’s what I did when a pack of three came thru my sendero.

Agreed. If I have 10 acres in the middle of 10000, I'm still not shooting their critters.

Good idea to get warden involved.

^^^^^^^^this unless you are a fence line hunter and hunting towards or under 100 yards from neighboring proper. Using hunter ethics in all cases.