Listened to a good podcast on the subject, and while not 100% applicable to the feral dog situation, it was striking about the findings of some research that has been done on dog hunting deer.

Deer University episode 68.

One funny line that came out if this podcast (paraphrased), “without predation, a deer is just a smaller cow”

Don’t know what the podcast was about but I am pro dog while deer hunting

Didn't know hunting with dogs was allowed in Texas, but tracking with dogs is allowed. Neither are what I'd do. Kid's place has 2 roaming dogs that don't bother the deer. Spring you can hear the fawns, dogs don't care. She got 2 more dogs, haven't seen them mess with deer either. Wonder if non-hunting dogs bother hogs? Above link says deer chased by dogs return to 'home' at dark.

If memory serves using dogs to drive/hunt deer was outlawed in Texas in 1990. I grew up in East Texas with folks that hunted deer with dogs. Most of the deer dogs got turned into hog dogs. As mentioned tracking with dogs is still allowed, but make sure you read your TPWD Outdoor Annual because there are certain rules concerning that.

I do not know what the big deal is...you can still do a deer drive in Texas you just have to use humans instead of dogs. I don't know if the animal rights folks think the dogs chase and then "attack" the deer or something, it is a mystery to me why people think it is inhumane. Still legal in many other states.

Just my .02,
LeonCarr

Can deer smell the dogs?

If they do, they don’t care. I’ve had deer within 10yds of us in a blind and they didn’t notice or care to notice. I would bring her even if they did, she’s too good of a foot warmer

Not much pisses me off more than being hunting my own land and see a deer going ballstothewall running from neighbors dogs.

I have learned to not tell the neighbor or ask that they keep their dogs at home. When they get lost or don’t come home, I have gotten a visit from the GW.

Maybe you can go to jail for it . They can use this post to see you bragging about killing someone's dog .

I certainly don’t mean to be bragging. Some dogs also enjoy harassing livestock. That’s something I also give the owner one, but only one, warning about. People need to keep their puppies on their own place and not getting their entertainment harassing other peoples live stock. Having to dig a calf out of barbed wire isn’t all that much fun or profitable.

There’s an old saying; Every dog gets one bite. But only one.

I hunt mostly Mississippi now on my own property and have hunted that property since I started hunting. Thereare a mixture of seasons in Mississippi where dogs are legal and when not legal to hunt. I have hunted with the dog hunters in years past and after I pretty much stopped doing that. But if their dogs come across my place during season and I want the deer running in front of them I shoot it. They have property that joins mine so it happens. Not during the season I see some as well "hunting dogs and house dogs". Many more than I ever saw hunting in Texas.

At my place there are hunting clubs around it that run dogs daily during the dog season. it does make the deer nervous and more skittish than usual when they hear the dogs. I have watched deer out feeding in a field lift their heads and look one direction then leave the field in a hurry only a minute or two later hear dogs coming my way. Most of the time these days the dogs will have radio tracking collars on them so they can be more easily kept up with. There is a long tradition of hunting with dogs and being around it for 50+ years the only deer I know for sure were caught by a pack of hounds were wither wounded or sick.

When I moved to Texas I enjoyed rarely ever seeing a dog while hunting. The occasional bird dog that came on the place or the landowners land owners dog. I hunted Lampasas and Hamilton County then now I hunt Eastland county when I hunt Texas. I have seen lots more dogs during Spring Turkey season roaming around than during deer season in Texas.

I watched two dogs pass through the area I was hog hunting this weekend and never thought once about shooting them. The same is true when I see dogs during deer season. My experience over the 48 years that I've hunted white tails is that dogs can be more likely to improve your hunt than hurt it by their ability to get deer to move. They often create the same positive effect as cold temperatures that get deer up from their beds to find something to eat. So until I can stalk deer and shoot them in their beds, I'll gladly accept the help the neighbor's dogs can occasionally provide.

I would have killed a hog about an hour later that evening if my 63-year-old eyes would allow me to hit something at 150+ yards with open sights.