Free ranging dogs and their lazy owner ruin another hunt

I knew what was coming before I even saw it. Crashing through the dense woods in my direction, I could hear the commotion they were making from several hundred yards away.

First, two small bucks ran by me, moving so fast they were bouncing off trees and brush in their path. Then, only five seconds behind, the reason for their flight.

Two pit-bull, hound-dog mix mutts were in close pursuit. If one of the deer stumbled or missed a step, the dogs would be on top of them in an instant.

Luckily for the deer, they almost ran over me, dragging the dogs right into my lap. As the dogs approached, I stood to defend myself.

Upon seeing me, the mutts skidded to a stop and turned their anger toward me. At less than 10 feet away, the trespassers growled and barked as they looked me over. I raised my shotgun, which I originally intended to use to dispatch the gobbler that was approaching when the dogs entered the scene.

But instead of shooting the dogs, I picked up a stick and tagged the lead dog square in the head. Their response was to run 50 yards, out into the field the turkey was using, and bark at me from a distance for 10 minutes. They eventually departed into the heart of my woods, barking all the way.

Another day of hunting ruined by rotten free-ranging dogs and their selfish owners. Even worse, it was another day when my wildlife habitat and its inhabitants had been displaced or killed by rotten dogs and their selfish owners.

I would have saved a lot of wildlife had I killed both dogs, especially since it wasn’t the first time I had seen them chasing animals on my farm, but I could not. According to Indiana law, it is illegal to kill a dog, even when it is trespassing on your property.  It’s even illegal to kill a dog if it is wantonly destroying wildlife, killing endangered wildlife, or sterilizing critical habitat.

So I did the only thing I could, I hiked back to my truck, ate lunch and went for a drive. Though it was a long shot, I hoped to find the owner of the dogs.  

A quarter mile down the road, I found the mutts, basking in the sun in one of my rural neighbor’s front yard. I immediately pulled into his driveway, and before I could exit the vehicle, a man opened the front door.

“Are those your dogs?” I asked in a forced pleasant tone.  

“Yah,” he answered.

I told him what happened, and that it wasn’t the first time. He apologized, and said he would keep his dogs tied-up.

I left, hoping the problem was resolved. Two hours later, I drove by his house again to see if the dogs were secured as promised. Not surprisingly, as I approached the house, one of the dogs ran across the street, while the other wandered across another neighbor’s yard.

Like every other pet owner I have ever confronted about their trespassing dog, this neighbor completely ignored my request. He never had any intention of taking responsibility for his pets.

I was furious, but also dumbfounded that some people could be that rude. In the end, I pulled away wondering what motivates these sorts of people.  

Some pet owners have argued with me that their pets are allowed to roam, trespass and kill because dogs have rights and are part of the ecosystem. In this case, however, I believe the owner was just lazy.  

Like little children, lots of people take a pet with good intentions. After a day or so of keeping track and  care of the animal, however, they just let it go to fend for itself.

Some of these lazy people are hunters, but the majority of the ones I’ve run into, are not. The really frustrating ones are even anti-hunting, or won’t allow hunters on their land.  

These people represent the purest definition of the word hypocrite. They openly attack hunters as killers and inhumane while their dog or cat is in someone else’s backyard chewing off the ears of a fawn, or killing the 10th song bird of the day.

Until the laws are changed to allow me to defend the wildlife on my property against marauding dogs, I will continue to just throw sticks at them. To be safe, however, I suppose I should make sure throwing a stick at a trespassing mutt doesn’t violate his rights too.