Almost dropped the Hammer...

[ABaker]

After hiking today a wild dog approached me while I was trying to unlock my truck. I pulled my HK USP .40, which was loaded with Speer Gold Dot 165 GR. HP. My truck was parked beside the highway and the dog was between my truck and the highway. I was alone for several miles. I had the hammer back and the safety off. The dog was a huge Boxer, which had no collar on. I could see it's ribs, but it was a big dog. It was walking towards me, it looked hungry. I squeezed the trigger as a truck came over the hill and scared it off. I bet the guy in that truck wondered what was going on.

I got in my truck and thought about this for a long time. If that dog attacks another person will it be somehow my fault? Should I have shot at the dog, which was in the direction of the highway? What is your opinion ?

[NONYA]

maybe you should dertimine if the dog was a threat before you start shooting?You gonna shoot the first guy that gets between you and your vehicle?Maybe you should have called the sheriff or animal control and report the dog,just maybe someone is looking for it...

[ABaker]

That is not someones dog. There are several wild Boxers in that area, and people have been attacked before. I am not just going to shoot a dog for no reason... I spoke to the Game and Fish Dept. about it and they told me to shoot next time because the wild dog population is getting out out of hand.

[knight0334]

Up until recently, we had the same problem here in central PA.  Dogs and other 4 legged critters are my main reason for CCW.

You used to see 2-10 dogs packed together, and where you find them you would notice a drop in rabbit and other game counts.

Being a utility engineer, I used to run into them 3-4 times a year, with a couple close calls.  ...aha mile from any house, middle of a right-of-way.

I was told to shoot them if I see the dogs attacking game or livestock.  Our law specificly gives the option of shooting a dog that is disturbing game.

[Cottonwood]

Montana law also allows this too..... but the liberals moving into the state would want you to do a full scale investigation to prove the dog was wild first before you shoot it......  :roll:

I've been out in the field before, and have seen dogs chasing deer... they get shot without any second thought to whos it is.

[Redhawk1]

Remember the 3 S's.

Shoot
Shovel
Shut up

 

[Sir Knight]

the liberals moving into the state would want you to do a full scale investigation to prove the dog was wild first before you shoot it......  :roll:

Yeah, right. Let's tell an attacking animal to wait while we try to figure this out. Wonder how the liberals would behave if they or a loved one was about to be attacked and an armed police officer decided not to fire but got on the radio first to try and determine if indeed the dog was wild.

Up until recently, we had the same problem here in central PA.  Dogs and other 4 legged critters are my main reason for CCW.

I recently (2.5 years ago) moved to east central PA and I'm just as concerned about an attack for a four-legged creature as I am against a two-legged one.

What do you recommend (against the four-legged threats)? FMJ or hollowpoint? .38special/9mm enough?

[NONYA]

the only wild dogs we have around here any more are the kind that will get you a nice prison term and a huge fine,and i see them chasing deer and elk quite often.

[ABaker]

What do you recommend (against the four-legged threats)? FMJ or hollowpoint? .38special/9mm enough?

I would use hollowpoints. I also think either of those calibers would do the job. Just make sure you have a back up shot. Maybe try a +P load.

That is not the first time I have seen Wild dogs in that area, I called in 7 in a pack while hunting coyotes. By the time I found out they were wild they were gone. They could have belonged to a hiker for all I knew. After that I talked to the Game Warden and he told me to shoot them next time. Out of the seven dogs 2 were boxers. The rest were mutts.

[myronman3]

i work on a nearby reservation.  if i had my way,  i would take my ar with me everyday i have to work up there.  freakin dogs everywhere, and they are bred big and mean as the injuns use them for betting on dog fights.  i have had more than one close encounter.

if you can, smoke every feral dog you can; you will be doing everyone a favor, including the dog.  it most likely will starve to death.

[Sir Knight]

ABaker, I normally carry a .40S&W or a .45ACP when I go out but around the house and in our backyard (which boarders a large wooded area), I usually only arm myself with a .357 snubbie loaded with .38's (my SP101) or my Colt Pocket Nine in 9mm.

[ABaker]

I need a .357 snubby. My best friend had a Ruger SP101, 4 inch barrel, Hogue grips. I loved that gun, It would have done the job. I think it was a little heavy to carry though. 38 Special is one of my favorite handgun calibers, plenty of power as far as Im concerned. If you haven't ever shot those Smith & Wesson lightweight .357's you are missing out, man do those little things kick with a hot load! My hand hurt for days...

Well im getting off of the subject, If I see that dog again I know what I will do. Quail Season starts tomorrow, I will be out there all weekend, and I will be sure to bring my HK......

[volshooter]

Here in my part of TN we have strict leash laws because of dogs packing up. This is rural for a leash law but it works. I too have found myself the intrest of pack dogs as well as singles that bite. Several years ago I was squirrel hunting by my self about 1.5 miles from the truck when things went wrong. I had sat down for a break and noticed 5 dogs trailing me. These were not frendly or breed dogs. I sat still and waited till they got real close and let them have 5 rounds of #4's out of my 12. I called the animal control and game warden when I got back home and was told by both that they routinely shoot stray or pack dogs. Just last month I had to defend myself from 2 big strays that had killed 6 of my rabbits. I keep a .45 ACP or Colt with me anytime I am outside. I have a dog of my own and it ticks me off when folks won't keep their dogs under control.

Back to the question.....if you felt the dog was not of the frendly sort, drop the hammer and forget about it.
Rick

[Win 73]

When I still lived on my family farm in Missouri, I declared war on stray dogs and cats.  Cats are death on quail and rabbits.  I did several of both in.

By the way, I had an M1 carbine at the time.  It was great for knocking around on the farm.  It was just the right medicine for dogs.  With that carbine, a dog was mine out to a hundred yards or even a little more.

[Sir Knight]

If you haven't ever shot those Smith & Wesson lightweight .357's you are missing out, man do those little things kick with a hot load! My hand hurt for days...

I have the 342 -- a 12oz J-frame snubbie in .38special -- that thing kicks more than my compact .45's ... I'm not even going to attempt to shoot the 340 (the same gun as the 342 but in .357).

[kjeff50cal]

I was doing some scouting along a dirt road beside a canal that feeds the local rice fields. I next to the local dump (which is up a 25 degree slope about 40 yards from the canal road when I heard a bark then a chorus of barks it was a pack of 7 dogs whose leader seemed to be a large white shepherd mix. I thought they may have been some of the local's dogs goofing around. I was armed with my .50 cal muzzle loader (loaded) to see how it carried in the woods. I kept it at port arms in their general direction in case I looked like something eatable (the shepherd mix would have gotten the ball if they did that). I went back to the house and my uncle asked did I see any sign. I told him about the dog pack and he informed me that the pack I saw did not belong to no one and most likely a band of "throw-aways" and that I should have shot a least one because they were chasing the deer off. Now when I go into the woods I always bring a pistol or a revolver along  just in case. BTW now there is talk of Parks and Wildlife reintroducing black bear in my neck of the woods  :shock: . I think I'll need something bigger than my CZ-52.

kjeff50cal

[ABaker]

I went out to that part of the desert tonight quail hunting. I got there a little late so I only got 4 birds. On the way out I almost walked over two Rattle Snakes. I shot the both of them. Both over 3 feet long. I didn't see any dogs, but I was ready..... I am going out there again the morning. Quail season is fun.

[volshooter]

I've been told that killing bad snakes is aginst the law here but I confess...I kill every one I find. They are  endangered or something, I sure ain't gonna leave it for the next guy to find.

Rick

[papajohn428]

I'm with you on the snake thing, if they're poisonous, they gotta go.  Water Moccasins, in particular.  I will kill every one I come across and never look back.  

As for feral dogs, if you can do it safely, I say shoot them all.  A dog pack can thin the deer herds pretty quickly.  That's my job!

Papajohn

[chris s]

Redhawk said it best the 3 S's

[JeffG]

Remember the 3 S's.

Shoot
Shovel
Shut up

Don't hit your truck...

If you cant hit the eye socket from double hand shakin' distance, practice till you can...

[volshooter]

Just when you think your safe, yesterday I was on my 4-wheeler going to the back barn to feed the rabbits and just as I got to the hallway 4 dogs came out, they were not there to greet me for sure. I had my New Vaquero with me and got off one shot before I could get my buggy stopped. I fired all six rounds but can only account for one hit for sure. I know I got the one that was climbing on my Polaris but between the 4-wheeler rolling and them running my shooting was unimpressive. Since rat season is over I'm going back to my .45 ACP.
Rick

[Sir Knight]

Had a fox in my backyard early this morning. My 130 pound puppy tried to go after it. Good thing I had a firm grip on his lease and I weigh more than twice as much as he does so he wasn't able to pull me. Now, if my wife was walking him, he would have dragged her all over the yard chasing that fox.

[RedRyder21]

I spoke to the Game and Fish Dept. about it and they told me to shoot next time because the wild dog population is getting out out of hand.

Ask them if you can have that in writing first. :-)

[RGS]

California solved the dog problem by completely protecting Cougars.  Between the cougars and the coyotes, most of the "strays" that don't get hit on the roads are pretty much eaten.   :eek:

The cougars will also maul the occasional human...but everything has its downside.  

One of the many reasons I moved elsewhere..... :roll:

[WV_Hillbilly]

Remember the 3 S's.

Shoot
Shovel
Shut up

 

Ditto on that line of action, and so mote it be...

[John]

Might as well add feral cats to the kill list, the damn things aren't even supposed to be here, and there's no telling the impact they have on quail populations.

Now the dog deal, I pretty much grew up in the country, and there's no telling how many dogs I have killed. Folks would bring them out from town and dump em, they get in trouble pretty quickly, killing chickens, chasing stock, whatever, they get killed. It was always my job from the time I was a kid.

It's not always strays, several years ago some folks near here had four nice labs that they let run. They thought they were just family dogs and good pets, but they killed a colt that was a few months old, and came after my young girls that were playing behind my folks place. I had been after those dogs for a few days because of the colt, and just happened to have a rifle close by. I got them all, we dug a hole behind the pond dam, and nobody knew where those dogs went.

I lived on a place one time that had a good chain link fence around it, at least I thought it was good. It kept a female doberman of mine home, but she came in heat, and one morning I went out to warm the truck for my trip to work and had a pack of male dogs of all sizes and shapes in MY fenced yard. I figured that I would just run those mutts off and put my dog in a shed, but a couple became aggressive toward me...in MY yard. I thought about my young girls, who played out there all the time...in my fenced yard, and went back in the house and grabbed my auto loader.

Boys there were dead dogs all over the place, some got out of the yard, but they didn't get far. We had some old coal pits on the place, and that's where those dead dogs went. Saved me alot of digging.

Now I strongly believe in having all my dogs neutered. It does improve their attitude alot.

I'm with the folks that believe in killin em, burying em, and keepin quiet about it.

[Dana C]

Dogs become wild in as little as 14 days.  A pack of wild dogs will kill you and eat you.  I have seen first hand, the evidence, a human foot inside a boot, where there was a pack of 9-12 wild dogs roaming around.  
I have shot a couple that were bothering a foal that I had, and shot a couple of neighbor dogs as well that thought chasing my livestock was great fun.  My neighbors lost an Irish Setter and a wire hair pointer.

I have three dogs and raise Alpaca's, which if you know anything about them, you know that they are very expensive.  I control my dogs and will shoot without question, remorse or a second thought ANY canides that look like they will chase, harm or harass me, or my livestock.
I will apologize later if need be.

If the dog in question bared his or her teeth in a menacing manner, the three S rule always applies.

[AzDrifter]

I spoke to the Game and Fish Dept. about it and they told me to shoot next time because the wild dog population is getting out out of hand.

Ask them if you can have that in writing first. :-)

Trust me when I say that they'd likely give it to you.  Arizona law won't prosecute you for shooting a dog that is/might be threatening you.

I had a problem here at my house with a neighbor dog.  It came into my yard, and was acting pretty agressively toward me.  I called the Cochise County Sheriff's Office, and then sent an officer...but they also told me to feel free to shoot it if it threatened me, my dogs (yeah, right!), or my livestock.  

My airedales finally killed that dog, so I didn't have too.

That all said, any time I see a dog that acts the least bit agressive towards me, and it's in an area where it shouldn't be, I shoot it.  Agressive dogs have a purpose and place in the world, but they need to be kept at home.

AzDrifter

[K.K.]

I am a dog lover and own two.  You have to be responsible with your pets.  Spey, neuter and keep them on a leash or behind a fence.   That said, if my me, my wife, or two-year old son was threatened by a dog, wild, domestic, or unleashed, that dog's troubles would be over. I've shot several in PA that were running deer and hanging around my mother in law's farm where she runs a day care.  I defy anyone to tell me to feel remorse that has seen pictures or knows someone that has been mauled by a dog.