Feral dogs?

We had a feral dog problem about 20 years ago. Several strays were packed up with pets who were allowed to run loose. At night they would kill young calves and sheep. I used firearms to kill all I could, pets or not. The Sheriff's Dept. said to call them when some came on the property and they would send out a deputy with a rifle. Ha Ha, like they would stick around for 30-40 minutes until the deputy arrived.
I saw my 2 horses running in the pasture one day with the pack behind them. I grabbed a revolver and ran to the corner where the dogs had the horses trapped. It was overgrown with grape vines and when I had one of the dogs in the open, I cocked the hammer and pulled the trigger. The hammer caught on a small vine and the gun was hung up in it. About then the lead dog (he looked just like "Old Yeller") started for me. I got the gun free and killed a walker hound but the rest escaped.
It took my wife and I almost a year to eradicate all the dogs, but we did. There were 16 in that pack plus a few scattered others. All told we killed 23 dogs. Two had collars with no names so I hung them on my fence next to the hiway. After that people must have kept their pets in at night because the problem stopped.

Call your local law enforcement agency and report it. Get it on record. If you are having a problem, chances are good others are also.
I had a problem a few years ago with 2 dogs running loose and aggressive. One was alpha aggressor and the other was along for the sport. One day while changing a flat tire on a trailer they came up behind me. I fought them off gladiator style with a wood pallet in one hand and a tire iron in the other. After that I started carrying at all times at home. Met them again when clearing brush from a fenceline a couple weeks later. Buried the aggressive one right there with the loader tractor. Found out later they were from a renter in a farmhouse about a mile away. They put lost dog posters in the mailboxes around before they moved out in the middle of the night and left thier meth lab waste pile behind.

Wild dog packs have been a menace to me over the years. I got put in the slammer over night after killing one that was chasing my barn cats, "misdemeanor animal cruelty" was the final charge. Judge threw it out of court. I was out 2000 dollars in legal fees over all that. Seems barn cats aren't considered "livestock" and thus you can't shoot their attackers, legally. Out here, shoot, shovel, shut up. I don't shovel, though. Buzzards and worms gotta eat, too.

That's the straw that broke the camel's back. I wanted out of that town, lived on the edge of it, but it was run by nazis through and through. I had fought city hall over building permits and stuff before. Now, I live 20 miles from the nearest incorporated city, back in the woods at the end of a 2 mile long rough private dirt road. I don't need no stinkin' building permits!!!! I haven't built anything, but a couple of chicken pens, but I'd probably needed a permit for THAT in that podunk town! I've killed a couple of feral dogs chasing my chickens out here since I've been here. Between the dogs, the coyotes, the raccoons, the hawks and owls, the bobkitties, and the fact that the damned chickens eat plants in my garden, I decided raising chickens wasn't for me. I get free eggs from the weekend neighbor, anyway, as I take care of their chickens for them during the week.

I carry a little Taurus M85SSUL in my right pocket everywhere, all the time. It's an "always gun". The thing is very accurate and we used to lay out prone on the 100 yard range at the gun club and plink with our snubbies at a 12" slip blind (which was about 14" in diameter) hung from the target frames. I got to where I had the hold over, would hit 3 of five when I ate my wheaties that morning. The gun has a Keith style elevation wire installed in the front site I had done to it. One of those dogs that came around, I was about 60 yards from it. It had been chasing my chickens a few days before. I was getting out of my truck when I saw it across the road/fence in a neighbor's pasture. I took the .38 and shot braced over the window of the door. Grazed it in the right inside leg. Another round corrected for elevation and dead chicken killer.

That little snubby is like carrying a rifle in my pocket.

Our county sheriff is very specific about dogs running loose. If dogs threaten humans or live stock simply kill them. i've killed numerous dogs that were chasing wildlife and livestock. Several years ago i was attacked by a huge Samoyed that someone turned loose. That dog was also killed.

We had a couple of no tag dogs hanging around one barn, talked to the closest neighbor and he confirmed he had seen them too but they were not his and he hadn’t seen them around any other places in the area. Also noted they didn’t mess with his dogs or livestock so he didn’t kill them.

They were hungry and to my surprise they sat as I was trying to give them some food.

Dug 6 dead pups out from underneath the trailer they were under, another dead a week later, two left and it’s not going to be an easy life if they make it at all.

The “what to do” would be the same as any varmit that harmed property.




You can even feed coyotes to trap or shoot them if you get them on a schedule, dogs are no different.

Try traps, they may work. You will likely end up with other stuff too,

I had a couple of big dogs on trail cams at the farm that I hunt. The owner gave me orders to kill any that I saw on the place. Took out a couple of coyotes and only saw one dog when I was in the field, but I recognized it as a friends Brittany so I didn't pop it. If it had been chasing the cattle I wouldn't have passed him up though. These cows are registered Angus and Charolais that sell for thousands of dollars. I guard them like my own.

FL-NC said:

Try traps, they may work. You will likely end up with other stuff too,

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Yeh, possums will eat most any dog food or what a dog might be attracted to. You'll probably end up with a bunch of possums and raccoons if it's anything like around here. I can trap a coon a day with one trap, will NEVER reduce their population at that rate.

Feral or free-running dogs are like teenagers. Usually not a problem when it is one one or possibly two. Put a a half dozen together and it is nothing but trouble. They will find something to get in to.

I like dogs but feral dogs are troublesome. Best bet is to report them first. Check what the law says in your area and if necessary and legal to get rid of them, shoot.

Be advised that a fair number of idiots in rural and semi-rural areas allow their dogs to run free so you might not want to advertise what you were forced to do.

I had a friend who was out jogging near his rural home when he was jumped by a pack of four dogs. They did not actually eat him but they did make it clear they might decide to at any time. Turned out they all belonged to a guy down the road. Then they started coming to my friend's house at night and bothering his wife's horses. Rumor has it that the four dogs eventually just vanished. Must have run away.

I had a problem with wild dog packs a little over 40 years ago. They were feral and not friendly. They killed several of our farm animals. When I went outside I always carried a holstered pistol and a lever action rifle but back then people carried mostly shot guns and rifles all the time and no one thought much of it.
I also lived in a very rural area. I lived on a 1000 acre farm and all the farms surrounding our land were 1000 acres or larger and I knew all the farmers around there. I was welcomed in my travels as I was given permission to hunt all the land around me. Never did shoot any of the dogs. I'd see them off in the distance or hear them running through the woods(which was scary) but never got close enough. Times have changed. I don't think me and my guns would be welcomed anymore. Probably get in trouble shooting one of them these days.

fallout mike said:

Do yall think live traps would work on them? I'm not opposed to shooting them but I dont always see them

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Conibears work just dandy if you can get the dogs to follow specific paths. We put them in coyote digs on our fence line. Get more 'dillos than anything else, but the occasional feral dog shows up. The ones that actually make it onto the property get treated just the same as coyotes. .223 fixes a lot of rural problems.

Take pics and call Animal Control; otherwise trap them and shoot therm

ClickClickD'oh said:

Conibears work just dandy if you can get the dogs to follow specific paths. We put them in coyote digs on our fence line. Get more 'dillos than anything else, but the occasional feral dog shows up. The ones that actually make it onto the property get treated just the same as coyotes. .223 fixes a lot of rural problems.

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Conibears placed in the mouth of a garbage can on its side work well for coyotes ... once. However, feral dogs are more trusting. It might be a good solution.

Don't talk it up. I say "If you have to shoot a mean dog, you might have to shoot a mean dog owner."

Although I haven't had a problem with a feral pack, I used to have problems with several neighbors pets that were allowed to run loose. Got into things like the garbage cans and dug holes and dog turds in the yard. general nuisance stuff. Spoke with a few neighbors to no avail. So I sent a few dogs home with concentric red and white circles spray painted on them. Problem solved itself in a few days.

I would also suggest this. If you get a dogo argentino or some other big scary dog for the purpose of chasing off other dogs, it is just a matter of time until he takes off and goes after someone else's kid on their property, or someone thinks he did. maybe your best bet at protecting your dogs is a good fence that you can keep your dogs inside of near the house.

I use a BB gun for neighbor hood pets that don't belong in my yard. Just a mild sting and it seems to work. Place your shot so you don't get their eyes. I've had several dogs come into my yard and growl at me one time only and haven't seen them since.