Incident while setting up trail camera

Today I had to put down an Australian Shepherd.
I was sighting in my new AR and setting up a trail camera today.
As i was setting up the camera I hear what sounds like 4 dogs and what sounded like a deer bahing. I walked towards where the sound was and every once in awhile it would move so I kept tracking it. It had stopped for a couple minutes and I heard the sticks and stuff rustling and 2 dogs were growling and running at me. I raised the gun and yelled for them to stop but they didn't so i took 1 shot. It went down and the other ran away.
It was about 15-20yds and a dead run at me. Bullet entered just right of its of center of his chest and exited the left side just behind is leg dead right there.
Kinda got my heart racing I've never had something charge me before. Still sucks though because I like dogs.

You ever had something like this happen?

 

I've never had anything like it happen to me. I had a friend who was circled by two coyotes at about 15 yards once. They never came at him though...he was on a field and they just circled him for a few seconds then ran off.

Glad you're OK. Sounds like you were about to be chomped.

 

You may have saved a kid's life. Good shot.

 

yes i had a Big Dog come at me when i was out deer hunting growling
showing his teeth he got with in 15' of me put the cross hires on him
but then i just shot at the ground. i will never do that again it will go down

 

I thought afterwards maybe I should have did a warning shot but they were so close I guess I just thought it was best not to at the spur of the moment

 

Years ago, I was mushroom hunting in the spring with my two little boys.
One was wearing a brown 'fuzzy' sweatshirt with the hood up.

Then, a German Shepard came out of nowhere straight it him, snarling and fangs bared.

I had him centered in the sights, and down to the last ounce of trigger on my NM 1911 while yelling at him.

Then, he slammed on the brakes, slid to a stop, put his ears & tail down, and slinked back off into the woods towards home.

I am convinced he thought my 4 year old in the brown 'fuzzy' sweatshirt was an animal of some kind.

He acted truly ashamed of himself when he realized we were people, and turned and went back home.

But another split second, and the last ounce of trigger, and he wouldn't have been going anywhere except down.

Thank heavens he stopped!
For both of us!

rc

 

Had it happen to me a long time ago at a church camp. Children weren't there (thank goodness). I was doing maintenance on some remote equipment in the woods when two large dogs came out of nowhere in attack-mode (probably stalking me by the way they acted). I just so happen to have a 16 gauge single shot by my side and shot one down at about 10 yards, reloaded while the other one circled me looking at it's partner, and then shot it. Had several other incidents but those were the closest. I had been warned previously by a conservation agent that there were lots of "wild" dogs in the county, but when I asked if I could shoot them, he said that I couldn't unless I had the owner's permission. The way I see it: safety of children vs. dangerous dogs/stupid owners. Children first (and my own skin).

 

Had a rotweiller coming around frequently disturbing the livestock and threatening the children. Never got a good bead on him while there was an imminent threat. One day he came by and entered a small pasture. Coordinated with another person on the farm to close a gate and pen him in while I covered him with a rifle. Animal control took him away.

 

Out where I live, we have large packs of dogs, and they are about as dangerous as it gets. Unlike coyotes, they don't usually run off when confronted, they almost always come right at me / us with teeth showing, ready to do business. So to answer your question, yes, I have had that happen to me more than once.

The bad thing about it is, I too love dogs, so it tears me up to have to shoot them. But, OTOH, it's me or them. And to make matters worse, there are a lot of folks out here that let their dogs run wild 24/7, which leads to them taking up with other dogs to become neighborhood bullies, if you will. I've had to confront several neighbors over the years to let them know I had to put their dog down. Most of the time, they just have an "oh well" attitude, which just irks me. What if it was a kid or helpless adult?

A buddy of mine down the road has filed several major civil suits against people that don't keep their dogs fenced in, thus getting into his fenced yard and killing his live stock and pets.

GS

 

Yes. It was a nasty incident too. It was my neighbors dog. We lived out in the sticks and only had one neighbor within a half mile if us. Unfortunately they were "those type" of neighbors.

Anyway, they had a small pack of dogs that were near wild, all mutts. I had a 4.5lb chihuahua and a 9lb Pomeranian. While my wife was taking them out once I heard her screaming so I ran to the door. Found my wife in the middle of them kicking holding both dogs in her arms. She said the tried to attack Beans, my chihuahua.

I truly loved that dog enough to do anything for her. So I drive to the neighbors and knocked on the door. I explained what happened and his answer was "you can't control what dogs do." So I told him plainly that next time would be the last time.

Fast forward about 10 days. I'm out on the front porch with my dogs in the flower beds doing their business. Two of the neighbors mutts come out of the trees about thirty five yards away. I call my dogs up and the neighbors dogs charge again. This time I was carrying my 4" S&W model 10. I fired one shot, hit the lead dog in the neck, clean pass through and he was dead before I could get mine inside and go back out to check.

I wouldn't do this again but I loaded the dog up in the bed of my truck and drove it over to the neighbors house and dropped him off. He called the cops while I was standing there, so I waited in the side of the street.

The county sheriffs deputy listened to him and then me. He asked me if I would've willing to come back to my house and show him where I shot the dog. I obliged and invited the neighbor back with us.

The deputy took one look at all the blood in my rocks that close to my house and told the other guy, "his property, his story wins."

Believe it or not the other guy actually apologized for not taking care of the problem when I talked to him a week ago. However, this dirtbags way of taking care of it was disgusting. He went home and shot the female dog also so they wouldn't bother anyone again.

 

My uncle had two large mixed-breed dogs. If they were both loose, they ranged county-wide. So, he learned to always keep one tied, alternating their free running. End of problem.

I've had pets for decades. Family members, is my attitude. But I have zero qualms about killing ferals. They regularly can be destructive, and groups of dogs can quickly become dangerous to people as well as to livestock.

 

My worst encounter with a dog involved a terrier.When I was a teenager I was talking to an Amish neighbor when his terrier came in silently behind me.I felt needles entering my leg behind the ankle.I lifted my leg and he hung on until I shook him off.The Amishman said "kick him" which I promptly did.Sent him about 20 feet and he ran away.

 

Dogs out in the wild chasing game need to be put down, same with cats simple as that.

 

I was on the side of a dirt road hunting in the Sam Houston National Forest years back. It was past noon and i didnt see any deer. But suddenly at the corner of my eye 200 yrds away there was some movement. This dog came out of the side of the road from the wooded area. I never expected to see one in the middle of nowhere. It was a complete surprise.
I had my remington 700 25 06 with me topped with Leupold 3 x 9 x 40 . Slowy this dog walk along the road towards me just sneezing the ground around as it kept coming in my direction. It stopped about 50 yrs once it saw my human figure. I slowly raise my rifle and aimed right on its body. I dont know if this is someone's dog living around near the area or a feral. The dog looked like a mutt and quite healthy. It begun to bark furiously once it sense my movement and human figure. It stood there and kept barking . In my mind i had some hesitation whether to shoot this dog or not. I was thinking this could be someone's dog , another hunter could be nearby. But after a few minutes the dog stopped barking and turn back. It was a near call. Im glad , or worse case scenario i had to put that 100 gr Nosler BT right into its skull.

Encounters like this just reminds me to expect anything out there in the woods. Be ready for anything.

 

It certainly takes some judgement, I wouldn't want to put down a dog that was just ranging out ahead of its master while out on a hike. My problem is with those domestic animals either singular or with a pack that will give chase and harm wildlife, sometimes well within the owners view. Those are the ones that need dealt with despite what their owners think or say, they are a menace to wildlife and have no business running wild.

 

I was still hunting deer many years ago in my early teens , when I heard something running coming right at me . It was a doe . It stopped about 5 yards from me , it might have run me over if I didn't wave my arms .

I settled back down and then a few mins. latter I heard something else coming from the same direction that doe had just came from . I thought for sure it was a buck following the doe , so I had my shotgun ready . It was a beautiful German Shepherd , following right on the deer's trail . I shouted , not being sure if I was going to have to shoot him or not . He stopped , picked up the deer's trail again and he was off running again . He wasn't far behind her either .

 

This thread reminded me of another episode from my youth,not as serious as some posted here.The best fishing hole was 3 miles from home.The most direct route involved a long hill with a farm at the bottom.The farmer had a free ranging german shepherd.When I finished my chores I could go fishing.Preparations involved packing a lunch,fishing gear,and a small baseball bat on my bike.When I got to the top of the hill I would survey the farm to see if the dog was in his hiding spot.It was a dirt mound at the far end of the barnyard wall.Only his tail would be visible.I would pedal furiously down the hill and lift my feet as he came charging out.Swinging the the bat,I sometimes landed a blow that would send him away.But, next time he would be ready for another round.I would return home by a longer route or have someone pick me up.

 

With an attacking dog, I'd have to wonder if rabies were possibly a factor. Act accordingly.

 

I honestly can say I believe these dogs to be abandoned because the land owner is a good friend and I know he doesn't have any dogs and owns about 1000 acres. I now there are no neighbors near and definitely not that deep in his property. Also I did check in with him and I was the only one with permission to be there.
The dog I put down looked healthy but I'm no vet to be sure.
I never did find the other noise partially because I decided I should leave for the day as the sun was fading fast(even faster in the deep woods it seems)

 

Last spring I was hog hunting on my ranch and came around a corner to face two large dogs without collars. The nearest one was about 50 feet away and was a pit bull, 50 feet past him was a big german Shepard. The pit bull growled at me and took a step forward, so I racked a round into my 30-30 and aimed right at the middle of his chest. If he'd taken another step I'd have shot, but otherwise since I wasn't positive they didn't belong to my neighbor I wasn't inclined to do so. They both took off running.

Now that I know they're not my neighbors, next time I'd be down two 30-30 rounds without thinking.

 

When I lived on a farm we had had to defend our livestock more against dogs than wildlife.when I was about 12 I had to bring my two pet dogs to a place on the pasture for them to be shot for sheep killing. Just a sad fact of life.
Camping in Oklahoma a big buck tore through the campground followed by 2 huge dogs. A local camper said the big dogs were to keep the wild hogs away and not to walk around unarmed. Around here dogs running deer or livestock are to be shot. If you bird hunt during deer season you make sure your dog is trained and under control. It's fair game if it takes off on a deer.

 

I have told this story plenty times, but I was in downtown Louisville Kentucky about 5 years ago walking from Joe's Crabshack to a park nearby with public (free) parking. The park was inhabited by locals who looked ok when my girlfriend (at the time, wife now) and I walked over during daylight but at dusk the crowd had changed enough that the girlfriend stayed at Joe's by my decree while I went for the car. Suddenly, dead center of the park I see a pit bull charging and 2 young men hard on his heels. I drew, aimed, and began pulling the trigger. At 20 ft I see a stick in the dogs mouth and two young men falling down trying to turn around. The pup wanted to play.

 

My brother once told me had to put a water buffalo with a govt issued 1911 that was charging him. Dumped the whole mag and it kept coming but eventually ran out of steam. I'm sure he put other creatures down but never spoke about them.

I was in the woods once with my wife riding our mountain bikes and came across a "vicious" dog growling and barking up a storm. We stopped dead in our tracks and never saw him. After a while we found the courage to move on only to realize it was a small pooch fenced up in his owners yard lol. We both had our permits but weren't carrying at the time. I don't do that anymore lol...

 

That's a bummer Futurerider. I'm glad I've never had to shoot a dog. Not sure I could do it. Then again, I'd probably have a different outlook if I lived somewhere with a feral dog problem...especially if I had livestock. Sometimes random dogs will show up at my place, but they've never acted aggressive.

 

I've had to kill more dogs than I care to think of. Probably more than any other 4 legged species. When dogs are feral they are a dangerous and destructive bunch. I've had several charge and many attack livestock. Nothing fun about killing dogs, even feral ones.