Troubled By Pack Dogs or Wolves(?)

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*Kemosabe*

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UCLA - Upper Corner of Lower Alabama
I live in a semi-rural area that is on the outskirts of a small town. Most houses in our "development" are on at least 5 acres and many are in excess of that. Our house is on 18 acres that is mostly wooded and there is considerable wildlife. Last week there were 7 deer scavaging under our bird feeders.

Three years ago the neighborhood trash cans were being knocked over and rummaged through by pack dogs. One day back then I saw 4 large mangy dogs, none with collars, rummaging through our trash and I yelled at them to frighten them off. They turned toward me and proceeded to stalk me -- I was unarmed. I hauled ass and because of my new-found weight it took me two trips to get back into the house. :D:D:D

After that I never went into my yard without a gun and subsequently over the next three months I killed 5 dogs, none with collars and all were in packs of 3 or more. Two of my neighbors advised they had done the same thing -- problem solved... until now.

Tonight at 12:30AM I saw 8 canines frantically searching in my backyard. I say canines because I'm not sure what they were. At first I thought they were wolves because they were all the same size, large and stocky, and the same shape -- like wolves. They were all gray except for one that was all black... and that one gave me doubt that they were wolves. They were way to big to be coyotes.

Bottom line: Unless I was carrying my 12 gauge loaded with 6 rounds of #4 buck and my Colt Combat Commander I would have felt under gunned. Now I'm worried for the safety of my wife and myself should the pack show up again.

I was thinking about setting up my alerting motion detector (Harbor Freight Driveway Alert) and baiting them, then shooting them as I did the pack dogs.

How would you resolve this situation?
 
I'd contact your Dept. of Game & Fish and ask them what the policy is about wolves.

Wolves & coyotes generally won't attack humans unprovoked. Feral dogs will.

Look into dog repellants. Not that they are guaranteed to work but they might reduce the frequency of unwanted canine visits and pack size
 
Doubtful they were wolves, more likely dogs that were a few generations into being feral. I would just take care of them same as you did before. Try to shoot the pack leader first. I would load up something like an sks if I were going to cull, faster and more precise.
 
Bait, sit on roof, .300 Whisper suppressed w/ NV scope
Shovel
Shut Up

We also get dogs dumped in the area, either people think that they'll learn to fend for themselves or someone will take them in. The larger ones form packs, run deer and livestock, etc. The smaller dogs and dumped cats usually fally prey to the coyotes.
 
If you can safely fire a centerfire rifle in your neighborhood I'd definitely go that route. An SKS would be great. So would an AK. If you don't want to invest in a rifle just for this a .22 will certainly kill a dog right now if you shoot it in the right spot. I've shot dozens of wild dogs with a .22 and I've only ever had to shoot 2 more than once. That was because they turned their heads just at the last second. I've shot them at distances in excess of 50 yards. I just make sure to put a bullet in their brain. If you're a good shooter it shouldn't be that hard.

Chances are the pack will scatter after the first shot though. If they don't you have a real problem. We don't even have animal control in our county anymore because the county couldn't afford it any more. So problems like that are on us to deal with. Then they pass laws that you can't shoot a dog for any reason. Go figure. They aren't forcing me to live in danger.
 
I would guess that they are feral dogs. We get packs of them wandering through the property a few times a year. We have coyotes as well but they tend to bail out the second they see a human, that isn't the case with the feral dogs in my experience. Feral dogs can be pretty big as well.

I live in a very rural area, my neighbor and I share a driveway and he is almost a 1/2 mile away from me. We thin the packs out pretty quick when they show up. Like someone said earlier, use a semi-auto centerfire if it's legal in your area. If you can hit the "alpha" great, if not any gunshot is probably going to scatter them anyway. I have been able to "hunt" a few of the packs with a second shooter and it works out great because we can "call" our shots.

Best of luck to you. I'd check with your local fish and game about baiting. It's not legal in a lot of areas.
 
First thing I would do is contact the local LEA. They will tell you what the proper actions are and can direct you to whatever agency has control over such scenarios. If you live in a semi- rural area on the outskirts of town, odds are folks are dumping unwanted dogs in your area. What you are seeing may be feral dogs, coy-dogs, wolf-dog hybrids, wolf-coyote hybrids or wolves. Whether or not it is legal to shoot them just cause they are in your backyard is something you need to find out. Feral dogs and dog/wolf/coyote hybrids have little fear of man. Wolves themselves do and are less dangerous than most folks think. Years ago we also had a feral dog problem around us....we contacted the county animal control officer and they attempted to deal with it. After a while, they just told us to shoot any dog that was seen without a collar that acted "funny". It seemed for the longest time to go in cycles where we thought we had eliminated the problem only to have it reappear a year later. Finally a hunter found a den with a bitch and puppies and after she was eliminated, the problem was solved.
 
We have the same problem from time to time, feral dogs from people dumping them. As noted, the coyotes aren't usually a problem, and we have no wolves in my area.

If you think it might be a wolf problem, you would be well advised to find out any legal ramifications of shooting one before you do it. A guy over in Missouri recently shot what he thought was a large coyote, which turned out to be a timber wolf, and may be facing charges last I heard.
 
What about a trap? Look into a guillotine style trap that they use to catch pig sounders these days. You might be able to trap the entire pack unharmed. Then you can decide what to do with them. I really like Bubbles advice about shutting up. It's amazing how often that is the right thing to do.
 
Check with LEO or local game warden or fish and wild life service. Could be wolves, could be wolf/dog hybrid. Wolves and dogs DO interbreed in the wild. There were a few good documentaries on them a while back, tho you had to take it with a grain of salt. You can look on youtube, or netflix.
 
Wolves have been so relentlessly hunted that they will scram at the sound of gunfire. I'm not sure if there are wolves in your area but the chances of wolves attacking a human in the US are so miniscule that its a non issue.
 
Shoot, shovel, shut up....don't even post it on the internet. Because sooner or later, some crazy PETA type is going to take exception to what you're doing and you'll find yourself on the front page after being arrested for animal cruelty. Ask me how I know.
 
berettaprofessor said:
Shoot, shovel, shut up....don't even post it on the internet. Because sooner or later, some crazy PETA type is going to take exception to what you're doing and you'll find yourself on the front page after being arrested for animal cruelty. Ask me how I know.
Click to expand...


Okay...how do you know?

As for SSS, if what you are doing is legal than no problem, but the suggestion to others that they should do so to cover an illegal act is not really The High Road. A poacher/violator is still a poacher/violator. Vigilantes are still criminals. Acting tough about it don't make it legal nor right.
 
Put up a trail cam and see if you can get some shots. I'm betting feral dogs. When you see a wolf in the wild you damn sure know its a wolf.
 
Depends on where you live. In my neck of the woods (northern Virginia), dogs without collars probably still belong to somebody. The proper response here would be to call Animal Control.
 
primalmu said:
If they are red wolves, be advised that they are endangered and you may potentially face criminal charges if you shoot them.

http://facstaff.bloomu.edu/ccorbin/Biodiversity/RedWolf_Hoelzer.htm
Click to expand...
I was going to say something similar. Your first step should be to positively identify the animals, make sure you know what you are dealing with. then determine if that is protected in any way. Answering those questions should make the decision of what to do a bit easier.
 
Ditto on knowing your State & Local laws.

As I live in a rural area it is legal and protected from lawsuits to shoot any dog that comes onto my property to protect my livestock. Being nice any of neighbors dogs that come onto my land usually first get a load of #8's. If they fail to learn their lesson then I put them down. Farmers in my area are less tolerant. Having three of my small dogs killed by other roaming dogs I am also rapidly becoming less tolerant myself and will be packing daily along with having a rifle in the truck.
 
Who You Gonna Call...

bainter - I've only had one contact with wolves and I was unaware they were also black... thanks for the heads-up.

MistWolf - I took your suggestion and called the Game Dept. They informed me that there were no wolves indiginous to this area, however, he suggested that someone might be breeding wolf hybrids. He also said that the coyotes had very heavy coats this time of year making them look considerably larger and that black coyotes were not unusual. What was unusual for coyotes was that there were so many in the pack.

I was is infomed that it is always open season on coyotes and baiting or the use of electronic game callers was legal. I'm going to try this baiting and using the caller first.

silicosys4 - You were right; they're not wolves. After a long discussion with the Game Dept. (several officers were involved) it would have been highly unlikely that they were feral dogs from the very high uniformity of their traits, but still a possibility.

Bubbles - "Bait, sit on roof, .300 Whisper suppressed w/ NV scope / Shovel / Shut Up" -- My kinda guy! :D I've got more than one well used shovel in the shed! :evil:

Cee Zee - "They aren't forcing me to live in danger." Agreed. I have several hi cap centerfire rifles, but they were moving so fast that a shotgun with #4 buck would personally give me a higher probablty of hits and higher carcass count.

Ranger Roberts - I was viewing them from a darkened room and they never saw me, so I don't know how they would react to seeing a human. It's unfortunate because it might have answered some questions.

buck460XVR - The local police didn't have a clue. The only thing they added was shooting after 11 PM was a violation of noise ordinance... as if that was going to stop me!

PJSprog - Agreed, checking first can save mucho grief and pesos too!
 
I'm sorry.

Pack of animals roaming the streets and your yard.

Don't run away when confronted but become interested in you.

Dead animal.
 
Coyotes attacking a human, much less an adult man, is a non-issue so unless you have livestock what's the point of killing them?
 
I dunno about the wolf thing. I am not a wildlife expert, but I would expect roving large canids in Alabama to be feral dogs or coy-dogs. Unless told otherwise, I would regard them as dangerous varmints to be eliminated.

A friend's daughter home for Christmas brought along her 7/8 wolf/dog. There wasn't much dog there. That thing sitting under a fir tree in the cold moonlight looked like every picture of a wolf you have seen. The little bit of caveman in me KNEW it was a wolf.
 
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