Don't be shootin coon hounds in Arkansas

[Dythbringer]

They do the exact same thing, can run for miles. The hound picked up the track, followed it down the river bank. then followed the track across the river onto the land owners property where he treed the coon. I believe part of the defense was the land owner was baiting deer with corn, which is like a magnet to coons and naturally the coon crossed the river to feed, hense the dog followed the track. A coon hound can take a track and follow it no differently than a hound that is used to run deer or coyotes, so saying there is a difference in the distance one can travel over the other two is not valid...

Bo D,

As I stated before, I stand corrected about coon hounds (I thought coon hounds would work a bit closer to humans). While the landowner was baiting deer with corn which attracted the coons and hence the coon hounds, it still doesn't give the hound owners permission to break the law. The hounds might not know the law but humans should.

Dyth

[trappermatt]

trappermatt,

All I am trying to say is while the landowner was defineatley in the wrong for shooting the hound and acting the way he did, the hound owners weren't 100% innocent of wrong doing either. Here is a link which provides a bit more information: http://www.ukcdogs.com/Web.nsf/News/...152013042650PM. It seems the guys were from out of town and didn't know who owned the land (they should have found out before they went hunting) and Arkansas doesn't have a right to retrieve law. To me, the incident could have been avoided by doing a bit of research.

Dyth

Im not saying they may have not been at fault , I have a buddy in Arkansas that tells me trapping on certain public lands down there leads to a lot of problems with hound owners and things can get to the point of being dangerous so don't think I'm saying all hound owners are Lilly white when it comes to following the law , on the other hand I've been to coon trials both here in ontario and south of the border were when you are put in a cast you have no idea were you are going or know anything about the land or the owners you are relying on a guide who may or may not have a dog hunting in the cast with you, so as you can see its possible for things like this to happen with no bad intent on the dog owners part , I've guided in the past for a Ukc hunt that was held here locally and that was one thing I made sure I wasn't going to have problems with dogs upsetting landowners if they strayed and I knocked on lots of doors to make sure we wouldn't have problems because I knew scat can happen as the old saying goes .

[400bigbear]

Dyth . What I took from the article was that since no phone number was posted on the No Trespassing sign that the lads had tried to contact . That's my interpretation . You need to get a better understanding of hounds . I had permission to a few thousand acres here to hunt on and one lad who was anti had a 1 acre lot . Sometimes the hounds would blow through his lot while on a chase . You expect me to stop them ? I don't know the finer details here but lets use some reasonable common sense . Our hounds too were threatened to be shot on sight when we asked the 1 acre lad if he had seen them . Well that didn't go over well . It's not like we wanted them to go through his lot . I get the odd hound coming in the yard here or running in our bush, that have come for many miles . I don't immediately come to the conclusion that somebody set them out to intentionally hunt my property . Hounds are hounds and bred to hunt .

TD

[Dythbringer]

Im not saying they may have not been at fault , I have a buddy in Arkansas that tells me trapping on certain public lands down there leads to a lot of problems with hound owners and things can get to the point of being dangerous so don't think I'm saying all hound owners are Lilly white when it comes to following the law , on the other hand I've been to coon trials both here in ontario and south of the border were when you are put in a cast you have no idea were you are going or know anything about the land or the owners you are relying on a guide who may or may not have a dog hunting in the cast with you, so as you can see its possible for things like this to happen with no bad intent on the dog owners part , I've guided in the past for a Ukc hunt that was held here locally and that was one thing I made sure I wasn't going to have problems with dogs upsetting landowners if they strayed and I knocked on lots of doors to make sure we wouldn't have problems because I knew scat can happen as the old saying goes .

trappermatt,

Your actions should be followed by other hound owners. That is what makes you a responsible hound (dog) owner. I waterfowl and if I cripple a goose and he sails into a neighbouring landowner's field, I can't send my retriever to go get that bird until I have permission. The smart thing to do is what you do and ask before hand and explain the circumstances of what might happen and if I have permission to send my retriever to go get the bird on the neighbour's land. I think alot of what we are seeing could be avoided if people took the time to plan ahead.

You say you have been to coon trials here in Ontario and south of the border where you have no idea where you are going or know anything about the land/landowners and are relying on a guide. This wasn't the case. These guys were unfamiliar with the area and should have done it better in my opinion. You seem to do it the right way, why couldn't these guys?

Dyth

[400bigbear]

Ok Dyth . And if that landowner whose field your goose fell in wasn't home , will you send your dog or let it rot there ? What if your dog trailed a cripple onto my property . Shall I shoot your dog ?

TD

[trappermatt]

trappermatt,

Your actions should be followed by other hound owners. That is what makes you a responsible hound (dog) owner. I waterfowl and if I cripple a goose and he sails into a neighbouring landowner's field, I can't send my retriever to go get that bird until I have permission. The smart thing to do is what you do and ask before hand and explain the circumstances of what might happen and if I have permission to send my retriever to go get the bird on the neighbour's land. I think alot of what we are seeing could be avoided if people took the time to plan ahead.

You say you have been to coon trials here in Ontario and south of the border where you have no idea where you are going or know anything about the land/landowners and are relying on a guide. This wasn't the case. These guys were unfamiliar with the area and should have done it better in my opinion. You seem to do it the right way, why couldn't these guys?

Dyth

with only knowing what we read about the incident none of us really know the whole story , only bits and pieces make it pretty hard for me to pass judgement , but I can say to shoot a dog that was on a mans lead is pretty low and in my opinion nuts

[Dythbringer]

Ok Dyth . And if that landowner whose field your goose fell in wasn't home , will you send your dog or let it rot there ? What if your dog trailed a cripple onto my property . Shall I shoot your dog ?

TD

If the landowner wasn't home, I still don't have permission to send my dog to retrieve it. I respect a landowner's property lines. It is no different than if I was deer hunting where a wounded deer crossed over a property line which I couldn't acquire permission for. It would tear me up inside but I have to obey the law. I can't assume I have permission and I certainly can't get a pass if the land is posted and I put my gun away.

And at no point have I ever said shooting the dog was acceptable.

[Dythbringer]

with only knowing what we read about the incident none of us really know the whole story , only bits and pieces make it pretty hard for me to pass judgement , but I can say to shoot a dog that was on a mans lead is pretty low and in my opinion nuts

You won't get any arguement from me about shooting a dog on lead is low. But in this case, there is plenty of wrong by everyone involved and a dog who was doing his job paid the price.

[400bigbear]

OK Dyth . My cat is sitting beside your car and your dog chases it into my yard . Shall I shoot your dog ?
This is exactly how silly your point is becoming .
TD

[welsh]

Well, Dyth has not suggested that the landowner had the right to shoot the dog, only that the hunters could have been more responsible re contacting the landowner.

However ... in reply to that point, I suggest that if they had got hold of him, his likely response would have been "Stay the hell off my land and by the way I'm a-gonna shoot yer dogs."

There was a case in Montana, where people are pretty militant about trespassers, where a landowner not only shot a cougar hound but then refused to let the owner retrieve the carcass. (The landowner paid a hefty fine.) Some people are just jerks, and there is no dealing with them.