Used some deer scent on an overhanging branch behind these guys. They ignored it.
Mom was just out of the picture. One of the lake neighbor says he sees this group often.
Nothing but crows and coons on this cam for weeks now.
One little hailstorm with tornados and every trail in the bottom has to be re-routed. It's not just the trees down, but many of the old trunks bring down a bolus of Poison Ivy. I picked around. One of the many uses of a suppressor is to lift twiggy branches out of the path.
Was on the cell with the Good Doctor after corning up the cam and swapping the cards when I suddenly was surrounded by dogs. Rough bunch. Some made me and some didn't but I took a quick look for collars and then started suppressing. I could hear the hits. Shot two of them three times each before the bottom cleared out. It took a little blood trailing but I found both, dead. One went about 150 yards UP the hill and the other 60 yards UP a different hill. I thought it unusual for a struck animal to climb but they did. We all did start at the bottom I guess. Both dogs looked like mixed breed strays. Matty and starved down. Hate shooting them but that's the way it is at the lake. Nice not to have ringing ears. Suppressors for 10/22s ought to be sold in blister packs at WalMart.
I have a Leupold 4-12X on this rifle. I had it cranked up near 12 and just filled the scope and shot mostly. I assume I used the correct trigger technique because of training. Didn't get a chance to think about it much until it was over and I was reloading. Subsonic Remingtons.
Made a circuit of the bowl of the creek fork that climbs the hills across the creek. Wonderful land. Three new scrapes with fresh prints in one. Rubs everywhere. I expected to find a shed but am early for that. In a month you won't be able to get in there without suffering ticks, mosquitos, spiders and snake alerts. Nothing today, just walking an elevation and using the sun to confirm navigation. There are a couple of tree climbing seats on some pine trunks on the top. Not much to eat for deer in the big pines, but it is easy to get one of those seats up and down. More rubs in the hardwood thicket elevation. Ought to move a cam up on one of these scrapes and leave it for a month.
Sorry for these poor old dogs. On the concrete bridge there was a dead puppy halfway out of a sack of dogfood. Someone left him along with something to eat. Now it's all buzzard food.
4 comments:
Sad that you had to shoot the dogs, but better than being bitten and/or more feral packs of dogs.
The Parks & Wildlife Department has been advising landowners for years to control free-ranging dogs as part of any deer management program. Very unpleasant work really but also very necessary.
Where I hunt there are often 'house' dogs that get together in packs for no other reason than their instinct to hunt down and kill prey. Not done out of hunger or need to survive, but of the primal need to hunt prey and be a carnivore. I suppose that dry dog food doesnt do it for them.
In another couple of months there will be little fawns on the ground all over the place around there along with ground nesting birds like Wild Turkeys and Quail. Coyotes, bobcats and skunks have to conserve their energy but free ranging dogs hunt then go home and eat dinner if they arent successful. A bad deal all around.
FYI ----- Wildlife Services -- the federal agency responsible for predator control -- estimates that more than 33 million feral and free-roaming dogs run loose in the United States, biting 5 million people each year and killing about 10 to 15, usually small children. In rural areas, feral and loose pet dogs often form packs that chase down and kill deer, elk, chickens, goats and even cattle.
"People don't understand that Fido on the couch who is normally so friendly will instinctively hurt or chase big game animals," says Tyler Baskfield, spokesman for the Colorado Division of Wildlife.
Sad, but necessary, controlling the wild, un-cared-for dogs. But really sad about the puppy. Some people just don't think at all, do they?
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