YORK, Maine — Officials say charges are likely to be filed after a hunter fatally shot a family dog in southern Maine.
Matthew and Heather Henriksen of York say their 5-year-old mixed-breed dog bled to death Tuesday after a bullet from a .22-caliber rifle severed an artery on its back leg.
The Portsmouth Herald said a hunter told wardens he was hunting red squirrel in a wooded area behind the Henriksens’ home when he mistook the dog for a coyote. It’s legal to hunt red squirrels and coyotes year-round.
The Maine Warden Service says charges are likely to be filed in the coming days, but that the name of the hunter isn’t being released because the case is under investigation.
This is at least the fourth time a dog has been shot by a hunter this year.
Steven Barrows, 50, of Westbrook was issued a summons in November on a charge of shooting a domesticated animal after reportedly shooting a dog on the last day of deer season.
Barrows, who had been hunting in Standish, also told authorities he thought the dog was a coyote. Game wardens said the the Siberian husky had slipped out of its harness and ran into woods near its home.
Also in November, the Maine Warden Service charged a Dixfield man with shooting a domestic animal after he reportedly shot and killed a dog that was out in the woods with its owner in Magalloway Plantation. Christopher J. Salatino was hunting deer in the Oxford County community.
The dog was accompanied by its owner, Cindy Williams, who is a forester from Errol, N.H., a warden service spokesman said at the time. The dog reportedly had a hunter orange ribbon around its neck when the incident occurred on Nov. 2.
Salatino told investigators from the Maine Warden Service that he thought the German shepherd was a coyote.
And another man, from Orrington, also was charged in November with shooting a domestic animal.
The dog was running loose in the woods when it was shot by Seth White, 53, according to DIF&W spokeswoman Edie Smith. White also said he thought the dog was a coyote.
White had been hunting in an area of Orrington with the permission of the landowner.
The dog’s body was found in a wooded area late Wednesday afternoon by a farmer who was walking his own dog.
The BDN contributed to this report.
Coyote FEVER!!!! Catch it! I’m always one to defend hunters but these dog shootings are getting rediculous. If you can’t tell a dog from a coyote you shouldn’t even be raising your rifle, let alone pulling the trigger. Take his license for life.
And what are landowners to do who want to be able to use their own land safe from hunters who can enter unposted land day and night, all year round, under these new untraditional hunting rules?
Posted signs are vandalized. Landowners who want peaceful natural use of their land are stigmatized and harassed if they post.
The Legislature passed an emergency bill last year that provided for a special paint color to be used where landowners want to be asked before armed night hunters, hunters with packs of dogs, and this new group of aggressive all-season day hunters enter property where privacy and safety is desired.
Governor LePage signed it in July so it would be ready for last hunting season. Maine Forest Service was charged to establish the standard for the color and quality of the paint.
Half a year later, the Maine Forest Service has done nothing.
Is it time to start Posting “No Trespass” on entrances to a whole lot of land to bring some balance and reason?
It’s time that the BDN stopped hyping these bloodsports on its outdoor page. Is this what Maine has come to? .. bathsalts, fuel assistence, food stamps, SSDI give aways, arson, corrupt lawyers, pandering politicians, abandoned children, domestic abuse, .. the entire degenerate population have become nothing but a bunch of beggers and ne’er-do-wells blasting with firepower everything in sight everywhere
WE represent the Lollypop Guild. We welcome you to Munchkin Land! You might want to follow the Yellow Brick Road, watch out for flying monkeys
….”watch out for flying monkeys”
…. and the dredged red necked yahoos, swilling Bud , too, Toto.
Yeah, what he said.
It’s all maine maritine academy’s fault. They have destroyed our great state and nation.
It’s nice to see that you’ve expanded your vitriolic diatribes of Maine Maritime Academy to the entire population of Maine.
Move back to where ever people were too nervous to share …..
If you want a landowner to share by letting you be out armed and shooting at night behind private residences and in livestock fields and woodlands, you might want to Ask First. And identify yourself.
In Maine we have an ethic that’s well stated by the Wardens:
“Respect Landowners: Ask First to Access Private Land. The Maine Landowner Relations Program encourages all land users to voluntarily seek permission prior to hunting, fishing, trapping,
snowmobiling, ATVing, or conducting any activity on private property.
Please respect landowners and their private property. Remember, without access to their property, where would you go to hunt, fish, trap, snowmobile, or ATV?
Private landowners are the most important part of outdoor recreation in Maine. With approximately 94% of the land in Maine being
privately owned it is very obvious where the majority of outdoor recreational activities are taking place; on private property. Take time to ASK FIRST! It’s the right thing to do.”
http://www.maine.gov/lor/courtesycard.htm
“Move back to where ever people were too nervous to share ….. ”
…. is that promised land where the fools with guns can tell a black , mostly Labrador, dog
from a coyote, too ?
If you can’t do that, Nimrod, can you tell bird watchers … like my children and their Aunt,
from whatever it is you’ve come on my land to kill ?
I grew up in northern Maine and come from a long line of hunters. I’m also a land owner and looking to purchase many more acres in the next few years. Stories like this and attitudes like yours make me want to heavily post my land. At least on my land, people like the hunter above and those who excuse his behavior have ruined it for all others. Maybe you can see if the government can pass a law to allow you onto my land because we all know for many people gov is only too big if it’s not helping their interest.
And what are landowners to do who want to be able to use their own land safe from hunters who can enter unposted land day and night, all year round, under these new untraditional hunting rules?
For beginners- don’t shoot a family dog with orange around it’s neck & say you thought it was a coyote.
Especially that dog, he looks nothing like a coyote. In Virginia we had a neighbor yesterday kill his neighbor in a hunting “accident”. No charges will be filed….guess a dogs life is worth more than a humans. I’m sorry these children have lost their pet.
Just another genious with a gun.
This jerk is a perfect example of everything that is wrong with the hunting industry. This jerk needs to sit in a jail cell and then lose his license before he hurts somebody else.
He didn’t hurt anyone. It’s a dog. He’s going to lose his license for a spell and pay a fine. Good.
He hurt the family who owned and loved that dog.. 3 kids are heartbroke…so yea to you it may be just a dog, to me its a member of the family who was loved.
Seamus37, He DID hurt someone. A beloved family member which happened to be a canine!!!!
My point is made by your equating someone with a dog. It’s unfortunate that the family’s dog was killed. The clown who did it will lose his license and pay a fine. However, your Walt Disney fantasy land humanization of animals is over the moral line. A dog is not someone.
The kids are someones, and they will NEVER FORGET!
I haven’t hunted in 30 years, but even then I stopped hunting with a buddy who would “shoot first”, specifically after he shot a Great Crane and excused it by saying “I didn’t know what it was”. Your point is well taken.
Another sad case of misidentification. While I’m certainly not anti-hunting (I hunt also), I am against hunters being too quick on the trigger. If you’re not absolutely certain, don’t take the shot.
Coyotes don’t look like Shepard or Wolf mixes. These are lawless people that want to prove to us we aren’t safe with them around. Well…we already knew that. And some of you already knew that we all knew that, so now it’s your turn fermenting fertilizing pus spewing rancid putrified mooronns that leave us scratching our heads about how best to prosecute your crimes.
Coyotes come in many sizes and color phases as do Shepards and Wolf mixes. Even people trained in dogs have made the misidentifaction.
http://www.petside.com/article/shelter-mistakes-pet-dog-wild-coyote
Look at the picture of this dog. This “hunter” suffers from a warped vision of proper game management techniques and coyote phobia brought on by the small radical lobby that currently is the mouthpiece for hunters in Augusta. Ethical hunters need to reseed this archaic lobby.
How about the small radical lobby that is the mouthpiece for anti-hunters in Augusta, Cecil? You know them all, I’m sure.
What ever happened to identifying your target? People like this give hunters a bad name.
People like this give themselves a bad name. Why doesn’t anyone ever say the excellent hunters give all hunters a good name?
What you are saying is true but, This gives the anti hunters more ammunition.
We don’t need it, there’s plenty already to go around.
Now that’s actually funny!!! LOL
If this opportunity had arisen during my childhood I might have been naive enough to agree with some of you today!!!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!
It should give fair chase and ethical hunters INCENTIVE to openly and publicly go on a campaign to eliminate these slobs. The non hunting, and voting, general public that does not hunt represents about 80% of the population. They need to see positive defense of ethical hunting from the decent hunters that are left.
By implying that a few bad hunters are spoiling the rest, you also imply that most hunters are ‘excellent’ and do, in fact, give hunters a ‘good’ name.
There are more than a few bad apples. The orchard is plagued right now and predator phobia constantly putting more worms in the apples.
This dismal, primitive ‘sport’ is dominated by dumb, anti-social types, many of whom enjoy killing things for fun and justify it by wrapping themselves up stories about ‘tradition’ and claiming that without sport killing they’d go hungry. Yeah, right.
That’s an arrogant, self-righteous statement: “dominated by dumb, anti-social types…” Are you a veggie, Bangorian? Do you eat meat? If you are I suppose you think everybody should be just like you. Where do you suppose that meat comes from? Do you walk around in self-righteous indignation every time you stroll through the meat aisle in the supermarket? Or, when you put that juicy tenderloin in your basket, do you do it with a pang of remorse over the cow that sacrificed his life to satiate your hunger? I doubt it. There are certainly stupid hunters, the above article is a case-in-point, but there are plenty of stupid, tree-hugging anti-hunters as well, who are anti-social.
The subject of this article obviously broke the law and needs to be prosecuted. I can assure you, though, that most hunters, myself included, respect the law and the animals they hunt.
Growing up, I didn’t even know that meat was available outside of deer. We were poor… dirt poor… however, we didn’t accept state aid…. my parents worked.. we burned wood… we had a garden, we shot deer… .we survived…. you have no idea how many people rely on deer meat for protein on their tables…. and no.. I couldnt be poor enough to be a vegetarian… that is… to use your word, dismal. You speak so arrogantly, in such generalities, as if you have first hand knowledge about every hunter…….. if only the season were open on stupid people.
I was with you up until you called for “open season” on stupid people.
What ever happened to putting your dog on a leash?
Dogs do occasionally slip their leashes, and I should not have to have my dog on a leash when walking in my own woods or fields. That said my dogs wear hunter orange even when on a leash, even though my dogs bear more resemblance to rabbits than coyotes. Some nincompoop might shoot them and say they thought they were rabbits, or woodchucks or something…
Where in the story does it say that the dog was off its owners property?
I walk my dogs in the woods every day and they are not leashed. I purposely take them into the woods so that they can run free.
In Reply To…… dogs in the woods every day …..Do you think that by posting it that it will somehow keep them or even you from being shot?
It does not even matter if the dog was on or off a leash. Since when has it become open season for killing domestic animals? We have specific hunting seasons for wild animals and need to purchase a license to kill these creatures. You comment implies that anything loose and free is fair game for a hunter!
When you have a deer hunting license, you’re not really supposed to be out there hunting canine wilds. Too many people killed Shepards and Wolf mixes for it to be a misunderstanding.
There’s no such thing as a deer hunting license. There’s a Hunting License and a Small Game License. The Hunting License entitles you to hunt any big game animal in Maine that it is legal to hunt for without a permit. If you desire to hunt moose you have to apply for a permit, if you desire to shoot an antlerless deer, you have to apply for a permit, if you desire to hunt turkey you have to purchase a permit. If all you want to hunt is small game, you purchase a Small Game License. I don’t know (because I’ve never purchased a Small Game License) if you can shoot coyote with just a Small Game License.
Thanks for clarifying that. I’m flabbergasted that I’ve never seen a single coyote in Maine for 47 years yet everyone in this neck of the woods says they’re here. I live out in the country and have spent unbelievable amounts of time in the woods all over Maine. Wouldn’t they be considered vermin? I mean would you really need any kind of a license to shoot at them? I find it so hard to believe we have coyotes in Maine and I have never seen one.
My thoughts exactly, there is a lot of shootings may it be people, dogs, deer of people not identifying their targets. It does give hunters overall a bad name because everyone is “grouped” together when they are referred to, even though you may know a hunter who does identify the target. I know someone who hunts, when in doubt he throws it out. He won’t shoot if he is 99% sure, he shoots when he is 110% sure.
Pretty soon everyone will shut down their land to hunters. People who want to hunt need to learn how to identify, not guess, not assume, at what they are looking at before they pull the trigger. I can not believe how hard it is for people to do this.
Do these people just not like dogs or what???
It would be nice to get more details…
I would worry about anyone that hunts red squirrels.
are they yummy?
yeah but kinda small.
Guess you would have to go with a head shot if you wanted to have anything to eat.
yeah but kinda small.
**************************
but they SOUND as big as coyotes when they get in your attic! lol
I think coyotes like to eat them.
If they’re that close to the edge they should contact their GOP TPariers and get a belly full of nothing. It takes several squirrels to make on meal for one person, but the meat while tough and stringy provides protein that is otherwise hard to get.
More likely he was after the hides.
If you ever had a red squirrel in your camp, you’d change your mind.
Well I have had mice in my camp and hunted them in there but doubt I would go out in the woods after them and shoot someones dog in the process. I agree they are destructive in a building.
If the consequenses were stiffer, these shootings wouldn’t happen as often. Tell an avid hunter that he’s out of the sport for five years and he’ll be very careful out in the field. When deer season is over, people tend to be less worried about the safety of pets and children on or near their own property.Maine has a wide range of hunting seasons. We all need practice safety year round.
Mixed breed dog ??
Was it a cross between a Great Dane and a Chiuhauha , or ……….. ??
Maybe it did look like a coyote.
Yeah, like a Siberian Husky and a German Shepard with an orange collar on.
Coyotes dont have orange collars.
If you read the article you would have noticed that one if the dogs “mistakenly” shot was wearing an orange collar when it was shot.
from the article; The dog was accompanied by its owner, Cindy Williams, who is a forester from Errol, N.H., a warden service spokesman said at the time. The dog reportedly had a hunter orange ribbon around its neck when the incident occurred on Nov. 2.
The dog looked a little like a black Lab with a white patch on its chest. Here’s a link to the story from the Portsmouth Herald: http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20111230-NEWS-112300370
Does anyone use orange collars or orange bandanas anymore? But I do agree, be sure before pulling the trigger.
We have one on ours, BUT, look at this dog…. There was no excuse for misidentification.
Hunting 101….Clearly IDENTIFY what it is you are SHOOTING at PRIOR to shooting…….DUH.
I hope they burn these folks to the full extent of the law. Back in the old days, we were taught that if you could not absolutely, unmistakeably identify what you were about to kill, you did not take the shot.
Back in the old days Domestic dogs where shot when found running deer!
None of these shot dogs were running deer
Which is irrelevant and illegal contrary to popular belief.
What a difference thirty years makes. A dog in the November woods was presumed to be running deer. I’m not saying it was right, just a different mindset.
Were the owners of those dogs summoned for having their dogs running loose?
If you read the article, one of the dogs was on a walk with it’s owner, another escaped from it’s leash and a third got out when it ran off when the front door of teh house was opened.
We read the article genius, the question still stands, if there was a leash law in the community, then are these folks being summoned for not having their dog on a leash? If the dog charged out of the house and bit someone’s child, the leash law would certainly be in question. It’s amazing how people think it is OK to simply apply laws when and where they choose. If you own a dog, it is your responsibility to follow the law. Just as with hunting, it is also your responsibility to follow the law. Claiming it was a mistake and is therefore not your fault is both immoral and unacceptable in BOTH cases.
John, Maine leash law requires the dog to be under verbal control not neccessarily on a physical leash. I am an avid bird hunter and with hunting dogs it would be impractical to hunt birds with them on a leash in the woods. I am very hesitant to hunt during deer season with my dogs other than during the middle of the day and not on Saturday due to the risk of deer hunters thinking my white dog with an orange vest is a running deer. Too many people think a dog in the woods is automatically chasing deer…Not so!!
They should take that verbal control out of the law, I have seen dogs that supposedly are under verbal control, not being that way.
No. It’s not in the law. The term is Mental Control, meaning that if the animal cannot be controlled via training and commands it has no business being off the owner’s land, period. I could bring a dog with me down the road and meet up with you. The dog could get jealous and attack you because it is not under my Mental Control. That would be entirely my fault. It’s my responsibility to be sure my pet is under my control. If your dog is not a pet and you let it bite me? God have mercy on your soul.
Whether verbal or mental control, dogs still have their own instinct. I do not care who says they have total control over a dog or any animal. Even on a leash does not mean theyhave control
I can’t disagree with you there.
I have a daughter that was attacked by a rotti we didn’t know had moved into the neighborhood. Compared to what it could have done the rotti did relatively little damage to her, but she is horribly scarred for life on her legs. She was minding her own business riding her bicycle on a dead end country road with her brother at the time where she’d ridden a thousand times before. I got the be the one to insist the owner euthanize the animal and end things there. We ate the medical bills because the family was poverty stricken. Not fun for anyone involved.
The owner clearly had no concept of mental control and I ended up talking to his mother to make sure he did the right thing. She didn’t get rabies or have to have the shots as a result of the compliance of the owner of the dangerous animal.
I am not sure if you, understood what I said which I am sorry. I said that whether verbal or leash a dog still has a mind of their own. I do not believe any owner has total verbal control over a dog. I am sorry for your daughter. It is still unbelievable the amount of rotti owners that think they are ok.
I ask you this. I a person is drunk and disorderly do you have the right to kill him for that reason only? We can play this game all night. How about when the cops use their dog to track down criminals. The police dog was not on a leash and and getting ready to bite. Does the criminal have the right to shoot the police dog in self defense? The law cannot be looked at in black and white. Here’s another one. You just robbed a bank, you are outside with your gun in your waistband. A cop hollers “STOP or I’ll SHOOT”. He has just threatened you with a deadly weapon. Can you now draw your gun and shoot him in self defense? The law says you have the right to defend yourself.
I sure hope you’re not serious in your scenerios; if you are, you need some psychological assessment…and please, stay off the streets! (and the woods) Yikes!
Please read the post I was commenting on. John seems to think the law is the law with no exceptions.
That reminds me of the time that I reported a hit and run when someone backed over my motorcycle in the parking lane on a city street in Portland, breaking the clutch lever, and the police came and gave me ticket for not having a valid inspection sticker.
If you just robbed a bank and was in possession of a firearm I don’t think your right to defend yourself would apply against an officer of the law performing his duties . More than likely if you attempted to take that weapon out of your waistband you would be shot and it would be a justified act. Anyone who decides to pull off an armed robbery doesn’t deserve the same rights as law abiding people.
There is no leash law in my community. My dog runs the property, which is substantial. Are you going to blame me because my dog is on my property, unleashed, and use it as an excuse to blame me for your stupidity? I hunt, I have a sickness for guns, yet there is NO excuse for not identifying your target before raising the firearm. How long before we start shooting people again because we don’t understand that deer do not wear white gloves?
I firmly stand behind my suggestion that the state start mandating hunters actually know what their game looks like along with an IQ test.
Sounds good to me; I like your logic.
The leash law is a state law. It applies even if your community does not have it’s own ordinance.
As the law was explained to me it is perfectly legal to have your dog run loose on your own property. But not 1 foot off your property without a leash or under your verbal control. I haven’t seen many dogs who understand property lines.
There are such things as invisible fences.
My daughter tried one of those. Worked with the Lab. The other mutt, (dumb as a beagle), would get shocked and SPEED UP as he left the property.
Guess he really must’ve wanted to get away from somebody, huh?
I wonder why.
Why? Pretty simple really. He wants to run free and CHASE things. Squirrels, other dogs, skunks, (he LOVES skunks and refuses to learn to leave them alone), porcupines, and I am sure if he catches the scent -deer.
And “she” is dumber than a box of rocks.
“And ‘she’ is dumber than a box of rocks.”
I have no patience for owners of dangerous animals. They aren’t family members. They aren’t children. These pet owners all tell me the same thing, “the animal is a big baby and wouldn’t hurt anybody”.
While it’s true the animal doesn’t dare to try any crap with me because I’ve shown it my shotgun, I can sit on it and pull its ears or let the kids do it while I’m there, that doesn’t change the fact that the thing ganged up on the tied up dog on the corner and murdered and tried kill my daughter in front of me while I worked on my boat.
I took the dog on myself in half and instant when I saw this rotti “pet” suddenly moving 35 mph across the road from 30 feet away through and underground fence obviously planning to murder my daughter.
Needless to say, the rottie ran for its life back home with its head and what it had for a tail down low. But I got lucky. It wasn’t OK for that dangerous animal to be inadequately controlled.
Law? So Governement ISN”T the problem?
Of course it is. If there were not these laws then no one would be cited for shooting a domestic animal when they put down a dog running loose.
Target Identification IS required by law!
IQ Tests?
Get real!
Sure, give them a summons because they have not suffered enough.
seems the dog on a walk with its owner wasn’t on a leash. If it had been, a mistake wouldnt have been made due to a human presence. many times people think if they tie an orange ribbon around a dogs neck it is ok to let them run. I have witnessed it several times. It is never ok for a dog to be at large in the state of maine. On two occasions I have been on the ready to shoot someones growling dog as it stared me down in the woods. Not a good feeling at all. Fortunately I was able to run the dog off each time.
how about the horses with orange ribbons that get shot,or have they growled at you,also
If the dog had been on a leash, perhaps the “hunter” would’ve mistaken the human being for a coyote. If he can’t take time to identify one, why would he for the other?
Dogs growl because they can’t say “hey, who are you?” Just because a dog growls at you, doesn’t mean it’s going to rip your throat out. Sheesh! I’ve been growled at, snapped at and even charged by a pit bull. That doesn’t mean I’d ever shoot them.
I and my wife were pinned for 20 minutes by a dog who refused to respond to the owners command to leave us and return to his yard. If I had had my gun that day i would have killed that dog and been fully justified in doing so. The owner had been warned by animal control to keep the dog under control. I wasn’t the first it had acted aggressively with. The owner did get rid of it a few months later.
irrelevant.
oh, and some dogs can sense evil.
Only irrelevant in your warped liberal mind. Aggressive dogs are not cute or harmless. Ask the woman in Lagrange, (I think that was the town), mauled and who lost her arms to a dog attack.
It is illegal to shoot a domestic animal. Hopefully they can file a wrongful death suit. A black and white coyote? Please.
Unless it is threatening or damaging livestock.
Absolutely. You have the right to protect you domestic animals with whatever force it takes. I prefer a B.B. gun first, then move up as needed. If a dog is not viscus towards people I don’t think it needs to die on the first meeting.
But not because a yahoo with a gun sees it and determines that it is “running deer”.
Many hunting dogs have to be at large in the process of hunting.
Is that a bigger crime than not positively identifying the target before firing?
Open season on dogs in the woods and fields then?
If unaccompanied by their owner it should be open season on dogs in woods.
The article clearly states why the dogs were loose. Occasionally a dog will get loose, no matter how careful the owners are. To insinuate it’s the fault of the dog or the owners is asinine in this case. Like most people are posting; CLEARLY IDENTIFY YOUR TARGET BEFORE SHOOTING. The person should be stripped of their license. Sad day for the family and the rest of the dog loving community.
If letting dogs run is so wrong and illegal how does hunting with dogs work, you hypocrite ?
I’m not a big fan of HUNTING with dogs. Seems unfair to the game to me. Now,waterfowl bird hunting is an exception to me because the dog doesn’t actually hunt, just retrieves.
Running free, as he does, right ?
no dog should have to be on a leash to be on their own property, or if they have permission to be on someone else’s. And no dog should be shot just because they are in the woods. It is called having a moral regard for life. People that shoot animals with the mindset that is it ‘just an animal’ should not be allowed anywhere near a gun. We should respect all forms of life, and not kill or shoot unless we plan to eat it for food. period.
When did the rules change to kill a coyote on sight?
There is no closed season on coyotes, with a permit they may even be hunted at night.
Yeah but if you’re out hunting squirrel and you happen to see a coyote does that mean you’re obligated to shoot it? And was that 22 really adequate to kill it humanely?
Your original post, perhaps poorly communicated, indicated to me that you did not know the hunting season on coyotes. I made no judgement as to whther a .22 caliber was adequate firepower to do the job. Obviously, unless the hunter placed the shot well it would not be adequate. Unfortunately, it appears the hunter placed the shot well enough to kill the roaming dog.
I should have worded it differently, this type of thing always get to because its stupidity that will ruin it for all of us.
The dog bled to death, so no, the caliber wasn’t “adequate.”
Coyotes are hard on the moose and deer heard if we get deep snow. This year so far we have been fortunate and if we don’t get alot of snow our heard should grow. 22 caliber can definately kill a coyote. I have killed many deer with a 22 caliber. These days hunter think they need a 308, 30-30 or semi-automatic to kill anything. If your a good shot, a marksman you can shoot to kill. If you haven’t trained and practiced you really have no business being in the woods. I’m out of practice therefore, I’m at home ;-) If I needed to kill a rabbied coyote trying to drag off my grandson or chihuaha, I could shoot him to kill him with a 22 caliber, even out of practice. I know because I’d be very close. I might have to finish him off with a second bullet, but he wouldn’t get my grandson!
“Coyotes are hard on the moose and deer heard (sic)”….
Two legged coyotes aren’t ?
On a dead run it would be hard to tell one from another. I’m not one to obey the leash law myself but it does exist. My daughters dog was hit by a car and that was the huge expense we paid for repairing the dog. If you don’t keep you dog on a leash expect bad consequenses and expect to pay those consequences. I didn’t yell at the driver, I apologized. No one wants to make such a horriff mistake even with a gun. I would have to see the dog to tell you if it resembled a coyote, remember on a dead run it would look different then standing still. I used to hunt all the time and unfortunately, no matter how much I stared thru that scope, I made an error or two. Now I target practice only for that instance of a rabbied animal trying to carry off my 4lb dog or for home protection.
Getting hit by a car is a accident, getting shot while being mistaken for a coyote is intentional
There are alot of gun accidents. My dad shot his own pick-up truck. Didn’t do that on purpose and yes he was sober! He doesn’t drink. My friend from high school blew his own hand off. My grandfathers friend shot his father in the belt buckle, killing him. The belt buckle looked like a deers eye. To mistake a dog for a coyote running in the woods isn’t that far fetched. Especially if the hunter was unexperienced. I would want to know details. Was he hunting on posted property? Property he wasn’t suppose to be on? Did the dog look anything like a coyote whatsoever? This jury will need facts.
Please tell us who you are so we can stay away from your family and your family’s friends…
I’m getting old. These happened over years. Acceptable never. Accidents happen. If you feared accidents you couldn’t leave your driveway. As I drive thru town I see accidents daily. My husband drives home from Connecticut at least weekly and Bath daily. He tells of deadly car accidents that he passes and we see them online or news at night. He often wants to see how many died or what happened. Cars are deadly. I don’t think anyone leaves home to hunt and expects that they are going to shoot their own hand off. Or drive home from work and hit the gas instead of the break and hit someone head on. I’ve seen that as well. Accidents happen.
I can’t believe you find all these fatal or near fatal mistakes acceptable. I hope you all live far away from me.
Me too! Holy scariness!
Your family should be removed from hunting anything.
Do you know if your dog is hit, you may be sued for car damages and you will need to pay them. Someone’s dog got past them, got hit and they had to pay for damages t the care.
I also agree it is hard to tell some coy dogs from house pets.
It was my daughters dog that was hit, and she didn’t even live at my house. I paid her vet bill because she was in college. How she got out, I don’t know. Probably my son. I apologized to the lady, and there luckily was no damage to her car, as Tiva was a small pup.
Even on a dead out run, you’d be hard pressed to mistake a BLACK SHORTHAIRED dog for a coyote. If you can’t identify the target, you do not raise the rifle.
Agreed :-)
If you think a German Shepard or Siberian Huskey look like a coyote, you should get your eyes checked.
If you don’t think they do then you’ve never seen a coyote who is primed up for winter. This dog on the other hand doesn’t resemble a coyote in the least.
Coyotes look like mangy old foxes and always travel and hunt in pairs. They don’t look like dogs or Siberian Huskies nor Wolf Hybrids. Neither wolves nor wild dogs hunt in pairs. They hunt in packs. If you’d like to see the difference I’d be happy to take you hunting some night.
Coyotes absolutely do NOT ALWAYS travel in pairs. That is a ridiculous generalization.
Well I can see that I don’t know anything about Coyotes. Thanks for setting me straight. I really thought they traveled and hunted in pairs. But I’ve never seen a Coyote in Maine in my 47+ years. What are Mainers calling coyotes? Wolves?
I have seen a fair number of coyotes over the years. I have never seen a pair, every one was a single coyote. Most were healthy and looked surprisingly similar to a Husky or possibly even a German Shepard. Lots of variation in color. The one in my yard looking for food this week was different, looked half starved and pretty sure it has mange. Worst I have ever seen.
And they are a LOT bigger than a fox and I have never seen coloration like a fox.
Well I can see that I don’t know anything about Coyotes. Thanks for setting me straight.
Are you shooting gray fox, they do indeed travel in pairs.
There was a pair in our neighborhood and the woman up the street wounded one of them. They stuck together. We here out in the Willy-wag agreed we would put the poor thing out of it’s misery if we got a shot at it. I took it down. It looked like a mangy fox to me. I didn’t approach the carcass because it was clear its partner was not going away immediately, so I don’t really know what I shot. It wasn’t domesticated though.
How about charging the dog owners with dog at large?????? Think of all the poor deer in the woods trying to survive!!!! Poor poor deer being chased to death by somebodys lovable doggy.
That’s hogwash. Maybe years ago when there were no restrictions on dogs runing at large, but not today. This shooting is all about “coyote phobia.”
I think the whole “dogs chasing deer” thing is total hogwash. Even if a dog is chasing a deer, is that going to wipe out the entire whitetail population? What, from giving them heart attacks? Your typical house dog is no match for the endurance of a white tail.
Deer don’t seem particularly perturbed about much of anything, witness the huge deer population explosion in my parents’ suburban neighborhood outside of Detroit, which has at least one dog per household. It’s almost impossible to scare the deer away from the flowerbeds, you can practically walk up and smack them on the nose.
Here in Maine I have four noisy dogs, all kept contained within our large fenced yard or with me on leash, and the deer wander around here constantly.
There’s no excuse for shooting a dog unless it’s actively attacking a human. Too many bad hunters taking out their frustrations on the first thing they see.
Wait until it’s a toddler, then maybe people will start to care more about hunters knowing what they’re shooting.
yeah right.
This is caused by “coyote phobia” and hunter ignorance. It is the third shooting of someone’s dog that I have read about this year. As a former fur buyer, I even remember a warden from Belgrade tagging a dog for a coyote that a trapper had killed. Coyotes are here to stay and they have become part of our ecosystem. They are just another one of Mother Nature’s beautiful wilderness creatures and shoud be treated accordingly.
Reminds me of the “wolf hysteria”.
Actually the 4th
let’s not forget, this is the SECOND time he’s done it….
where do you get that from. theres nothing in this story or the other one that suggests he’s done this before.
It should be open season on all stray dogs ….. And pit bulls that kill small children ….
And humans that kill small children………
Conservatives are against killing mean loose pit bulls, but killing Labrador dogs while hunting squirrels and Iraqis while hunting terrorists, there, so we don’t have to hunt on our own land ,
is just acceptable collateral damage, right ?????
HOW DISGUSTING!!!!!!!!
His username says a lot about mentality.
And parents who let their small children jump all over, pull ears and tails, and get in a dogs face when it’s eating.
and humans who have limited brain cells, esp. if they might reproduce and then their offspring will continue to become societies’ ills.
dirtball
What ever happened to keeping dogs on a leash. Half of you are the same ones that thought it was OK for the chicken owner to shoot a loose dog that was NOT harassing his chickens and had done so before. People were saying it was the owners fault the dog was shot because it was running loose. Now you are saying it is the hunters fault- how do we know they weren’t chasing deer? I will agree with the Forseter, her dog had orange on, but the animals running at large how can this not be the owners responsibility? Why is it aww shucks it’s the hunters fault in this instance, but the owners fault in other instances? I am only playing devil’s advocate here, people need to make up their minds is what I am getting at.
To me the biggest issue is the mistaken identity. Had he not taken the shot there would have been no harm done, the supposed coyote was no threat to him or anyone else. yes it is entirely possible to see something in the woods and think it might be a coyote or what ever but if you intend to kill you must be sure.
It’s the hunter’s fault because THE HUNTER HAS THE GUN! The dog does not, duh!
leash law violation. target identification violation. age and experience of the hunter; unknown. bottom line. dogs should never be running around in the woods, orange ribbons around their necks or not. I do however find it extremely difficult to defend someone who shoots a 135 pound german shephard claiming he thought it was a coyote. maybe folks found guilty of target misidentification should suffer a 1 year loss of privilege.
Goos One!!!
Know what you are shooting!!! Would all of you hunters please bring a photo of a coyote with you when you hunt so you can compare that photo to the dog you are about to shoot. Sounds like a few are little too eager to bring home that prize.
Now that I have seen a picture of the dog, I can only ask what’s wrong with you! I have never seen a coyote that comes close to looking like that!
Ah, yes, the famous all-black coyotes of Maine.
My sympathies to this dog’s family. What I have to say to the “hunter” isn’t printable.
Exactly what I was thinking!
With floppy ears too.
Mistaken Identity??????? If that black and white dog looks like a “coyote” then I would say more people need “glasses”!!!! I DON’T SEE that this dog looks like any coyote that I know of…………
I don’t hunt. I have nothing against hunters BUT if a black and white dog looks like a “coyote” then I think that all hunters should have to take a hunting class every year AND eye tests…………
…. AND target identification test.
Something that should be changed is the fact that you can fail a driver’s license examination due to poor eyesight, even with corrective lenses….yet, the same person that fails their driver’s license exam due to poor eyesight can go online and legally buy a hunting license. In 48 years of hunting, I’ve passed up a substantial number of shots for the reason that it wasn’t a clear shot, or more importantly, I wasn’t absolutely, 100% sure of what the target actually was. And yes, I have excellent eyesight.
i doubt that all of these cases were mistaken identity. I’m a hunter. I can’t count how many fellow hunters have said to me, “if I see a dog in the woods I shoot it. they don’t belong in the woods.”
*gasp*
Dogs and people “go together”. I guess only “wild animals” belong in the woods!
Trappers say the same thing about cats,They catch one or see it,they shoot it.Make ya proud to be a human being,dosent it?
Why am I not surprised. Education is wasted on some people.
A real shame. You can see this dog doesn’t bear any resemblence to a coyote. Why do people feel the need to hunt coyotes, anyway? Why have coyotes season 365 days/year?
First time you have a couple of them shadowing, just inside the treeline, you and your four year old son, you’ll understand why they are under open season. They are a nuisance animal.
Sir, I can see that you have a severe case of “coyote phobia.” In the fall of 1981, I studied and tracked collared coyotes in Deblois. They are as harmless as a snowshoe hare and they have a natural fear of human beings. My guess is that you and your son may have been shadowed by a Yeti or an Abominal Snowman.
“…. shadowed by a Yeti or an Abominal Snowman. ”
… or hunter thinking that is what you and your son were.
Does thehaymaker know how lucky he is that there not an open season on yetis ?
That’s ridiculous. I’ve hiked all over the southwest w/ my dogs and seen coyotes on a regular if not a daily basis. The sometimes followed us, and sometimes went on their way. I’ve never been afraid of them and they are not a threat. For pete’s sake if you are afraid of wildlife, then stay in the house.
Tell that to those who loose dogs and cats in towns by coyote’s and foxes. The fact is Coyote do kill deer.
So what if the coyotes take a few deer. Who ever decided that the deer could only be killed by the great white hunters anyway.
A few? you must live in Southern Maine or on an island somewhere.
Yes, MDI where the coyotes and deer live harmoniously. We have lots of both.
I am sure. You put a deer in front of a coyote, I am would certain the coyote would harmously leave the deer alone. Yea right.
We have one of the higher per sq. mile deer densities in the state. We also have a very prolific coyote population. We could only hope the coyotes would thin the deer out a bit. We do have coyote vs chicken issues but you can’t blame them for being opportunistic.
sardoglady is right. There are a LOT of coyotes on MDI: I’ve seen them multiple times in broad daylight in Acadia! And one thing MDI has more than enough of: deer. It’s a wonder more people aren’t killed each year in car-deer accidents!
I would bet that motor vehicles kill WAY more deer than coyotes.
DOT data shows that vehicles kill over 3,000 deer per year in Maine. There is no data to support a relationship between coyote removal and deer population increase. See this link:
http://www.maine.gov/ifw/wildlife/species/plans/mammals/easterncoyote/feasibilitystatement.pdf “By continuing the coyote control program, the public may perceive the Department implicitly believes the control program has a strong biological basis, when in fact, the biological benefits of coyote control are unknown. Snaring is controversial because other wildlife or pets may be incidentally killed”
While it may seem logical to assume that coyote kill deer, it’s also logical to assume coyote will kill the easiest and most readily available prey, including such things as ground birds like turkeys, and small game like squirrels and woodchucks and rabbits. Coyotes are not as pack-oriented as wolves, though they will hunt as a pack on occasion. One coyote is not likely to take down a healthy adult deer if other easier to kill game is about.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/story/2010/08/09/ns-coyote-attack-cape-breton.html
We are in greater danger here from other people, including even men from Cape Breton where the rare tragedy cited above took place, than from any wild native creature.
Consider this sick event:
http://bangor-launch.newspackstaging.com/2006/04/18/news/state/shooters-motive-sought-in-sex-offender-slayings/
Sounds like you and your son should just hunker down with the Nintendo and call it a day. Foregt the fresh air, forget the quiet woods, just stay inside and teach your son to fight fear with violence. To judge “nuisance animals.” Do us all a favor and instead teach him to be sated by the familiar back lit display of the television and the soothing glow of the computer screen like the rest of American children. Sad that you are missing an opportunity to give him the kind of rare, old-fashioned, adventure of a childhood that people can still have in this very special state. There are many in this world who will never be privileged with the space, freedom, and unspoilt beauty that fosters those close encounters with the indigenous creatures who inhabit this world alongside us. The chilling song of a pack of coyotes never fails to wake me in the night– it’s exciting and I feel humbled every time. There’s a big world out there, that goes for you, too. I live in Maine because I want the simple things– I want the things that constantly remind me that there are way more important things then the newest iPhone and latest celebrity gossip. The coyotes are a part of this place, that intimacy with a raw and primitive world is an absolute gift. If you feel differently {and I say this without any intention of being rude} maybe you simply don’t get it.
Best post I’ve read all year. Congrats.
look at the faces of those boys…….horrible. Identify target first, don’t worry about “just bringin something home.”
Does anybody remember how many out of control dogs have hurt and maimed people during this past year. If hunting in the woods the animal I would least like to confront would be a dog. How many stories do we hear about coyote attacks. For that matter I think we hear of more mauling from dogs that bear attacks. If somebody wants to make sure his dog does not hurt somebody he should keep the dog leashed. If not leashed the dog is a threat to the man in the woods.
“If not leashed the dog is a threat to the man in the woods.”
Baloney.
Yeah, but threat…did you see the dog’s picture? And where are you coming up with this falseness about ‘stories of dogs attacking people’…you’re pulling them out of your rear end, it is not true. In rare occasions a dog will attack someone, but it’s generally the cruel and sinister human who has trained the dog to be mean. If treated well, you can not EVER have a better companion than a dog, period.
Sir, 99.999999 percent of dog attacks happen in the home where the dog is either protecting his owner or the turf. Never in my lifetime have I ever heard of a dog attacking anyone in the woods. And please know that I am a hunter who has hunted and guided for more than 55 years. If there is anything to fear in the woods, it is man and not dogs or coyotes.
Most people who dislike dogs have had negative experiences with them and thus feel justified in making sweeping and terribly sophomoric generalizations. The irony is that dogs are terribly acute judges of character, when I meet someone who dislikes dogs I always take note to keep them at arms length. Dogs typically react to people who radiate negative, threatening, dishonest, or fearful tendencies. I’m sorry that you have had such a difficult time with canines and know so little about them that you would assert that dogs should always be kept on leashes. Dogs need to run and exercise to be healthy and fulfilled. Perhaps the trouble with the dogs you’ve interacted with and negatively judged is that their owners don’t realize how much dedication is required to provide a dog with the necessary tools to interact positively with humans. Exercise is key. Trust also key.
Point of information: Coyote dogs are allowed to be off leash while they’re tracked by radio collar enabling their master to wait around until it’s go time. That’s one huge part of the problem at hand with landowner rights and coyote hunting.
If you are afraid of dogs to the extent that you feel threatened by them while walking in the woods I’m afraid the problem may be yours to resolve. I am an educated professional and I own a gentle, beautifully trained pit bull mix who is renowned by everyone he encounters as one of the gentlest, most intuitive dogs around. I would trust him unequivocally in any situation. There are but a few humans I feel the same respect for. I hope someday you’ll meet a dog that might change your mind.
How many of those “out of control dogs” were in the woods? How about zero. Dog attacks occur in urban areas when tough-guy gangsta types train their dogs to be nasty, or in dog-owners’ yards when intruders threaten life or property. Not in the woods.
Yeah, that black and white dog looks like every coyote that I’ve ever seen……….where are all of the excuse makers now????
If someone mistook that poor dog for a coyote, they should not be allowed in the woods with a gunor to have a hunter’s license period !!
Yes, and he needs a vision test.
So sick of this! Rule #1 as a hunter – know what you’re shooting at! I’ve dealt with coyotes for years after living in Phoenix and they were never a problem. Ok, the State of Maine allows hunting on coyotes, well the State should also take away that provelige when abused.
To all those people b#$ching about the dogs running loose – have you ever had a dog get loose and be hunting for him/her for days?? Maybe they escaped from their fence. Don’t be so sure that the owner is just letting them run wild and chase deer. Case in point – one dog killed had his family searching for him constantly – another dog had his owner with him and was wearing orange!!
If you can’t be resopnsible with a gun, then you shouldn’t have one!
” The name of the hunter isn’t being released because the case is under investigation” ??????? Why can’t they release the name of person who did this???
He’s a minor?…….of maybe someone with “connections”……*wink*
unleashed dog in woods = dead dog in woods.
10% of “hunters” in woods = potential murderers.
When the blood lust to kill something rises up in some people there’s no telling what they’re likely to blaze away at. When the bloodlust to kill something rises up in me the targets that come to my mind include morons blazing away at red squirrels and coyotes. Fortunately for them (and for my own long-term prospects of remaining a free man) I don’t act on such impulses.
But I can’t say I would be at all sad if someone else were to decide to be the self-appointed executioner for Steven Barrows, 50, of Westbrook; or for Christopher J. Salatino, age undisclosed, of Dixfield; or for Seth White, 53, of Orrington; or for this latest nitwit troubled by questions about the size of his penis who decided to murder a family pet.
Amen!
Thanks for doing the homework for the self-appointed executioners out there.
Oh balony. I’ve lived in the wild west and hiked all over the land, often with coyotes watching me and my dogs on the trail. They are not a threat.
If dog owners would just put blaze orange collars on their dogs this would never happen…
Or if “hunters” knew what they were shooting at………..
It wouldn’t happen if there weren’t trigger happy shooters in the woods. Note I did not call them hunters. True hunters identify their target before pulling the trigger and aren’t trying to kill every coyote they see.
The article cites a case where a dog was shot despite wearing blaze orange. If someone is too stu_pid to pay attention and be aware of what they are shooting at, they are too stu_pid to be allowed to carry a gun.
How about hunters LOOK before they shoot!
One reason we do have a leash law in the State of Maine. Though it is unfortunate, I see to many people running their dogs on woods roads. Sure you are suppose to be sure of what you are shooting.
The leash law includes voice control.
and I am sure all dogs listen to voice commands.
If you don’t have a solid recall on your dog it shouldn’t be off lead. My point was, that is provision in the law.
There is absolutely no way you can postively say you have a solid recall with a dog or any animal.
100% probably not. 95% yes which is as good as I need it.
Be a hunter, not a shooter. Stop watching kill shots on the “hunting” shows. And I hunt…
Well if the dog in the picture is the dog shot, it doesn’t look anything like a Coyote!
I publicly echo: “The Legislature passed an emergency bill last year that provided for a special paint color to be used where landowners want to be asked before armed night hunters, hunters with packs of dogs, and this new group of aggressive all-season day hunters enter property where privacy and safety is desired. Governor LePage signed it in July so it would be ready for last hunting season. Maine Forest Service was charged to establish the standard for the color and quality of the paint. Half a year later, the Maine Forest Service has done nothing. Is it time to start Posting “No Trespass” on entrances to a whole lot of land to bring some balance and reason…We’ll shoot the sign before we’ll shoot this flatlanders.If you haven’t lived in Maine long enough to give the mentally deficient answers the GOP that keeps just read their posts.
The elephant in the room is our retarded governor. He doesn’t speak English and he doesn’t speak French. In fact, he doesn’t listen to anybody. Bennett unfortunately walked across that line where we don’t pay the ferryman or fix a price when she lied for him and has zero credibility for the rest of her life.
Some Koch Suckers at the Bangor Daily Fumes decided my post was too I don’t know what because they never told me. I’ll say this. I have way more respect in my worst moments than I do for the Bangor Daily Losers.
You geniuses might want to research the current copy-write laws because the second I hit post you owe me big money. I’m not blowing smoke. One of your friends is currently trying not to pay me $1.3 million dollars for behavior just like yours. I live in Maine. Look it up… Duhh.
I flagged a few more of your comments for the “moderator”. I’d just let the moderator take care of them and stay out of the way. My God you’ve got thin skin!!! There’s no exception in law for people who have thin skin and own NewsPapers who actively interfere with equal time. You’re old enough to know what equal time means. Grow up.
Only the game warden could shoot your dog for running deer even then. You had to register your dog and your dog wore the tags on its collar…and you would be notified by the Warden’s Service and given the opportunity to collect the animal’s remains.
Is there something in the water? I’ve never been treated like this by anyone who wanted to keep their job.
If this person thought the dog in that picture was a coyote he needs to lose his license and his weapons, for life. There’s no way that dog could be mistaken for a coyote.
Too many trigger-happy hunters out there.
Have these idiots EVER SEEN a coyote??? They don’t look a whole lot like any dog you’d ever want… Blind gun carrying buffoons desperate to kill something so they can tell their buddies about it. LOSERS.
A. this dog looks NOTHING like a coyote B. they are nocturnal, they run at night and sleep during the day. I’ve lived here 39 yrs and a coyote is something you RARELY see. C. he shot another dog last year, what’s goin on here??
Coyotes roam and hunt at all hours of the day or at least the MDI ones do. Well, maybe they really are different because we can’t get them to eat venison like their cousins in the rest of the state.
“he shot another dog last year, what’s goin on here?? ”
Well, if he eats squirrels ….
No wonder hunters are getting less access to private land. Its boneheads like these that are giving hunters a bad name
Some people have a blood lust and need to kill something, anything. Be it a red squirrel, coyote, or someone’s family dog. Hunting for meat is one thing. Killing for the “fun” of it should be outlawed. I have never killed anything that I did not intend to eat.
That poor dog looks as much like a Coyote as I do…shame on the hunter. I am sad for the dog and so very sad for the loss/pain the family is now suffering and will continue to suffer, forever. The pain may fade over time but it does not go away…ever.
a person is not dead here let’s cut with the dramatics…give me a break!
Apparently you have never loved a pet. They are human to their masters.
its no less tragic. A life is a life. But hey, that was a ‘DUMBB’ thing to say…
“That poor dog looks as much like a Coyote as I do…”
THERE IS THE ISSUE !!
… and how hunters get away with murder, too.
I’m real tired of fools who think that they (hunters) are the big experts on everything natural
and so should be allowed to tell other peoples what to do with their own land,
when the facts show the Nimrods can’t even tell a Labrador dog from coyote.
BDN, could we please have some photos of Coyotes found in Maine so that we all know what we are commenting about? Does a Coyote found in Maine look anything like this dog? Brings back the memory of Karen Wood who was killed in her back yard by a hunter who mistook her for a deer 20 years ago in Bangor. What he saw was the white mittens she was wearing. Guess he didn’t bother to find out if there was a human or an animal attached to the flash of white he saw. These “accidents” happen year after year after year during hunting season. Every dogs/humans death in in my opinion is no accident, it is negligence.
Maybe I need to brush up on my animal identifications but is there ANY resemblance here between this type of dog and a coyote? I could understand somewhat if he saw a husky in the woods but this dog looks nothing like a husky or a coyote to me
Coyotes must be breeding (genetics) with dogs for this poor animal to be murdered by this “hunter!”
I believe this was deliberate on this man’s part. There couldn’t be a misidentification on his part unless he was just shooting into the brush which makes it even worse. Hunting accidents happen just like people go through red lights by mistake but this was no mistake. I’d like to know if he even has a hunting license. There is a good chance he’s a sicko.
My sympathies to the hunter. Being blind and mentally retarded shouldn’t keep anyone from getting a hunting license. The ACLU supports you 100%. That black dog is close enough to a coyote and not your fault that you took a shot at it. Now I know a great place for you to moose hunt up here in Bangor. These moose have bells on their necks and say “Moo” but they are every bit a moose as bullwinkle!!! Let’s get huntin!
First of all, it’s inhumane and horrible that it is legal to HUNT red squirrels and coyotes, especially whenever one feels like it. Hunting of all sorts needs to be regulated as the deer hunt is. Secondly,hunters of all ages should have to go through a thorough training session of what is legal and not legal, when and where. If a hunter proves that he cannot abide by these regulations, his or her hunting license should be revoked FOREVER. A crime such as this should be a felony and entail jail time so the person has plenty of time to think about his/her actions. This is horrendous and needs to stop!
just curious,has anyone ever seen a black coyote?
This is all about the policy that “The only good coyote is a DEAD one” that has infested the IFW dept and much of the Maine hunting community. Many hunters want to kill any and all coyotes they encounter, as well as anything that looks vaguely like a coyote. That dog in the picture does not in any way resemble a coyote other than it had 4 legs. It scares me to think of some folks in the woods with guns.
I have been a hunter for 50 yrs and this is the worst mentality that I have seen in many of the hunters. This will destroy the industry if it is not stopped.
and if the dogs goes off your property and bites someone. Regardless of your IQ other than the orange, it is still possible to mistake a dog for a coyote (I do not say that it happened in this instance).
50 years old and can’t tell the difference between a Lab and a coyote? Take his guns away and put him in jail.
Let’s not blame the hunter. That dog should have not been outside and perturbing the red squirrels. This hunter did the right thing and likely, by the looks of the dog, was merely trying to protect himself and the squirrels
Protecting the squirrels? He was out there trying to kill them! The hunter IS to blame for shooting before identifying what he was shooting at. OK Dumbb, I missed the irony; sorry.
Your name is quite appropriate, I see.
Why not ?
He shot the dog and he was “perturbing the red squirrels”, too .
There was a period during the late 70’s’s when coyotes first migrated through Maine that a few of them bred with domestic dogs. Their offspring were called hybrids and they were varied in color. Coyotes today are very consistent in both size and color and a mature 35-50 pound coyote actually looks like a small wolf. I also know from having been a fur buyer that hunters and trappers, generally speaking, are not a very well read group of people. I truly wish that hunters and trappers would learn to respect the coyote as one of Maine’s beautiful wilderness creatures. Unfortunately, many hunters have a disease I call “hornitis” and they have made the deer in a demi-god and the coyote into a villain. I also wish that people would realize that hunters only kill deer for the thrill and that coyotes kill deer only to survive.
Well said Bill. Your background as one who has done it all in the outdoors makes your opinion very special. Thanks.
Not all deer hunters are “thrill killers”. Many hunt to fill their freezers. I have no problem with hunting for food — every living thing is food for something else. I do have a problem with trophy hunters, though – that is a complete waste. If you want to hunt to show off your machismo, hunt naked, alone and weaponless like your prey, and not over bait.
Well said, Earthling3.
better not let my cat out, might be mistaken for an overgrown squirrel.
The hunter’s creed. Gotta shoot sumpin. Gotta shoot sumpin. Gotta shoot sumpin.
Coyote killing in Maine started back in the 80’s. The very first attempt to kill coyotes was done by the Maine Warden Service by the use of snares. Wardens did not know what they were doing and they snared/killed five deer instead. That was the end of the progam. Later there was an effort to snare coyotes by Maine trappers. I was sent photos of coyotes caught in snares by a trapping friend. They are the most gruesome photos that anyone can imagine Some of the coyotes lived/struggled 36 hours until their brain exploded. Even the IF&W biologists were against the program and it to ended. Even my hunting friends and aquaintances were opposed to the coyote killing programs for fear that their hunting dogs would be killed. I also know that many snares were lost or left in the woods and who knows what they caught. Any honest trapper will tell you that traps and snares are not selective. And all of this to kill a coyote. The entire effort to reduce the coyote population is Maine is one of the saddest outdoor stories that I know.
Not only sad but futile.
Just because you “can” kill a Coyote anytime you see one doesn’t mean that you should. I mean who eats Coyote Meat? Isn’t shooting a Coyote usually just a “thrill kill” anyway?
Mr. Vincenzo:
Yes, you are right about the “thrill kill”. But that’s an element in the killing of all wild animals from grouse to deer to moose. Over the years, I’ve known some hunters who ate nothing of what they killed. However, there was an IF&W wildlife biologist named Levigne who actually smoked some coyote meat and he said that it was very good tasting. I actually tried it at a coyote meeting in Bangor and I would not have know it was coyote had he not told me so. However, the vast majority of people have a problem with eating coyote just like they do with a dog or a cat or a human. I also know what hunters do with the bear meat and that has also been an issue with me.
That hunter shouldn’t be allowed in the woods. He doesn’t have a clue.
I think you actually managed to top some of the more ‘dumbb’comments.
why? What is that dog doing running in the woods that bothers you so much you feel you have the right to shoot it? Chasing things? so what. ITS A DOG. Thats what they do, so do cats, humans, birds chase insects, fish chase worms and insects, everything in life chases something. big deal.