Hunting dog incedent in Maine

[attroll]

I wanted to bring this to the attention of everyone here on WhiteBlaze. We had an incident over the weekend here in Maine with a hunting dog and a hiker.

The hunting dog strayed away from its party and somehow made his way to a lean-to. There was a female hiker that removed the dogs tracking collar and threw it under the lean-to. When the dog did not return they tracked it down to the lean-to and then put out a massive search party to track down the dog.

I am not condoning hunting with dogs here and am not sticking up for either party involved. You have to keep in mind that the owner of the dog was very attached to his dogs as would a person be attached to a child. They care very much about their pets. When one does not return home just as if a child would not then they start to worry also. If you found a lost child in the woods with an ID would you remove it and throw it under the lean-to? I hope you question would be NO.

Anyways, what I am trying to point out is, to please be courteous when you are hiking on the Trail through Maine and any other state. We are all representing the hiking community. I do not agree with using dogs to hunt myself, but I also do not think this was called for as I stated.

I am not going to let this thread turn into a bashing thread about dogs and hunting. This is just a statement about an incedent that happened and I am asking everyone to please be courteous whether you agree with hunting with dogs or not.

[Lone Wolf]

She was probably one of those PETA whack jobs.

[MOWGLI]

I had a hunting dog with tracking collar follow me from Pierce Pond almost all the way to the Kennebec River in 2000. It's unfortunate to hear that some hiker's would take this dog's collar off and throw it under a shelter. That's just plain dumb - on several levels. I hope the dog is OK.

[Brrrb Oregon]

She was probably one of those PETA whack jobs.

Or something like it. That is very dangerous for the dog.

[Heater]

Someone might have stolen the dog.

[Ender]

To be fair, the assumption here, at least from what I've read in this thread, is that someone took the collar off the dog, and the dog didn't just manage to squirm it's way out of the collar itself. I've seen dogs, the ones I grew up with, get out of collars that I didn't they could have by themselves. Unless someone actually witnessed the event (did someone?), I think it's unfair to create any possible stories as to how it happened.

If someone actually witnessed the event however, that's a different story altogether.

But yes, there's no call to be removing a dog's collar, regardless of personal views on hunting with dogs. I assume it's legal?

[max patch]

Dumbazz hiker.

I hereby sentence her to finish up her hike as Minnesota Smith's servant.

[TJ aka Teej]

A lost hunting dog will either die or run deer. What was she thinking?

*assuming that she really did it, that is.

[generoll]

never assign to malice what can be adequately explained by ignorance.

those collars have an antenna which can be a nuisance if the dog is try to snuggle up to you. some years ago my cousins daughter went car camping at Whiggs Meadow. a hunting dog came into their camp and she felt sorry for it because it was cold and when they decided to sleep in the car she let the dog in the car with them. the antenna on the collar was poking them when the dog moved so they took the collar off. the next morning assuming that the dog was lost they decided to take the dog out to the road whereupon they met the dogs armed and very irate owner. it took a sheriffs deputy to finally defuse the situation.

best to leave dogs alone if they aren't yours, especially if they have signs of obvious ownership. hunting dogs are frequently kept hungry for a few days prior to a hunt and can be great beggars and oh so appealing to someone sympathetic to their plight.

[QHShowoman]

What would be the point of removing a dog's collar, other than to cause the dog to never be located again and most likely die of exposure?

I don't condone hunting for sport, but it's disheartening to think that someone had the opportunity to potentially return a lost dog to its owners and instead took an action that may result in its needless death.

I hope we only know one side of the story here.

[Outlaw]

Attroll, how did you learn of this? Was this reported in a local newspaper, by word of mouth, on some website?

I'm concerned with the idea that perhaps the hiking community is being "set up" in some way to give it a bad name or to portray hikers as non-law abiding citizens (which, no doubt some us may be). Some questions that come to mind are: Was the collar found unbuckled or could the dog have slipped it off with its paws? Was the female hiker ever found? Did she "confess" to removing the collar? If so, did she state a reason? Did she state where the dog went after she removed the collar?

Years ago I did some upland bird hunting with dogs and they ALWAYS returned to my whistle. I never used, nor felt the need to use a tracking collar. Dogs (hunting dogs especially), through an excellent sense of smell usually find their way back to their owner... unless of course someone placed a leash on it and walked off with it. Again, if I whistled, my dog always came running to me no matter what, even if he was on point.

[weary]

To be fair, the assumption here, at least from what I've read in this thread, is that someone took the collar off the dog, and the dog didn't just manage to squirm it's way out of the collar itself. I've seen dogs, the ones I grew up with, get out of collars that I didn't they could have by themselves. Unless someone actually witnessed the event (did someone?), I think it's unfair to create any possible stories as to how it happened.

If someone actually witnessed the event however, that's a different story altogether.

But yes, there's no call to be removing a dog's collar, regardless of personal views on hunting with dogs. I assume it's legal?

It's unlikely the dog removed it's own collar and threw it under a leanto. If the dog was in strange country, it most likely will starve to death or be killed by a coyote.

Whoever removed the collar should be arrested and proscecuted, if a law can be found that covers the incident.

Weary

[boarstone]

Regardless of your views of hunting( of any kind ) removing that dogs collar was a sentece of death...the dog doesn't know it's not suppose to be where it's at, you are...with an antenna on it's neck was a sure give away... the removal was was done on purpose by someone who thought it "cute" or thought it would give the owner a "run for his money" . Let me clue you in...these dogs are not family pets so to speak, they can cost upwards of thousands of dollars and are taken care of as well if not before a family member would be...vet,food, housing, etc. Now this animal has no recourse but to revert to it's natural instincts...I'm hungry, it's running/moving, it's mine! It doesn't know that no gun will fire to take it down, only to feed itself, and this will not take very long to kick in!

[Ramble~On]

Some people confuse the radio collars for "shock collars" and think that they are a way for the owner to shock the dog....they feel that by removing the collar they are saving the dog pain and agony....which is the opposite of what they are actually doing.

It is sad that there are people who know what the collars are and remove them in support of their opinion about hunting or the use of hunting dogs. This was a very poor move on the part of whoever removed this collar. It did the dog no good, brought the AT hiking community into the spotlight in a negative way and more than likely has made for a hunter who now views hikers with malice.

[boarstone]

Some people confuse the radio collars for "shock collars" and think that they are a way for the owner to shock the dog....they feel that by removing the collar they are saving the dog pain and agony....which is the opposite of what they are actually doing.

It is sad that there are people who know what the collars are and remove them in support of their opinion about hunting or the use of hunting dogs. This was a very poor move on the part of whoever removed this collar. It did the dog no good, brought the AT hiking community into the spotlight in a negative way and more than likely has made for a hunter who now views hikers with malice.

Let's hope during this hunting season (currently bear w/ dogs/over bait) here in Maine that hunters who come across hikers don't retailiate...a story like this doesn't take long to circumvent the hunter community...and they have been known to do so...with a vengence....hiker/non-hiker alike...does anyone know? where this took place? Attroll? where on the At?,,,,

[Ramble~On]

On the other hand....

I wasn't there and for all I know this person could have returned to the shelter from getting water or whatever to find a muddy, wet or otherwise dog digging through her gear, carrying off stuff sacks....or a food bag...
While the food bag strings in most shelters will keep mice out of them a hungry dog probably wouldn't have much trouble getting a bag down.

Imagine returning to a shelter from filtering water and seeing a stray, ownerless dog tearing into your gear.

That collar could have been removed because the hiker suffered a monetary loss or had their gear trashed in some way....
By removing the collar perhaps the hiker felt they were "getting even"

I'm not saying this would be right either....I wasn't there and don't know the motive behind removing the collar.

I think that North Carolina has a law making it a criminal act to remove a collar from a hunting dog. Either way and regardless of the circumstances whoever removed the collar probably knew it was wrong when they did it.

[Ramble~On]

Don't forget that hunters are hikers too...
The outdoors and the trails aren't limited to backapcking.

[Tramper Al]

I've encountered radio-collared bear-hunting dogs on hiking trails before. One time, the dog was "lost" from it's hunter, and the word we got was that he "didn't care" and had gone home and left the dog behind for good. That's just one story, and I would think that most dog-running hunters do care about their dogs.

I wonder, though, why would anyone hunt bears, with or without dogs, on a hiking trail?

Why wouldn't a dog return to the hunter whether he had a collar on or not? Is there not some mechanism for "calling in the dogs", or do they get "lost" like this quite routinely?

Wouldn't bear hunting be more challenging if the hunter tracked the bear himself, rather than having to rely on a pack of dogs to do it for him? If he had these skills, wouldn't he be able to track the lost dog too? Maybe the bears should have radio collars too.

I know I see bears in the woods once in a while, and I see a whole lot of fresh tracks and other signs that I do not typically try to follow very far. The, I'm just a hiker.

These things I'm just curious about.

I certainly feel sorry for this unfortunate dog, but I would have before his collar was removed too.

[Outlaw]

We are all expressing opinions without any cold hard facts that undeniably supports the premise that the collar was removed. Is it possible a human removed the collar and threw it under a lean-to? Absolutely. But is it not plausible that the dog slipped out of its collar after is crawled under the lean-to? I certainly think that is a possibility.

The point is that we have very little information to go on. Attroll's original message did not contain the facts necessary to make an informed conclusion on what actually took place. However, I strongly agree with his underlying message: be courteous to others in the woods, whether they are hikers, hunters, two legged or four legged, or whatever sets them apart from you or me. Or, in other words, do unto others and you would like those to do unto you.

[Outlaw]

... or your dog!