Be careful - and help if you can

[Tipi Walter]

Runwyld---Was there a Facebook post discussion on this topic recently, and then removed? Someone linked to it on my timeline and I linked our discussion here and then apparently deleted it. It contained a picture of you with your two dogs.

[Seatbelt]

What if these dogs are trespassing on private land as Seatbelt mentioned?? Surely these hunting dogs are not then protected?

Tipi, in the case I mentioned earlier, this is exactly what happened. It happened in the middle of the night(coonhunters) and the commotion woke him up. He went outside to try to get it stopped and when the hunting dog turned his way as if to attack him, he shot and killed it. It still went against him mainly because he had not been physically assaulted (yet), just his dog was fighting. He was actually facing possibility of jail time and took a plea bargain to settle it. Turns out the dog was a nationally ranked hunting champion dog--worth lots of $$. Makes little sense I know.
As a former coonhunter(many, many years) I always got rid of a dog that showed a tendency to fight anything besides the prey it was trained for.

[runwyld]

Runwyld---Was there a Facebook post discussion on this topic recently, and then removed? Someone linked to it on my timeline and I linked our discussion here and then apparently deleted it. It contained a picture of you with your two dogs.

Yes, the shareable post that my sister put together is here: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=1&theater

Please consider sharing and crossposting. I have yet to get the media to bite, but the more people who share and post the more likely this will happen.

[JumpMaster Blaster]

Once the dog attacked me, game on. Besides, I don't care. Get a lawyer, face a lawsuit, and may the best man or woman win.

[JumpMaster Blaster]

For everyone talking about "Dixie Law" and "backcountry justice", it works both ways...

[lemon b]

Some people I would think might hike with pit bulls. My sister and father both love and loved them. They pass too much gas for my liking. Believe me a pack of hunting dogs mixes it up with some Pits (even one) who think their family is threatened ( including pet members) and only thing left for the hunter to do is going to be to bury his dog or dogs.

Of course, lets not forget legally a dog is property. When an injured human being comes into play the rules change. We have legal rights a dog does not.

[Tipi Walter]

JumpMaster Blaster has it right. It's one thing to sit at a computer and armchair quarterback the situation, but when you're out in the woods and the dog feces hits the fan things change fast and you do what you have to do. There's no intent involved, just a common sense reaction to an aggressive dog. And it works both ways.

[lemon b]

Bottom line is it's us humans. Not the animals. Looking back I wish I had stayed out of the discussion, but when two innocent dogs and a hiker get harmed by dogs who are trained to do bad things by humans. Just kinda gets me going. Particularly when it appears that the humans didn't even admit fault. Heck maybe I need some time away from the computer too much information and not enough real life, real long outside time this year.

[Traveler]

What if these dogs are trespassing on private land as Seatbelt mentioned?? Surely these hunting dogs are not then protected?

Typically the hunting dog protections are for the dogs on unposted property. If the property is posted the dogs have some protection but generally lose the full level of exemption they have in unposted properties (much depends on the criminal and civil law of the state in that regard). Property that is fenced and holds livestock will quickly shed any protection of the dogs, valuable or not, if they opt to attach livestock, in those instances there is little defense or claim of minor trespass. Thats for the dogs, hunters are different. Hunters on posted property as subject to arrest, incarceration, and suit if there are damages. Since dogs can't read, they tend not to be held to the same standard as hunters who presumably can. That said, I am not sure if laws in the southern states mirror that of some northern states where there is a noted difference between the dog and its owner.

[rocketsocks]

Bottom line is it's us humans. Not the animals. Looking back I wish I had stayed out of the discussion, but when two innocent dogs and a hiker get harmed by dogs who are trained to do bad things by humans. Just kinda gets me going. Particularly when it appears that the humans didn't even admit fault. Heck maybe I need some time away from the computer too much information and not enough real life, real long outside time this year.

well that's what it is for me...the hunters should have been decent enough to make sure the OP had not only medical care, but gone the extra mile to see that she was compensated to her satisfaction.

hikers-???

hunters-two big ole black eyes on the hunting community...shame on them.

[Chair-man]

The news media did pick up this story. I saw this on another thread about dogs and thought it belonged here because I didn't see a link here. If this link is already posted here oh well it's posted again. The hunters weren't getting too much support in the comment section.

At this point I think the OP should seek legal counsel.

[Seatbelt]

The news media did pick up this story. I saw this on another thread about dogs and thought it belonged here because I didn't see a link here. If this link is already posted here oh well it's posted again. The hunters weren't getting too much support in the comment section.

At this point I think the OP should seek legal counsel.

The article says she was hiking in the GSMNP. In the park....where dogs are not allowed. Must be a misprint.

[runwyld]

I am unclear about semantics, but this did happen in the Smoky Mountains.

Either way, of course news media never can get everything right, however, this article did.

http://www.citizen-times.com/story/n...Key=&autologin=

Ignorance is bliss. I wish I didn't know anything about hunting, legislation, and hounding, but now I do.

http://www.citizen-times.com/story/n...-law/17723129/

If you are a NC citizen I encourage you to write to your Representatives to get this law removed or amended.This law protects hunting dogs from being cited for aggressive behavior while hunting.That means if they attack you, your property, or livestock, they cannot be cited.This has to stop.This is the same law that protects police dogs from being cited for aggression but the level of training is different.
I have no intention of arguing semantics about bear hunters or hounders.I just don’t feel this is right.We are not trying to stop hounding (I’ll reserve my opinions on it) but we do feel this law needs to change to protect other recreationists.

[Gambit McCrae]

And this is why I carry folks, its not because of the boogeyman its because of instances like this that people need to be prepared to be able to nip it in the bud. And as she said the incident lasted for quite a while, it takes me 5 seconds to pull my pistol from my pack, and about 1 second from my holster. The woods and trails and waterways are beautiful, but they are not innocent.

[runwyld]

By Smoky mountains, I do not mean the national park. It was legal for my dogs and the hunting dogs to be there.

[madgoat]

Unfortunately, this article on Ashville's NBC affiliate website gives an incorrect impression. It's title states "Great Smoky Mountains Dog Attack" which immediately makes one think it occurred in the national park. It then states "The woman from Ohio was backpacking in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park when....". But later it states it correctly by saying "Both hunters and hikers are allowed in the Snowbird Wilderness area, where Anderson was camping....".

I sincerely hope that the hunters are held accountable for the behavior of their dogs, and that the laws in NC are amended to make sure that there is no legal protection for hunting dogs that are not properly trained and cause injury like this.

[Seatbelt]

By Smoky mountains, I do not mean the national park. It was legal for my dogs and the hunting dogs to be there.

That is what I understood from the beginning. Thanks for the clarification. Hope you and your dogs are going to be ok.

[Ktaadn]

NC's hunting laws are least of their problems. That state has much bigger fish to fry.

[Traffic Jam]

In case anyone is interested, when the locals say "the Smokies", we are always referring to the National Park. The other wilderness areas and forests are called by their proper names.

[Ktaadn]

Can a hunter explain this style of "hunting" to me? Here is how I see it. Please tell me where I'm wrong:

You aren’t good enough at hunting to stalk an animal and shoot it with a high powered rifle/scope, so you need a pack of dogs to corner/tree the animal so you can shoot it from spitting distance. Meanwhile, the dogs are running around for days wreaking havoc on every living thing that they encounter. Does that sum it up?

Are these just a few careless hunters or is that really how it works? Weren't fox hunts banned on similar grounds?