Posted on 01/16/2023 7:20:34 AM PST by BenLurkin
Chris Heller was walking his two dogs in the woods near his house on Jan. 7 when his 8-year-old malamute mix Hunter was shot by a deer hunter, his wife Jennifer Heller said in an online post.
Chris Heller rushed to get the pup to an emergency vet but he didn’t make the trip. Hunter died on the way, she said.
“Hunter was an incredibly sweet and intelligent dog — gentle with the Hellers’ young grandchildren, immediate best buddies with the other animals in the home, and a loving companion who would do anything for a good piece of cheese,” Jennifer Heller wrote.
The Pennsylvania Game Commission, however, said the hunter won’t face any charges or disciplinary measures because he made a mistake, thinking the beloved family pet was a coyote, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
I have seen cows with big orange letters painted on both sides that spelled the word “COW”
Maybe she needs a buckskin jacket.
“said the hunter won’t face any charges or disciplinary measures”
Well, none from the worthless government.
Correction, it looks way bigger than I would expect for a coyote.
Or the dog was off the leash and a ways form its owner.
I live and hunt in wolf and coyote country.
For size alone I would say it looks a like more like a wolf the coyote
“I could see mistaking it for a wolf, but that is way to big for a coyote.”
Eastern Coyotes are a mix of coyote, wolf, and dog. They are much larger than the western coyotes.
More details here: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11637717/Pennsylvania-dog-killed-hunters-thought-coyote-charges-against-hunter-ruled-out.html
From the article:
“The shooting happened on January 7 when Chris Heller was taking Hunter and the family’s other dog, Freya, out at a ‘very commonly used walking path’ by their home.
Jennifer said in a Facebook post Chris found no cars at the entrance to the trail but the man kept the dogs close by anyway.
At some point, Chris found a group of hunters and conversed with them about how he thought hunting season was over. The group told them it had been extended.
Chris let the hunters know he and his dogs, who were off-leash, would be walking through the woods and told them he would be out of the way in several minutes.
The hunters communicated to the others in the party that there would be a man and two large dogs in the area, according to Jennifer’s post.
Before they could walk away, one of the hunters shot the dog while he was just feet away.
The malamute mix was shot ‘in the gut’ by a hunter with a scope on his rifle.”
Yeah, but any complaint will be settled according to the law. I was once set upon by 7 dogs in a nearby National Recreation Area. They were after my dog. When I saw them and their owner exit a treeline, I said “I don’t want those dogs over here.” He shrugged, and said “Whaddaya gonna do?” as the dogs ran at me and my dog, that I’d leashed when I saw him/them. He was about 80 yards away when his dogs got to me. I had unslung the rifle on my back and raised it for him to see. That lit a fire under his ass. Push come to shove, any vet bills from that encounter would have been on him. I think he called the cops. That would have meant seven fines for dogs running at large, and anything else I could think of. Nothing came of it, except he probably wised up.
They were probably originally bred to protect livestock from wolves in the Pyrenees Mountains.
Bingo
I am 64 years old and have been hunting since I was 12. One of the very first lessons I was taught was to be 100 percent certain of what you were shooting at. If you are not able to distinguish between a coyote and a dog (tricky sometimes i grant you) then I think you should not be taking shots at what you think is a coyote.
And Yes the dog owner should have had a vest on his dogs.
She needs to have the land fenced and post the appropriate signs. Then she can call DNR or the sheriff and have them arrested for trespassing.
Deer hunting? This is January, unless it happened in the season, something is very wrong.
They are VERY good at their job.
LOL...that will work.
We have COYDOGs (Coyote dog mix) in our area and I have seen some that look more like a dog than the one in the picture. COYDOGs are a big problem because many are larger than coyotes and have less of a fear about humans. The only good thing is that they are sterile (like mules).
They do that here in North Idaho, too. Sometimes the dogs are gone a couple of hours, sometimes a day or two.
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