Hunter shoots and kills family dog

WHDH ^ | 12/6/2007 | whdh

[jstassis]

LOWELL, Mass. -- A local dog owner is devastated after her dog was shot and killed.

Michelle Verville was walking her dog, Smokey, in the Lowell-Dracut State Forest last week when she heard a gun shot. Smokey, a 4-year-old Labrador retriever, yelped and Verville noticed that her dog had been shot in the stomach.

"I just stayed there with him and told him that it was ok, and that we loved him and that he was a good dog, and then he passed," Verville said.

it is legal to hunt for deer in State parks from Nov. 26 to Dec. 8.

According to Verville, shortly after Smokey was shot a hunter came out of the woods, where it is legal to hunt for deer in State Parks from Nov. 26 to Dec. 8. The man claimed that he did not shoot the dog and left without trying to help the fatally injured canine.

State Environmental Police are investigating the incident.

[1rudeboy]

When I lived on a corn farm in Michigan, I often wondered (only half-seriously) why I wasn’t allowed to fire back at poachers.

[ml/nj]

Oh. So it's okay because he hit the dog and not the dog walker? Not by me it isn't. At least some places have a crime called reckless endangerment. I would see this guy spend at least six months in prison.

ML/NJ

[Red Badger]

...someone shot my red pickup by mistake.

They were hunting Blue pickups?.......

[Martins kid]

Never walk in a park, woods, or field during hunting season.

[tioga]

Yep, much shorter hunting season on the red ones.

[a real Sheila]

Heartbreaking!
I love all dogs, especially labs.

We had an incident here a few years ago in which hunters were regularly trespassing and hunting on another family’s land despite the posted signs on almost every tree on the property border. To add insult to injury, one trespassing hunter shot and killed the family dog, a beautiful blonde lab, whenever it came to investigate the hunter at the edge of the woods and started barking.

[LilAngel]

Isn’t that Buckhead?

[trisham]

I avoid the woods *and* wear blaze orange. We usually have quite a few hunters in this area, although I haven't heard many gunshots this season. We have five acres, which is heavily wooded and when running our dogs near the back of the property, I put them in this:

There are acres and acres of open land behind us, which is posted, but the signs are ignored. I am pro-hunting, but careful.

[HD1200]

CAN WE REMEBER a guy in the woods breaking the law with a firearm is no more a hunter than a guy with a fast car on the FREEWAY is a race car driver..........!!!

[AppyPappy]

Orange won’t help. If he was shooting at the dog, he knew it wasn’t a deer.

[Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus]

Why would Duncan Hunter do such a thing?

Oh, not that Hunter....

/ONLY KIDDING

[Red Badger]

A common mistake, I’m sure.......

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Visla ?

[Darksheare]

There’s a bounty on yellow ones here.

[Hardastarboard]

Once in Montana someone shot my red pickup by mistake.

Nobody in Montana is that careless with a gun. Are you sure you weren't parked in another man's drive way? ;-)

[Past Your Eyes]

I had a chance to shoot a deer but I didn’t dare to because it wasn’t barking.

[a real Sheila]

and you just never know when you might walk in the line of sight of some hunter who, say, has always wondered what it would “feel like” to shoot a human.

[driftdiver]

“That stinks. Nov. 26 to Dec. 8 - avoid woods or wear orange? I’ve never hunted - wanna try it. Is there a certain distance that someone can mistake a dog for a deer?”

Its possible from just about any distance if you don’t properly identify your target. Most likely the hunter saw brown through the branches and shot. He and the woman are lucky he didnt hit her.

IMO, its not a smart decision to go into a hunting area during hunting season without wearing orange. The less experienced hunters seem to gravitate to state an federal lands during hunting season.

[Red Badger]

State Road Department trucks?............

[Tatze]

That's it! Duncan has lost my vote!!