I have a pack of feral dogs that show up at one of my feeders every so often. I have a some picks of them.

What is the OB recommendation?

I have never considered shooting a dog, but if that is the wisest course and its legal I will.

as mentioned. SSS. feral dogs fall into the same category as cats and pigs for me

Get a fox to run them off....

truthful answer: SSS

If they are a true pack of wild dogs consider what they are eating. Calves, fawn, piglets & whatever else that walks or crawls on the ground. Wild dogs can be devastating to your pasture or lease. So in my scenario I would be managing the pasture & wildlife.

SSS?

Milwaukees Best Light said:

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dolch said:

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SSS?

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Sip, Smoke and Smooch. Some folks get down like that with feral animals. Not me, but I don't judge.

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username checks out

Tannerite?

If you're going the shoot route then gut shot. Let em perish away from your feeder and save one S.

If it's feral, just shoot and save the trouble from shoveling. It'll be picked clean in a few days

I would shoot them. Could care less that they are dogs.

Shhhh. Only have to explain as dog gone

Buddy of mine had a dad that was the crustiest curmudgeon in TX. He put out some ducks on his pond and kept losing the ducklings. He thought he had a yote problem. So he set up some game cams and no yotes but a pack of three dogs were coming in and grabbing his ducks. One of them was a neighbors dog. So he called the neighbor and said keep your dog on their property.

Well not too much longer after that the pack hit the pond so he gets his gun and shoots the neighbors dog and one other before the last one gets over the hill.

He loaded up the neighbor's dog in his truck, goes to the neighbors house and dumps the dog in the front yard. Then rings the doorbell and when the neighbor opens the door and he says "I am bringing your dog back to you for the last time".

Gets in his truck and went home. Dont think they talked ever again. Sheriff did come out but once they knew the story and were shown the game pics they left and dropped it.

Feral dogs in a pack sometimes have a routine or route and follow times fairly well.

Make sure you have the power to take all of them out if possible. Dogs are worse than cats when wild. I will kill a feral cat on sight, I will chase a feral dog down to kill it.

You heartless bass tards. Put out some Alpo, gather them up and take them to the nearest no-kill shelter! Somebody will adopt those poor fur babies!

Appreciate the advice. I finally got ahold of the lease operator and he gave me a course of action to follow.

Better be sure it's worth the squeeze and have hard proof they were attacking livestock or a threat to a human. I know I not taking a chance unless I have hard proof.

Texas State law - anyone who shoots a nonlivestock animal, including any stray or feral cat or dog or a wild living creature previously captured can be charged with a felony and also be charged animal cruelty penalty.

BurnetAggie99 said:

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Better be sure it's worth the squeeze and have hard proof they were attacking livestock or a threat to a human. I know I not taking a chance unless I have hard proof.

Texas State law - anyone who shoots a nonlivestock animal, including any stray or feral cat or dog or a wild living creature previously captured can be charged with a felony and also be charged animal cruelty penalty.

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This is rearranged and paraphrased so as to be very misleading. Here's the code:

(a) In this section:
(1) "Abandon" includes abandoning an animal in the person's custody without making reasonable arrangements for assumption of custody by another person.
(2) "Animal" means a domesticated living creature, including any stray or feral cat or dog, and a wild living creature previously captured. The term does not include an uncaptured wild living creature or a livestock animal.
(3) "Cruel manner" includes a manner that causes or permits unjustified or unwarranted pain or suffering.
(4) "Custody" includes responsibility for the health, safety, and welfare of an animal subject to the person's care and control, regardless of ownership of the animal.
(5) "Depredation" has the meaning assigned by Section 71.001, Parks and Wildlife Code .
(6) "Livestock animal" has the meaning assigned by Section 42.09 .
(7) "Necessary food, water, care, or shelter" includes food, water, care, or shelter provided to the extent required to maintain the animal in a state of good health.
(8) "Torture" includes any act that causes unjustifiable pain or suffering.
(b) A person commits an offense if the person intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly:
(1) tortures an animal or in a cruel manner kills or causes serious bodily injury to an animal;
(2) without the owner's effective consent, kills, administers poison to, or causes serious bodily injury to an animal;
(3) fails unreasonably to provide necessary food, water, care, or shelter for an animal in the person's custody;
(4) abandons unreasonably an animal in the person's custody;
(5) transports or confines an animal in a cruel manner;
(6) without the owner's effective consent, causes bodily injury to an animal;
(7) causes one animal to fight with another animal, if either animal is not a dog;
(8) uses a live animal as a lure in dog race training or in dog coursing on a racetrack; or
(9) seriously overworks an animal.
(c) An offense under Subsection (b)(3), (4), (5), (6), or (9) is a Class A misdemeanor, except that the offense is a state jail felony if the person has previously been convicted two times under this section, two times under Section 42.09 , or one time under this section and one time under Section 42.09 . An offense under Subsection (b)(1), (2), (7), or (8) is a state jail felony, except that the offense is a felony of the third degree if the person has previously been convicted two times under this section, two times under Section 42.09 , or one time under this section and one time under Section 42.09 .
(d) It is a defense to prosecution under this section that:
(1) the actor had a reasonable fear of bodily injury to the actor or to another person by a dangerous wild animal as defined by Section 822.101, Health and Safety Code ; or
(2) the actor was engaged in bona fide experimentation for scientific research.
(e) It is a defense to prosecution under Subsection (b)(2) or (6) that:
(1) the animal was discovered on the person's property in the act of or after injuring or killing the person's livestock animals or damaging the person's crops and that the person killed or injured the animal at the time of this discovery; or
(2) the person killed or injured the animal within the scope of the person's employment as a public servant or in furtherance of activities or operations associated with electricity transmission or distribution, electricity generation or operations associated with the generation of electricity, or natural gas delivery.
(f) It is an exception to the application of this section that the conduct engaged in by the actor is a generally accepted and otherwise lawful:
(1) form of conduct occurring solely for the purpose of or in support of:
(A) fishing, hunting, or trapping; or
(B) wildlife management, wildlife or depredation control, or shooting preserve practices as regulated by state and federal law; or
(2) animal husbandry or agriculture practice involving livestock animals.
(g) This section does not create a civil cause of action for damages or enforcement of the section.

So how are you supposed to get consent from a feral critter's owner? Does allowing a dog to leave your property constitute "effective consent"? Is a wild-born dog or cat still considered domesticated? The language in the first bolded part suggests it is

In the Texas law summary just going by what it states but it only parts of the law and not all the law.

Shooting "stray" Dogs and Cats (Penal Code 42.09 Animal Cruelty). Any person who shoots a non-livestock animal, which includes any stray or feral cat or dog, and a wild living creature previously captured, can be charged with a felony offense. Penal Code 42.092 of the State of Texas law states that a person must have the owner's consent to kill the animal (exceptions to prosecution are provided in Section 42.092(e)(1)). It is clear that a "stray" dog or cat either has no owner or that the person who shoots the animal did not get the owner's consent.