Man was awarded $145,000 after his dog was shot

http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/arc...ing-of-coon-dog

I started reading that article thinking "Man, that award is WAY too big for killing a dog; Arkansas must have some real issues with its courts" but I felt like the judgment was pretty reasonable when I finished.

2X

Bird dogs get across the fence often but a lot less often with the e-collar. What do you guys do in your dog points a covey 15 feet across the fence? It happened with Cracker once this year.

Unfortunately, the newspaper article does not go into the facts. In most states the trespassers' must show due diligence in attempting to contact the property owner, the sign does not have to contain the owner's phone number, address, or name. On the other hand as the property owner he should not have made contact with the trespassers' without a law enforcement official.

As an over-the-top dog lover; I would have requested a pound of flesh. My choice on location.

Since coons can empty a deer feeder of corn I can't imagine why the land owner would be mad in the first place but to shoot a leashed dog, that's heartless.

Bill,

That has happened to me quite often as well (birds always seem to know where they are safe), I release my dog from the point to flush, then call him back across the fence.

Well, I'm not going to shock a dog on point, so I guess I would have to go grab the dog if I couldn't throw something to get the birds to flush. If I got caught & landowner wanted to be an azz, I would face the consequences.

Agree completely, always easier to ask forgiveness than permission. I'm guessing the land owner would want you to get your dog and get him off his land. Walking through the birds on your way to pick him up just seems logical, carry no gun just get the dog. I've had this happen on a lease I had on the Matador ranch. When I got back to the ranch to turn in a bird report I asked who owned the land east of my lease, it turned out to be the lady who was the bookkeeper/secretary for the ranch. I got her on the phone to tell her it was the 2nd time this had happened and wanted her to know that I had to cross the fence to get my pup on point. She had no problem and most wouldn't.

How does one release a dog from point to flush? I am just asking, not doubting. When my dogs are on birds and pointed, a rocket blast could not get them to break point. They would never intentionally run up a covey even if I asked them to.

It happened twice this year. Once with Cracker, and another time with my friends two dogs. We found Cracker with the Garmin. The birds flushed when we stopped. The friends dogs got into scattered singles. We were on his ranch. He left his gun and crawled under the fence. It took him awhile to get them back.

I was hunting on my lease in Karnes county years ago with my old pointer that was hard hearing. She got away from us and went to another group of hunters across the fence. They were happy to have her. She had pointed three coveys for them. Still they had her in their dog box when we got there. We all got a big laugh out of it.

Be careful with righteous demands for a pound of flesh. I'm not sure about the laws in Arkansas, but Texas doesn't necessarily protect a landowner's right to be unreasonable... Which is exactly what shooting a leashed dog that a trespasser, probably in good-faith, recovered would be.

Trespass laws in Arkansas do not provide a land owner, lessee or lessor the right to kill a dog under the circumstances which this case is based on. The hunter acted lawfully by retrieving the dog unarmed. Had the dog owner been carrying a gun I doubt there would have been any shots fired. The nerve to commit such an act would have been lacking had the shooter known the dog's owner was armed. After this event I know coon hunters who will no longer be without personal protection regardless the law and I can't say that I blame them. Among those who know the shooter there is doubt the dog owner will ever see any of the $145k award.
Trespass laws in Arkansas have changed profoundly since the onset of the leasing of hunting rights began in the 1970's. Had a land owner ran a veteran off their land merely for hunting when I was a boy (1950 model) growing up in Arkansas, the land owner would have been ostracized. Much different now and I have to wonder if things had been like they are now back in 1941, would so many who knew the right to roam freely the woods and fields of Arkansas as the did in those days gone by have answered the call to sacrifice so selflessly.

Agreed. The jury apparently felt that the landowner over-stepped his LO rights. His heartlessness resulted in $100k in punitive damages.

Just like some "stand your ground" shootings you hear about. You can be technically right is a legal sense, but a prudent person could retreat.....and should.