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F&W Warden Was Unprofessional

F&W Warden Was Unprofessional

I recently had a visit from our local Fish and Wildlife Warden Gallant regarding my dog Ruffie, a 20-pound pug mix. Ruffie was chasing deer with two other larger dogs and was shot by Warden Gallant.

He told me at my door that he "dusted my dog" and showed me a picture of my dead dog. He handed me his collar and told me that I needed to go get his body out of the woods.

"Dusted my dog"? Is this the new public relations of the Vermont Fish and Wildlife from the State of Vermont?

As saddened as I am about the loss of my dog (a family member), I understand he has a responsibility to protect wildlife. It was his unprofessionalism about the situation that is bothersome. It is disheartening to think that the members of our "public service fields" have been allowed to become so unprofessional that they seem humored by getting to tell someone that they "dusted their dog."

Laura Paige

Braintree


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Moral of the story: Don't let your mutt run deer! And this was not my dog, I'm just sharing the story!

MtnHtr

yep. a dog chasing deer or livestock is shot on sight in my AO. a dog minding it's Ps and Qs is usually left alone.

maybe the warden could have shown a little more compassion, but maybe that wasn't the first warning and he was out of patience.

I "dust" about 30 a year on our ranch in NM for chasing cattle and elk, and I dont care if they have a collar on or not. Ive killed some dogs that we even owned for chasing elk. I even borrowed a clients rifle last year and killed a big black lab mix. We were glassing a herd of cow elk, no bulls were with them, and this dog comes out of the brush and runs the crap out the elk, and runs them out of flat. The dog then proceded to come towards the main road that we were fixing to drive down. That was his last mistake. He is now chasing the bull that we killed about 30 minutes later up in the happy hunting grounds. Flame on

Toby Joe

I dont condone free running dogs, especially dogs chasing wildlife of any kind, but sometimes things happen. About 25 years ago one of my bird dogs got loose by learning to climb the fence corner of his kennel. He was making a bee line to a neighbor's house a mile or so away who had a bitch in heat penned up. He happened to run near some guys that were hunting a strip of national forest that adjoins my place. I dont know if there was any game present, but one of those azzholes shot my dog. I seriously doubt my dog was chasing anything but dreams of romance. I know for sure those guy's truck wasnt chasing anything, but somehow it got shot too a few days later. Several times. Must have been someone else in the area that I wasnt aware of.

Mtn Hunter,
I sympathize with you. I don't agree with pets running loose especially when chasing game where I hunt. But, it is dead wrong for a public servant to seem to take pleasure in remitting the details to the owner. He should have been penitent toward you even though he was doing his duty.

Read it again, it was not my dog. The letter was sent to a local newspaper in Vermont.

People have become entirely too sensitive to the issue of shooting dogs, IMO a free running dog is but a funny looking yote.

Life happens. If a Lab gets out and it's looking for kids to play with, take him home if you can.

But if they're spotted running game? They're history.

A dog chaseing deer needs to be shot and IMHO the owner is responsible for his dogs actions so if a warden was a little less then kind in telling the dead dog owner, I dont care.

Kinda sounds like Gallant likes to kill.

Yep, and Scruffie really enjoyed playing "wolfie" when out for a romp with his buddies!

MtnHtr

being a Pug, he was probably lagging about a half-mile behind the "two larger dogs" chasing those deer and had stopped to gasp for breath. prolly too good of a target of opportunity for the Warden to pass up.....

I was pretty much going to say the same thing. My boss has had a few Pugs and now has a few more. Don't agree with dogs chasing any critters, but I seriously doubt a Pug was doing much and with their respiratory system I doubt ever more if it could even run more than 20-30 yards without being out of breath.


Anyways, pug or not it doesn't sound like it was handled in a professional manner and it's little things like this that turn one person who's boarder line over to the anti gun/hunting side.

LOL.... I guess it's possible, but I gotta call BS on the warden. I've never owned a Pug and have NO desire to, but the ones I've seen, as hyper as they were, ain't gonna be much for chasing deer. They aren't built to and generally have a boat load of respiratory problems as mentioned above.

I've got no problem with someone shooting a dog...there's plenty of valid reasons to...chasing game being one of them. However, that warden might end up spittin teeth if he comes to the wrong house with that story....mainly the way he relayed it.

Dogs chasing deer in VT is a long-standing and serious matter... the state has a good population of "coydogs" (coyote/dog cross) that live wild and kill deer.

Dog packs have uses for smaller dogs, and even if they don't do the killing they play their part.

As far as I'm concerned the dog needed to get "dusted"...

I think it's wrong to shoot anyone's pet in any case, regardless of it chasing game or herd. I would like to see photos of deer/elk/cows that were killed by someones domesticated dog, what was a pug going to do? I think people really need to control their dogs, but you don't need to kill peoples pets. I value our two lab/ springer mixes lives more than I do most peoples.... If only shooting people who trespass was legal?

In certain instances in Texas it is legal.

A dog no matter how far removed from its wolf roots is still a preditor animal. They like to chase things. A prey animal no matter how far removed from their roots runs when chased.

IMO if you want your dog keep it home.

Since none of us know what and how the incident actually happened it is hard to say but just on the surface it does appear that the warden could have been a bit more contrite about taking out a preditor chasing his charges.

BCR

Regardless of what you think,in some locations,it is perfectly legal for a warden to shoot any dog seen chasing game animals.In fact,in some locations,it is perfectly legal for anyone to shoot any dog seen chasing game animals.The warden could certainly have handled the situation better,after he killed the dog,but what he did was likely legal in that location.

Right after you "dust my dog" I would strongly suggest you get your "affairs in order"

Your dog philosophy is exactly the problem with many of todays dog owners. Many owners are either to dumb or fail to believe that their Fido would bark, bite, or chase and kill domestic and wild animals. When I was growing up there was a zero tolerance policy when it came to dogs causing problems. The offending dog was shot and the owner had no choice but to accept it. That sure has has changed from what I see and read in the newspaper now.

Kudos to the warrden who "dusted" a problem.