Deer Season for Dogs | Chickens in the Road

Nov
27

Casper, wallowing in a shredded deer pelt surrounding his dog bed on the porch.

Deer season here means the dogs go hunting in the woods for deer pieces and parts left behind by hunters….and bring them back to the porch. Sometimes they bring large parts and fight over the bones. Eventually they shred the hide to pieces, flinging fur everywhere. Once they have a big pile to take a nap in, their lives are perfect! Can’t get better than that.

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11-27
1:35
am

Thank heavens all my cat has brought home is a live garter snake.

Nancy in Iowa

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11-27
1:37
am

Oh my goodness, look how big he has gotten.

NORMA JEAN

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11-27
6:39
am

I know the feeling. Mine are always bringing these “gifts” to me. Yuck!
Casper has turned into a beautiful dog.

Kelly

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11-27
8:11
am

Oh my goodness, my dog Bubba has a twin! Casper looks exactly like Bubba. He is a cutie. And Bubba would do the same thing if he didn’t get tons of beef bones from the slaughterhouse. Our yard looks like a big ole cow was killed here with all the bones laying around.

Kris Sherrill

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11-27
8:17
am

Suzanne, How many dogs do you have. I see Bubba and two others?
They are all precious no matter how big. We have one little Miniature Australian Shepherd. I enjoy your blogs so much. Please keep up the wonderful work.

Lisabeth Olson

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11-27
8:26
am

Lisabeth, we have four dogs–Casper, Dookie (the “farm” shih tsu), Coco (Great Pyr), and Boomer.

Suzanne McMinn

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11-27
8:31
am

Casper is turning into a beautiful dog! They are lucky to have so much of the world open to them. City dogs just have household trash cans to shred!

ellen mcbryde

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11-27
8:42
am

Our hunting neighbors will call when they have deer carcasses available and we cut them up for the dogs (we have 9). By the end of the season the hunters are so tired of deer, the carcasses are full of meat too. I cut it all up and freeze it for the dogs. But they still prefer the fermented flavor of things they find themselves. Ugh.

EightPondFarm

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11-27
9:12
am

Looks like our place! Except it’s usually beef parts, bones, hides, heads, etc. from the neighbors’ place next door!

texwisgirl

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11-27
9:21
am

Hey Suzanne!

So far my dogs haven’t gotten a deer this hunting season. It won’t be long I’m sure. Thursday a friend was here hunting and brought down a doe. My dog Two looked at that deer, looked at me, looked at that deer, I could tell she really, really, really, really wanted a piece of that! lol The look on her face was hilariously funny! She just wanted 1 leg. Why couldn’t he give her just 1 leg!?! I suppose it wouldn’t be right to check in a deer missing a leg! Last year they drug in the bonus head and for an extra bonus it was a spike!

Angela

Angela

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11-27
9:25
am

What a handsome boy he has become…. has he calmed down any? I am dogless right now and kinda miss the yucky stuff….

Kim Gibson

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11-27
10:02
am

Casper is huge…and cute. Who’s a good boy?

Melissa

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11-27
10:17
am

Wow! The pup has grown into a handsome boy! And yes, we are in exactly the same situation here in Iowa. There is a leg attached to a piece of hide that keeps showing up in the yard. It is treated as a great prize. (not particularly by me….)

IowaCowgirl

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11-27
10:30
am

Casper has grown into a big dog. He is beautiful. Yuck on the deer fur. My dogs dont get to roam the woods. We live near a busy road and they could end up there and hit. So they are trained to stay in the yard. I do have a kitty who likes to catch mice when they get in the house and leave them in unsuppecting places for me to find them. eww.

Diane

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11-27
10:58
am

Maybe the boys need road-crew-orange jackets to wear while they roam the woods (though they might get laughed at by the other dogs).

whaledancer

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11-27
11:31
am

I was thinking the same thing… with Casper’s coloring I’d definitly put a blaze orange bandana around his neck and maybe a bell too! All it takes is one drunken hunter to make a terrible mistake.

Lisa

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11-27
11:37
am

I know it’s just how nature works, but I’m a city girl and that is…well…kind of disturbing to me.

Lisa P in California

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11-27
11:43
am

Casper is so BEAUTIFUL! I want him!

lizzie

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11-27
12:01
pm

A word of caution about our pet dogs going into the woods to *get scraps the hunters have left behind*! My husband is a hunter and if he sees a dog in the woods at hunting time, he will shoot it! (All of the hunters I know will do the same thing!) Once a dog has a taste of raw venison, he will start *hunting* for himself. What our sweet pet does to those deer is horrific, and they won’t stop! For the safety of your dog and for the deer, dogs should be tied or penned during hunting season. If you have ever watched a couple of dogs chase down a full grown buck and hamstring it and then proceed to rip it’s flesh and tear it to pieces ~ not a pretty sight! The hunter with a swift bullet or arrow is a more merciful way to die! Most of us like to think our dog would never do such a thing! They can’t help it, they are dogs afterall! Hunters are required to take the head with them with hunting tag attached for proof. An ethical hunter would only leave a *gut pile* in the woods ~ no hide or body parts to encourage bad behavior with dogs!(This also draws bear, cougar, bobcat and raccoon. More reason not to let the dogs roam the woods!)
Again ~ just a word of caution!

Raeann

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11-27
12:01
pm

Stupid question of the moment… ahem…

We have to be really careful with bones around our dogs. We had a dog almost die choking on a chicken bone years ago so we’re always very nervous with bones around them. How can your dogs rip up a deer part (bones and all) and still be ok?

Am just fascinated by it!! Love the pic – I have a yellow lab too!!

Kate and crew

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11-27
12:09
pm

I alway worry about dogs going into the woods during hunting, we have friends that have lost thier dogs to hunters when venturing into the woods during hunting season –they seem to shoot at anything that moves. I am always happy when hunting season is over. It makes me very nervous when I look out of my kitchen window and see people carring guns that close to our home.

JOJO

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11-27
12:22
pm

Opened the site this morning and almost had a heart attack. I always glance at the farm photo first, and for some reason that didn’t look like deer to my morning eyes.
It looked like Dookie (the “farm” shih-tsu). So glad that wasn’t real!
Our dogs and cats both,use to bring us presents on a routine basis. Now we only have herbivorous.

jan~n~tn

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11-27
12:34
pm

Raeann, I don’t know where you live but hunters here would be arrested for shooting a dog like that! That’s horrible! My old lab brought home “scraps” several times that careless hunters left around and it never turned him into a “hunter”. He always looked ashamed to be bringing it home, probably because he knew I would freak out.
I just heard this morning however, that my neighbors dog (also a Lab) was attacked visciously by two hunting dogs and required surgery! He nearly died. I think the problem comes from hunting dogs that are treated like hunting tools and not allowed to be pets.
On a lighter note, Casper certainly looks like a happy camper!

Nancy

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11-27
12:46
pm

Lisa P in California,

Me too. But if you’re a vegetarian or a vegan, you just have to disassociate yourself from reality sometimes or you’ll go nuts.

Karen Anne

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11-27
1:20
pm

Our dogs love deer season, too.

Jean

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11-27
4:01
pm

EEWWWwwww, that’s so gross. =) I know my dog would go crazy if he had the chance too. Can’t believe how big and handsome Casper is!

leanna

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11-27
4:20
pm

Nancy ~ We were told by a game warden that these dogs should be shot! If you ever witnessed a doe or fawn being killed by these dogs, you would understand! Shooting the dog is much kinder than what they do to the deer! Just being chased by dogs can frighten them enough to kill them!
Also, I don’t know where you live, but dogs are not allowed as hunting tools for deer! (And I personally believe they should not be allowed to be used for bear or cougars!) I don’t want to see any pet shot, that is why I caution all dog owners to not let their dogs roam unsupervised!

Raeann

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11-27
8:48
pm

My dad used to shoot the dogs too up in Northern Mich. He started doing that after witnessing two Dobermans ripping up a deer. They will run it down until it is exhausted and can no longer run. You also have to be careful of deer ticks on those parts that the dogs bring home.

maryann

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11-27
10:52
pm

“treated like hunting tools”… is what I said, not used “as” hunting tools. I was referring to hunting dogs that are taken out to hunt only, not allowed to be socialized properly or know the joy of sleeping on the rug at their owners feet.

Nancy

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11-29
10:49
am

Looks like he had fun with it.

Ramona

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11-29
3:05
pm

Raeann:

You are correct. In West Virginia, if a hunter witnesses a dog chasing a deer, they are supposed to shoot the dog. Beagles are really bad about it. So many people here just toss the deer carcasses and skins out on the road like a cup from McDonald’s and dogs find them easily enough without actually hunting/chasing a deer. So just because a deer is gnawing on a hide or leg during hunting season doesn’t mean he’s a deer killer and should be shot, but it may give them a taste they decide they like.

Merino Mama

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