Family dog killed; hunters suspected

Aside from an awareness of the personal safety and well-being of others, all hunters should possess one more thing. Respect for others and their personal property. A local gentleman (who wishes to remain nameless) has had this problem. He says he has had no respect from some area hunters.

Even with “No Trespassing, Beware of Dog and No Hunting” signs posted all around his yard, he found his dog Jackson (a dark chocolate lab) dead from two gun shot wounds at around 5 p.m. Saturday, October 17, opening day of the 2015 hunting season.

The dog’s owner was at home working on his computer, and his two dogs were outside. He said that one dog usually remained in the yard, while Jackson tended to wander into the stubble field next to his master’s home.

Taking a break from the computer, the owner went to check on the dogs. He found Jackson dead at the side of the road with bullet wounds in one rear leg and in the head. He followed footprints that indicated the dog had first been wounded about 30 feet away and was attempting to get home when he eventually collapsed by the side of the road. The owner saw tire tracks in the field and is convinced that hunters or perhaps others first wounded the dog and then executed him with a shot to the head.

“I just want to get the word out there to others, so they will watch their pets more closely,” he said. “Jackson was in a harvested field next to my house. All that is in that field is stubble. He looked nothing like a deer.”

The owner also said that his other dog has been thoroughly traumatized by the loss of Jackson and misses his companion terribly. He has become nervous and unable to keep food down since the incident and does not want his master to be out of sight.

The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office has been notified of this incident. If anyone has any information about such an incident, they are asked to call the LCSO at 509-725-9265.