"Nothing but the facts ma'm"

Paul Downes

Member
Messages
959
Location
Westphalia, Michigan
I got up this morning to the sorry "news" that my dog had killed a neighbors calf. Of course the wife was mad. My son was ready to go get a gun and take care of the accused.

I calmed them down and proceeded to try to get to the bottom of it all. Of course nobody saw her (Molly our lab/collie, German shepherd mix, who by the way sleeps with the calves and plays with them all the time) do anything. I looked at the crime scene but could not view the body because it was already buried. The farmer was concerned but not at all sure what had happened. I mentioned that our dog had been barking at something before dawn for more than 1/2 hour the last three mornings and that I had seen a coyote lees than a mile away the previous week.

After checking with the neighbors on the other side I found out that something had mauled and killed their cat a few weeks previous and had gotten their cows all worked up and running around BEFORE dawn.

I was beginning to think about going on a coyote hunting/trapping mission.

At last I checked with the farm foreman who had buried the calf and found out that 1) the calf was not "all torn up" but had one ear chewed on and it's tongue removed.. and no signs of struggle around it's hut. 2) it had been sick and the hired hands were supposed to be treating it, but had told him it was fine. 3) He doubted very much that our dog had anything to do with it., but that he has been suspicious of these hired hands and believes they have been lazy and lying about doing their work.

So in all I managed to waste the morning and get worked up over nothing.
I still might dust off the coyote traps and tune up the varmit rifle. I guess I'll go give the dog a bisket.
 
Paul, if your dog was home this morning and actually killed a calf or a goat or another dog, it would most likely be covered in blood at least around its head if it was early morning and didn't have time to clean itself up. Sounds suspicious. Get a predator call, I have had excellent results and sit in my deerstand. They don't even know you are there! Good luck.
 
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