Mistaking a dog for a coyote at 10 yards is also total B.S.

Probably the same type of guy who shoots a cow during deer season.



 

Night hunting for coyotes is LEGAL in WI
Predator hunting (for certain predators) is mostly done at night because that is when predators ply their trade.....

I take it you do not hunt predators at night...coyotes are members of the canine family and look like dogs...

Yup. Same goes for raccoons, which are hunted at night also.

The better question is, why is it legal to hunt at night but illegal to use a light to search for your targets? Lights can only be used "at the point of kill", and until a very few years ago, even that did not apply to hunting coyotes.

Did you also know it's now legal for the Chippewa tribes to hunt deer at night in the ceded territories? Who makes reflective vests that are big enough for cows? Painting "cow" on the side with blaze orange paint (effective for protection against FIBS & flatlanders) won't work in the dark.

So if I allow my dog to run free and it gets hit by a car, will the driver be charged with negligent driving and mistreatment of an animal?

Depends, was the dipshit swerving around trying to hit coyotes and couldn't tell the difference?

Because I totally hit things accidentally all day just like I accidentally shoot things all day.

It just seems to me that the charges (negligent handling of a firearm & mistreatment of animals) are a bit excessive for something that was accidental and not intentional. That's a class A misdemeanor and two class I felonies. They're more inline for someone who shot a neighbor's dog for pooping in his yard. There's no proof, nor is it even suggested by anyone, that he knew they were dogs... nor even suspected dogs might be running free in the area after dark.  

Letting your dogs run 100 yards away from you on public property, especially at night, in a public hunting area, is also "negligence" by the dog's owner and "mistreating of (her) animals" in my opinion.

If a dog owner allows their dogs to run free near a (barely used at night) rural highway, and one gets hit by a car by someone who just happens to be using that road, who is at fault? The driver, for using a road the owner thought would be deserted, or the dog owner?  Or nobody?

She had no clue someone would be hunting an animal very similar to her dogs, or I'm sure she wouldn't have let her dogs loose there.

But OTOH, he also had no clue someone would allow their dogs to run free, 100 yards away (from the owner), after dark in an area where it was legal to hunt. It was a tragic accident, that's all it was. 100 yards is a LONG way away, even for most hunting dogs. If my Lab goes 100 yards down the trail while we're bird hunting, she's in for some disciplining.

Why do people always need to "blame" someone?  Sometimes shit happens that's nobody's fault. Learn a lesson and move on.    

 
I'm aware that it is legal. I just think it's stupid to shoot at movement in the dark, in a public area.

Thanks Captain obvious. If you can't tell the difference,  you shouldn't be hunting.

 

True.... but OTOH...

If you let your dogs run 100 yards away, at night, on a DNR hunting ground, without proper precautions - such as a light and/or noise maker like a bell on their collars- then you shouldn't be allowed to own dogs.

I understand, but I do place blame on the hunter here as he was armed and held to a hell of a lot higher standard in my eyes than some random idiot running her dog around. Dude is responsible for every bullet leaving the gun. If it had been a kid dressed like a dog running around barking it'd be the same stupid shoot/no-shoot situation. If it had been 30 people letting their dogs loose, same situation. The charges may not be appropriate and he might be Captain America normally, but for that moment in time he was indeed being a major dumbass not getting a 100% ID on something he intended to kill.

From the linked article:

"Rausch told deputies he saw the eyes of what he believed to be a coyote and a face and pointy ears, and pulled the trigger, shooting the first dog, not realizing it was a dog."

That strongly suggests to me that he had some kind of light, being used legally at "point of kill". Speaking from personal experience as a night time coyote hunter AND someone who has owned a dog (or multiple dogs at the same time) for his entire 65 years, the retinal reflection of a light from coyotes' & dogs' eyes are EXACTLY alike. As are those of wolves' eyes. Not only the color, but the size & spacing also.

I put myself in his place, and if all of these following facts are true (and from what I've read they are):

It's night time in the dead of winter.

I'm on a public hunting area.

I'm actively calling coyotes.

I'm totally unaware of the presence of any human... no sights, no sounds, no vehicles parked in the area, nor did I hear any arrive after I did. (THIS is very important, if I DID suspect anyone is in the area, my hunt is over because it's dark and I cannot see them!)

The dogs had no lights nor sound makers identifying them as pets.

My light picks up 'canine' eye reflections approaching.  I'm in heavy cover obstructing visibility, they are facing me head on thus I see no light reflecting from their vests.

If I'm him, I probably shoot too. If any one of the above is not present or different, then I probably don't shoot. And if I did accidentally shoot a dog, I'd lose many many nights of sleep over it.


If I put myself in her place... first, I don't let my dogs run loose in the dark in a public hunting area, and even in daylight I'd NEVER let them get 100 yds away from me. I care for my dogs' safety way more than she apparently did hers. Honestly, I'd worry more about them getting attacked by a wolf or coyote than shot by a hunter... or them getting lost, especially in the dark. If I did let my dogs off leash at all in the dark, anywhere - even on my own un-fenced property - they'd be wearing a lighted collar or have an LED safety light attached, and they'd be wearing a bell or other noise maker of some kind (mostly so I can keep track of where they are at all times, and not let them get that far away. But I'm overprotective, I guess ).

Easy fix, require night vision for hunts after dark. Throw some taxes at discounts, put them to actual use for once

Poor decision on her part as well.  But I still place the blame on the hunter.

He could have just as well shot someone's lab who was walking back from duck hunting.

Or, maybe he shoots a fox out of season thinking it's a coyote.



You talk about waterfowl hunting on here, so I know you know to identify the type of fowl before you shoot.  You don't just shoot everything that flies.  Same thing goes in this situation, you don't just shoot every four legged dog sized critter when coyote hunting.  Period.  



 

The news link in the op has a video that shows the vests.



 

Yes I certainly do try to identify waterfowl before I shoot. And I've been doing it for 40+ years.... but I have had occasions where I was 100% certain I was shooting at a mallard drake that turned out to be a hen. Shit happens. There's been just as many times that I didn't shoot because I thought a drake was a hen, and it wasn't. (btw... it's legal to shoot both, just a different bag limit - you can only shoot one hen per day, but you can shoot 4 drakes. Hens are important for future breeding, so we always try to let them fly away).

When duck hunting, there's a variety of duck species flying around, as there are a variety of other birds in the air (crows, gulls, loons, hawks, eagles, cranes, even swans)... pretty much 100% of the time. When your hunting coyotes in the woods at night in the middle of winter, 99% of the time there's only 2 species of canines running around... coyotes or fox, and both legal at that time of year. Maybe he was 100% certain in his mind he was shooting at a yote.

If my Lab is walking back from duck hunting in the dark, she will not be 100 yards ahead of me. She'll either be on a leash or wearing a safety light (me too) and walking at heel. Anything else is neglectful of her safety on my part. And fwiw, fox season was open too. It typically runs from mid-Oct to mid Feb. Fox are much smaller than coyotes, or this lady's dogs.

Unless you've been there and done that, you wouldn't know that it's not all that easy to positively identify a yote in the dark. In my area, there's a good chance it could be a wolf.] You take a chance every time you shoot, it's the nature of it. Only once did I encounter a dog while coyote hunting, and like the vast majority of all dogs will do when encountering a stranger, it barked it's head off at me. My Lab female is a real sweetheart... but she'll start barking at someone we meet in the woods at first sight every damn time. When you get closer, that's when the tail-wagging replaces the barking.  

Look, I'm not saying he wasn't at all in the wrong. But I am saying she shares the blame for what happened, and what he did was not deserving of a class A misdemeanor,  nor two felony charges. It was clearly accidental. If he intentionally shot them knowing they were dogs, different story. Throw the book at him! But given the circumstances, his side of the story is very believable, and he likely honestly thought they were coyotes.

I feel sorry for the dogs, for their owner, and for the hunter too. I know how badly I'd feel if I were him.

I understand all of the above and what you are saying.  

Yes I do occasionally go out for coyotes at night, but I am fully aware that everyone around me has dogs including me.  If I can't tell for sure it's a coyote I don't shoot.  I will pretty much only go out during a full moon.  I am aware that there are dogs in the area as well as coyotes, foxes etc.



-The dogs in question had vests.

-It seems the guy was hunting right off a trail on public land everyone has access to

-He shot one of the dogs at 10 yards thinking it was a coyote

-This was Badfish Creek WLA, not the north woods or national forest



I wonder how he saw the reflection of the eyes, but not the vest.



Another what if scenario..... What if he shot someones dog in pursuit of a coyote?  I know some people still use dogs for coyotes.





I have a feeling the hunter is the inexperienced one here.

I don't know the area where this happened. Everything I've said was based on my experiences in the north. But don't get the wrong idea from that. I've hunted problem yotes within sight of peoples' homes and around dogs, but in those instances, I hunt during daylight. I only hunt at night if I'm in the national forest, and we typically hunt in the middle of a frozen lake with shotguns & #4 buck. In the middle of a lake, there's no visibility problems, and yes a full moon is best, but not always necessary.  

The vests I've seen (and the ones they were wearing, in the pics I saw, look the same) only have reflective material on the sides. Facing a dog with a vest from head on in the dark, not only will you not see the sides, any light YOU are using, which is necessary to illuminate the reflective material, may or may not hit them... depends on the build of the dog, ground cover, and the angle they are standing. I read somewhere he was in a "swamp" or something similar? If it was cat-tails, I'm surprised he even saws eyes at 10-15 yards.

I know several guys who hunt yotes with hounds but none of them do so at night for a variety of reasons, so that other "what-if" is a real long shot. Besides the unlikelyhood of a hound being out and chasing a yote at night, if they were, they'd be making a racket that'd be heard for miles. OTOH, raccoon hunters do use dogs, but again, they're as loud as hell when on a hot trail. Hounds don't run as far chasing raccoons because the coons will go up the nearest tree to escape, and they're quick but not long distance runners by any measns. Yotes can't climb trees, all they can do is outrun the pack, so they can lead dogs many miles away. Not a good thing at night.  

As for the hunter being the inexperienced one here, I heartily agree. But experience is something you get by doing, nobody is born with it.



I'll say it again... he's wrong, no denying it, and that can be a result of inexperience... but not "felony wrong" IMO... unless there's evidence he knew they were dogs.

In these sort of scenarios I take the side of the hunter almost every time. But not in this case. If there's one ounce on uncertainty of what your shooting, you don't pull the trigger. I've never understood how hunting accidents can happen, who is stupid enough to shoot a deadly weapon without knowing what it is he's shooting at. He's the same kind of person who will shoot a hawk or falcon while duck hunting. Always ID your target