I just found a new place to hunt small game and it was under my nose the whole time. It is a fact that all our rural counties nearby fence off with rail fences little enclosures in which to place a half dozen of the common big green dumpsters. These are for our rural residents to put miscellaneous waste in that will not fit into the roll out bin they are issued as part of the property tax payment process. Many residents don't get a rollout. This enclosure is where you dump your old fridge(illegally), matress(illegally) green bag of deer guts and hide(illegally), dead calf(illegally), construction trash(illegally) and other common household trash. Some few of course use the dumpsters as intended. Others have started little colonies of wildcats and landfill panthers too. And a few sites have "home" packs of dumpster dingoes hanging around. Now I've been studying this matter all summer, in fact, plotting locations and population surveys on the county map. I even went around and got permission from nearly all of the local hunt clubs to set up on their leases and focus on the collection locations. SUPER! They don't like ferals either. My first test on a particularly noxious, stinky site yielded 4 mixed pussies, 1 mangy tom and 1 nearly starved, greasy yeller dingoe. The .222 Remington is an awesome cartridge at 100 yards, although its not cool to shoot when residents are dumping targets off there. "Out of sight.... Make it right." N. S. Sherlock

There was once such a site across from the driveway of a place in Georgia at which I was conscripted in unholy matrimonial slave labor. The driveway was 1/2 mile long, a longer distance than I could reliably reach with my Model 94, even when loaded with 180 gr SMKs. Fortunately I had a truck, and when I took the garbage out I always took the Trapper for protection. Like your place NS, the locals did a lot of illegal dumping there in the Piedmont Region.

I found a great need for protection there too, and the thutty-thutty barked more than a few times around the dumpsters. Now that place was over 2 miles from the nearest house, not including mine, and it was amazing how much feral stock there was around there. By my recollection I scored 7 crats and two of a pack of 7 dogs at the dump site. Perhaps the almost bestest shot I ever pulled off was on the dogs. The wife and I were walking, split up to walk around a small clump of trees, and when I came out she called my name very softly. I looked to see her facing 7 dogs at a distance of about 15'. 4 little mongrels, 2 average size pitbulls and a really handsome shepard of about 120#. I took the closest pittbull to her with a load of #1 buck from a 16 Ga. and the dogs scattered. Got one of the mongrels on the fly just as the semi horn began to honk. Clay truck heading east on Hwy. 57 at about 65(not in a hurry) that got all soft hearted about the dogs crossin' the road in front of him. If the sorry sumbitch hadn't hit the brakes he would have nailed the shepard and the other pit bull. Well, it was still pretty neat to watch! Amazing how much smoke you get when you lock up 18 wheels that are loaded.

Sadly, I had to finish the job on Christmas morning a few weeks later, when the pack came to the house for breakfast.

Dan

Pres., TYHC

http://www.Urban.Blinds

Interesting,

I been told that when they run wild, the medium to large size dogs will usually eat the small dogs after a few days with no food.

I suppose that they were getting plenty of food from the dumpsters.

The coyote population is exploding herabouts just now and maybe when deer season is over and before turkey season starts I can start hunting coyotes instead of dogs like I usually do. Some *astards just strip the collars off the sorriest deer dogs and leave them on the roads with just a spray painted number. I would prefer coyotes to abandoned and wild dumpster dogs and cats too, although the yotes are starting to grab yard dogs in some places.

N.S.Sherlock:

Back in the days when dinosaurs roamed the earth, a teenage buddy of mine and I used to hunt rats on a particular town dump with .22 pistols. (In those days carrying permits could be issued to qualified people 18 or older in NY) It was exciting shooting (rats don't freeze under the flashlight) and we both sharpened opur skills at shooting in poor light and at a moving target. (We eventually "graduated" to shooting everything from a 357 Mag to a 45 (whether ACP or long Colt) On arriving home my mother always insisted that I should take a shower ("THat woman" was ready to meet me at 1AM!) It is the sad lot of us defenders against the hordes to have to stand alone!

Yes, those were the days.