Dog Safety During Hunting Season
It’s HERE! The joy of fall is upon us with unmatched beauty throughout the Wood River Valley and the Stanley Basin. What a time to get out our dogs! The tourist season is over and the backwoods are quiet once more. Although, as we delight in our cool afternoon hikes, we are being watched… by hibernating animals stocking up for the winter sleep as well as hunters seeking their winter meals, too. Hiking on main trails and back roads are not enough to keep you and your dog safe.
There are several main things I do to prepare myself and my dogs. Those include:
- Purchase vibrant colored vests, especially lime green or orange. All our pet stores carry them and there are many large hunting catalogs that carry them. One for the dog(s) and one for YOU!
- Carry a lifeguard whistle and teach your dog a recall to the whistle ahead of time. Simply put, teach your dog that the whistle means treat and carry the whistle at all times. It also works as a great deterrent to those large wilderness animals that can become very aggressive during this mating season.
- Put a Swiss bell on your dog’s collar. Not a jingle bell, but a Swiss bell. The sound carries much further distances. It alarms all the woodland creatures to stay away, but also alarms hunters that the movement they see is a domestic dog, not a wolf or other animal to be hunted. If your dog becomes lost, the bell can give you direction about where to look. A GPS tracking is another excellent idea!
- Read up on how to remove your dog from a wild animal trap. Trapping is a legal means of hunting in Idaho. It is further a mission of this state to decrease the wolf population and one of those methods is trapping. If you don’t know how to remove a trap from your dog’s foot or a body trap, it may cost your dog his life. Unfortunately, there is no way to know ahead of time where traps are set. The best thing you can do is to teach yourself how to remove one. There is an excellent video posted by Idaho Fish and Game on YouTube. Do an internet search, and you will find it easily. Take the tools it suggests on every hike. Also, many of the veterinarians in the valley have brochures that explain how to remove a trap from your captured dog.
- Make sure your dog wears a collar, ID tag, and take a leash. When you see other dogs or people coming, put your dog on a leash and let them pass. It is the responsible and polite thing to do. In an emergency all three may save your dog’s life. And it goes without saying that you should carry a small first aid kit and water for you and your dog.
We live in the most in one of the most amazingly gorgeous places on earth. We all choose to live here because of our love for the area and enjoying it with our dogs. These few pointers will help you to get the most out of your hikes and come home safely!
