# Deer & LGDs



## secuono (Sep 28, 2011)

What do you do about deer and your LGDs?
What do you do legally if your LGDs take down a trespassing deer, a sick deer?
If those dogs were protecting your livestock from the deer, then what?
We have tons of deer here, so I'm curious.


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## Oregon1986 (Apr 25, 2017)

secuono said:


> What do you do about deer and your LGDs?
> What do you do legally if your LGDs take down a trespassing deer, a sick deer?
> If those dogs were protecting your livestock from the deer, then what?
> We have tons of deer here, so I'm curious.


Hmm we haven't had any issues with our dog taking down any deer but if he did I guess we would harvest it. I haven't really thought about this,lol


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## muleskinner2 (Oct 7, 2007)

Elk and mule deer, pass through my yard almost every night. There is a huge mule deer buck who hangs out behind my hay barn. They don't seem to pay any attention to my Anatolians, the dogs just think of them as part of the herd. I have seen my male dog, sit and watch the elk as they walk down my driveway. If my dogs started taking down deer, I wouldn't trust them with my goats.

If the dogs started to chase or kill deer, I would shoot the dogs.


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## [email protected] (Sep 16, 2009)

my first LGD was an Anatolian, she died at almost 17 years old.. then I inherited a female Maremma.
then we bought a male. and since then we had a different female, and a different male. all Maremma's
None of them ever went after the deer. but the deer quit coming up near our house and gardens. 
the dogs often brought home pieces of deer bones from the neighbor's place. 
(he harvests deer year round)
all the dogs love raw venison, but they leave the live ones alone..
I agree, if they did drag one down, I would harvest it.
.......jiminwisc......


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## hiddensprings (Aug 6, 2009)

I raised Anatolians for years. My dogs never bothered the deer. They never saw them as a threat.


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## mekasmom (Jan 19, 2010)

LGDs don't bother deer or other vegetarian animals.... goats, cows, etc.


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## barnbilder (Jul 1, 2005)

secuono said:


> What do you do about deer and your LGDs?
> What do you do legally if your LGDs take down a trespassing deer, a sick deer?
> If those dogs were protecting your livestock from the deer, then what?
> We have tons of deer here, so I'm curious.


Legally, the dogs are under your control. In Virginia, a deer is a game animal. If your dogs harvest a deer, and there is no open season for harvesting deer, you have just harvested a deer illegally. Harvesting deer with dogs is illegal on the western side of the state. That is the legal answer. Now, if this should happen, leave the deer where it falls, let your dog eat it, and if anyone asks, it was hit by a car, coyotes killed it or whatever. If you take any part of it, you need a tag. The game warden will issue a salvage tag. There again, requesting a salvage tag for a deer your dogs killed will be an admission of guilt, requesting a salvage tag for roadkill will not. Probably not a real common occurence, and doubtful it would be a problem.


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## barnbilder (Jul 1, 2005)

A dog is a carnivorous predator. Regardless of breed. There are many sheep and goats killed by livestock guardian dogs. It happens. Saying that they won't harm herbivores because of their breeding is not very realistic. Less likely might be a better story to stick to. There aren't many livestock guardian dogs that would be physically able to outrun a healthy adult deer, due to their size, and conformation flaws, but they may still try. And they might come across a cripple, or a fawn. They may try to guard it in such an instance, they may also deem it undesirable and eat it.


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## [email protected] (Sep 16, 2009)

If a dog takes down a deer, I wouldn't let the dog eat it,
that just encourages them to go after another, then another..
I bred and raised Maremma for many years. they are not a chasing type dog .. their first instinct is to bark.. 
and that they do frequently when they hear or smell a strange animal..
when most animals hear a dog barking, they stay away.
we have the whole array of predators around here. I have not seen any nor any tracks in the snow within a quarter mile or more from the house..
the deer do not even sneak up to the garden which is behind the trees in the wind break and about 75 yards from the buildings.. no fences needed.. 
one of the dogs sleeps in the blackberries between the house and the garden..
.....jiminwisc.......


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## motdaugrnds (Jul 3, 2002)

My Karakachan will sit on the top of the knoll and watch out over the different pastures. Sometimes she is watching my goats (and assorted fowl) and sometimes she sees the deer and wild turkeys past the fencing in the neighbor's pasture. As long as nothing starts trying to get into this place, she is fine with it all. (It is a different story should a "flying" predator want to land here as neither she nor the lab will let it land. The one time a deer "baby" got thru the fencing they both trapped it but did not hurt it. I caught it and put it back over the fence for its mother to find.)


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