Had an interesting night tonight. I'm celebrating new years at the cottage (it's nice and quiet here) and took the 4-wheeler out for a spin around about 10:00PM. Way, way back in the woods I came across a rabbit dog (looked like half beagle, half basset), very friendly but in very poor shape - he could barely manage to wag his tail. It was obvious this dog was lost and had spent a few nights in the woods, and he was injured (limping). He was wearing a radio collar, so he obviously belonged to somebody, so I picked him up, loaded him onto the 4 wheeler and headed back to the camp. Once back I looked at the collar and found a phone number. I called it and it was the dog's owner. Apparently he had been bunny hunting on Tuesday (the day after the blizzard) and he lost the dog. The batteries in his radio collar went dead. The poor bugger spent Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights in the woods, lost, and must hace gotten into a coyote trap judging by his injuries (left front paw). The owner came to get him, and once he was here (and realized where I was) he said that he couldn't believe where the dog was found. He had been hunting nearly 20 miles away! The poor dog was so tired he barely lifted his head when the owner arrived, and anybody who knows dogs knows that means this dog was not well!!!
Anyway, he was very happy to have the dog back, and said he was going to take him to the vet ASAP to tend the injuries (which I believe, since he cared enough to put a radio collar on him). I was very happy to have rescued this dog because I think he would not have survived another night. A happy ending all 'round...
Way to go Carm, sure sounds like you saved that poor dogs life.
Was out in the country a couple of days ago, and there were several hunters trying to get a signal on their dogs. After I had turned and gone a couple of miles down another road, I saw a Beagle with a radio collar setting beside the road. Guess he was waiting for someone to come pick him up.