Gainesville — A jury ruled that Cooke County landowner Everett “Mel” Durrett was not negligent when he shot two hunting dogs who apparently wandered onto his property during a 2008 raccoon hunt.

Bob Boyd and Ricky Lynch filed suit against Durrett, charging that the Cooke County man failed to use ordinary caution when he stepped outside his home and shot the dogs which were worth an estimated $20,000 each.

Boyd and Johnnie Dennis — whom Lynch had hired to handle his dog, Junk — were participating in a UKC-sanctioned raccoon hunt.

The hunts are tracking and treeing events which do not include the use of firearms and rarely involve interaction between the raccoons and the treeing dogs, Boyd noted when he took the stand on Tuesday.

Dogs earn points for staying on task and have been trained to ignore other stimuli including animals other than raccoons. Dogs who achieve success at the hunts can earn big cash prizes for their owners.

On the night of the hunt, the dogs Dixie and Junk were apparently trailing a raccoon near the Durrett property northeast of Callisburg when Boyd and Dennis lost sight of their animals.

Durrett testified that his wife awakened him after she heard the dogs “growling” outside the couple’s home. He said he then grabbed his gun and flashlight and went outside in his backyard where he saw the dogs near a stock pond.

He said he “double tapped” or fired two shots at both dogs.

Afterward, Durrett said he returned to his house and went back to sleep.

Durrett’s wife Stacy testified that she called 9-1-1 a little later when she saw flashlights bobbing behind the couple’s shop.

She found out later the men behind the shop were Boyd and Dennis using flashlights to look for the dogs.

Boyd and Dennis used GPS coordinates and eventually found the dogs about 20 yards apart inside Durrett’s fenceline. Both dogs were dead.

Attorney Derrell Comer — who represented Mel Durrett — said the case was important to all Texas land and livestock owners.

“We are pleased that the jury in this case by their unanimous verdict strongly confirmed that property owners have a right to defend their property against trespassers and protect their livestock when their livestock is threatened,” Comer wrote in an email. “Just because you are coon hunting doesn’t give you or your dogs the right to go onto someone’s private property without permission.”

Comer said Durrett — himself a hunter and dog owner — was “saddened” by the death of the two dogs.

“(However) he did what was reasonable under the facts and circumstances that night,” Comer said. “If the coon hunters had given Mel notice they would be hunting around his property or asked permission to hunt on his property this incident may have never occurred. But in the dark of night Mel had no idea the dogs on this particular night were coon dogs.”

He pointed out that GPS readings indicated the dogs were approximately two miles from Boyd and Dennis.

“The bottom line is if it is not your land do not enter it without the permission of the land owner and if your animal enters someone’s land and is placing the land owners livestock in danger your animal is at risk of being killed,” Comer said.

For his part, Durrett said he was pleased with the jury’s decision.

“My wife, Stacy and I are grateful that justice was served here, not only for ourselves but for all livestock and land owners,” he said.

The shooting incident is something he and his wife won’t forget, he said.

“The unfortunate occurrences that night will always be with us,” he said. “We are pet owners ourselves, and love and enjoy animals. Dixie and Junk were pets too. That will be in our minds for years to come. The fact remains, these dogs were chasing our horses late at night, in our pasture, behind our house, as was made clear by the plaintiffs own GPS tracking device,” he said.

“This was not a malicious act as some would like to portray,” he added. “Our attorney, Derrell Comer did a great job of presenting our case to the jury.”

Durrett also expressed his gratitude to the jury and to the Cooke County Sheriff’s Department who responded to the incident that night.

Not surprisingly, dog owner Bob Boyd sees things differently. Boyd said he’s afraid the jury’s decision sends the message that it’s okay to shoot dogs.

“(The verdict) is bad for every dog owner whether they live in the country or in town,” he said. “I also think it’s a bad thing for every dog owner in the state of Texas because there’s nothing stopping anybody from shooting your dog when he’s just trotting across a pasture.”

Boyd admits he believes the jury may have blamed him, at least in part, for what happened to Dixie and Junk.

“It was probably more about not keeping the dogs under control,” he said.

Despite the value of the dogs, Boyd said the case was never about money.

“As far as any kind of monetary thing, just like anything else, no amount of money could replace something that you truly love and spent a lot of time with,” he said. “Money was the least part of this thing.”

He said he had hoped to spread the message that property owners should think carefully before opening fire on animals.

“We were just trying to protect dog owners in general,” he said. “Dog owners have got to take care of their dogs. I think it’s a sad situation that kind of opens it up to vigilantism. I just wanted to win the case so no other dogs would get shot, to protect dog owners’ rights to have their own dogs.”

He said he has no plans to give up coon hunting.

“We just have to regroup and go on and hope we don’t have another dog shot,” he said.

The case also elicited some comments from members of the Texas Dog Hunters Association.

Member Susie Mason drove to Gainesville from Louisiana to hear testimony.

Afterward, Mason said she was unhappy with the way the case turned out but hopeful something good can come of it.

“My sympathy goes out to these two hunters for the loss of their hunting dogs,” she said. “These two fair-minded men fought for what they felt was right and have made a mark on the legal books that can be used in yet another case such as this.”

TDHA President Paul W. Teegardin said he heard about the dog shooting and that his organization has taken an interest in the case. TDHA is also prepared to help dog owners with legal expenses in cases similar to this one, he noted.

Above all, Teegardin said he hopes landowners will develop more tolerance when it comes to four-legged trespassers.

“TDHA is interested in spreading the word that land owners need to do the right and moral thing when they see a hunting dog that has become separated from its handler and is simply "trespassing" on private property,” he said. “Don't shoot the dog, it’s not their fault.”