Uncapped well, dog fatality

M

matto

Well-known member
There's a huge discussion on Kansas Hunting and Fishing FB about a dog fatality from an uncapped well on a WIHA tract. This is the tract in question.

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The well is on the tract in the lower left corner of the picture. That's highway 156 at the top and Horsethief reservoir. Be careful out there.

Not my dog and I don't know any of the involved parties. However, I had marked that tract from either driving by it or scouting it online. I'm not posting this to start a discussion about the landowner, the state, or anything like that. That's mostly what's being discussed on FB. I would just hate someone else to have to deal with this. Hopefully it will be fixed.
 
It’s a tragic accident and I can’t imagine being the owner. I was present when a buddies dog was ran over on a hunt 10ish years ago and it’s still turns my stomach when I think about it. That said all the talk of suing the owner and state over on Facebook is a large part of why we lose access as hunters and part of the problem we have as a country.
I also had a similar incident that ended much better than this one. I was hunting a wiha property near Marion lake years ago that had an old hog farm on it. At one point my old English setter came up missing which really wasn’t all that unusual for him as he was a runner(pre gps days) so after waiting awhile I start looking figuring he’s on point. Don’t find him and 30 minutes have gone by so I’m starting to worry and retracing steps to his last known location around where this hog operation was. As I’m passing by one of the buildings I faintly hear the dog barking. Go inside and nothing. Get to looking around and there is a hole in the floor and about 10 feet down in a small room is my dog. Luckily he was totally uninjured in the fall and even more so in that he was barking just loud enough for me to find him. Very easily could have passed him by and never found him down there. Just another reason why I’ll never turn another dog out without a gps collar.
Give your 4 legged friends an extra scratch behind the ears today, they deserve every one.
 
When we participated in the Iowa private land access program the state assumed all liability, that was a major reason why we enrolled. There were no financial payments, sometimes that makes a difference legally.

Fortunately it wasn’t a hunter, sad deal anyway.
 
I've seen several incidents like this over the years. On another w/a I managed I had a guy come in the office white as a sheet. Said he had almost fallen into a huge hole. Said he dived to miss falling into it and almost dived into another. I had him take me over there. They were within 1/2 mile of my office and I had been all around them working in the past and hadn't seen them. They were surrounded by tall kochia on the top edge of the creek bank. This holes were hand-dug silos about 12-15 feet across and 20 feet down with straight up and down walls. I was surprised they didn't hold skeletons and weapons from folks falling in. I had the dozer man there later that day. Asked the former land owner if he knew of them. He and his father had dug them when they owned the land in his childhood.

A buddy hunted that same area with his Gordon and Red and White setters. One of the Red and Whites made a cast when he was hunting by the dam on the lake and flew off the dam into the stilling basin some 40 feet below. The dog amazingly didn't get hurt and he had to rope it and haul it back up as there was no way to get down there. Danger to man and dog are out there. It pays to keep your eyes and head up looking for anything you and your partner might get hurt by.
 
I like driving around and looking at old history. Cant see how old it is from the picture but very well could be a 150 yrs old. Its dangerous the way it is and to bad it didn't have a cover on it. Sure it will be filled in now.
 
The risks of this game we play go way beyond the firearms in our own hands and the hands of our hunting partners. Weather, vehicles, other hunting parties, wells, barbed wire, glass, old machinery, skunks/racoons/badgers/snakes/etc., ice, the landscape itself, can all ruin a day (best case) or turn into a tragedy.

I'm sure it will be filled in. Hopefully soon but it's on WIHA rather than KDWPT land, so you never know. There are plenty here that don't participate over there. Just want as many as possible to know.
 
Hopefully the owner fills it in now -- I think in most places there's cost share to fill them in. In Shawnee county KS where I live there was considerable cost share to fill in 2 hand dug wells we have on the place I live.

One was 36' deep and about 10' plus feet across -- it was covered with RR Ties that were in good shape - but I had a nightmare my son and another boy fell in so I promptly got it filled in after that. Actually oddly enough the nightmare came a few days before I even knew the wells were there. One just had old wire piled up on it and thorny vines -- no cap or anything to keep you from falling in - that one was about 14-16' deep and 6' or so across.

Regardless if it's in the middle of nowhere I just couldnt live with myself letting it be - who knows the story - hopefully now the landowner takes care of it.

I try to be paranoid now after seeing the hand dug wells on our property when walking around old farmsteads - I never was before and loved looking at them - but I'm sure there are plenty of unfilled in cisterns and wells still out there.
 
I encountered an uncapped well on an old farmstead this season. I sort of recognized what may be in front of me so I eased up cautiously - sure enough it was a deep and dark old well. About that time, my younger speed demon shorthair blew past me... I thought to myself, “I almost lost her”. Be careful out there- a lot of dangers especially for the dogs!
 
I tried to look a that facebook page but it must be a private group. Was it an old hand dug water well or a drilled well?
 
That discussion went FB really fast and I can't find it now. Maybe the moderators shut it down. Anyway, the sidewalls of the well, at least towards the top, appeared to be lined with rocks. And the diameter was obviously large enough for a dog to fall 30' to the bottom. There was an old tractor rim encircling the opening, but nothing covering it.
 
Thanks for the info. Sad deal.

I've always liked to hunt around old abandoned farmhouses and buildings, but you know all of them had a well or cistern at some time.
 
I found one on the place I regularly hunt. Thinking about it makes me uncomfortable like the thought of being buried alive. Hidden in the weeds and wide enough for a man. It was bottomless as far as I could tell. Just a hole in the middle of nowhere. Now this thread. Bad deal.
 
I spent a week around Lucas, we hunted 4 dogs. Our concerns were barbed wire (no issues) and raw / sore feet. Never even considered the well danger. Thanks for the heads up.
 
birddogs4evr said:
I spent a week around Lucas, we hunted 4 dogs. Our concerns were barbed wire (no issues) and raw / sore feet. Never even considered the well danger. Thanks for the heads up.
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Why would you be concerned by Barbed wire? Dont you have it where you are?

I just let my dogs run into it - if they're dumb enough to hurt themselves that's their fault - never had one seriously injured - of course if they were I'd take them to the vet- but after snagging themselves and running into it or being left behind they figure it out. Usually only a few times once they first encounter barbed wire or a "Brand new" tight as a drum fence with daggers on it will you need to help them. Some of those new fences can be nasty....ha and a helluva chore to get underneath without cutting your clothes up.
 
Most of the barbed wire we encountered in Ks. was butter knife dull , around here much of it is like rusty razor blades. Having said that they do generally figure it out.
 
birddogs4evr said:
Most of the barbed wire we encountered in Ks. was butter knife dull , around here much of it is like rusty razor blades. Having said that they do generally figure it out.
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Ah I got you - yeah most is not very sharp - the new stuff guys put up -- WATCH OUT
 
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