You said you ran coon dogs but your attitude would lead me to doubt how complete your experience is with them. Many, many coon dogs will run trash when young and this includes big game. Is it the owner's desire? Heck no. But it does happen and every dog (don't care whether they are bird, coon, coyote, squirrel dogs) hunter I've ever known will break the dog or cull it on their own. No need for you to do it. If you honestly will shoot someone's hunting dog without first trying to find out the circumstances you are in the wrong no matter if it's legal or not.
Never did say I ran coon dogs. You probably confused me with another poster.
If a hunter is going to "break the dog... on their own", they better keep it off big game. It is a serious problem out west. We lose enough animals every year, that the Fish and Game departments of most western states have said dogs (even tagged) running big game are to be considered wild dogs.... wild dogs harassing wildlife. Since wild dogs are nuisance animals that can be culled without a license, at any time... It's an open invitation to eliminate the offenders.
A single dog can run an entire herd of Elk to unrecoverable exhaustion (death) in less than 2 hours. If the Elk had a particularly rough season, it can take as little as 30 minutes. There have been many instances of just that... entire herds run to death by unleashed dogs, or sheep herders' dogs.
In one recent case, the dog's owner caught up to the dog just in time to see the game warden put a bullet through it's head. Apparently, the 20+ Elk dying on the ground didn't mean much to him. He took a few pot shots at the warden, before heading home. (Like Cornbush's incident, the guy forgot about the tags on his dog, and was surprised to be arrested.)
They may not be applicable to some parts of this country, but where I hunt - These laws and regulations are in place for a damn good reason.
...Which seems to be the biggest point people are missing for many species in this thread. I said it in my previous post:
We live in different parts of the country. We have different rules. Different game animals. Different terrain. Different problems.
What seems like a pig-headed move in one part of the country, is perfectly acceptable in other parts. Killing a "hunting dog" in Pennsylvania or Texas might bring about a tense situation, and jail time for the shooter. Killing that same dog in Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, or Idaho might bring about a tense situation, as well. But the jail time will be an option for the owner, not the shooter. In some cases, the shooter is likely to be considered for one of the anti-Poaching reward programs (free tags, money, etc... depending on state, species, and other factors).
If you don't like the laws in a certain state, don't hunt there.
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