State investigators are now probing the apparent shooting deaths of three hunting dogs in Suffolk during the weekend, a Department of Game and Inland Fisheries spokesman said.

A landowner in the Jackson Road area said they found their dog deceased Monday afternoon after it went missing Saturday afternoon, Lee Walker said.

The dog had suffered a single head wound that was apparently the result of a gunshot, Walker said.

Meanwhile, Suffolk officials said Monday an unknown assailant apparently shot two hunting hounds on Box Elder Road between 5 and 5:30 p.m. Saturday.

The dogs were hunting with two different owners, city spokeswoman Diana Klink stated in an email, adding one was found dead immediately following the incident while the second hound died later that evening.

Box Elder and Jackson Road are a few miles apart. “We’re not far enough into the investigation to find out whether they are related or not,” said Walker, the state game department spokesman.

Walker said the first dog found dead at Box Elder Road — though he declined to confirm the city’s location, at the request of the department’s conservation police officer working the case — had apparently suffered a gunshot wound to a part of its body other than the head. The second hound was buried before the officer arrived.

A necropsy to attempt to confirm the dogs’ cause of death would be cost-prohibitive, he added.

“If there are any citizens who know or may have seen anything over the weekend in relation to these hunting dogs, please talk to the department,” Walker urged.

Anyone with information can call the department’s anonymous crime line at 1-800-237-5712.