NoTrespassing
Elite Member
Ok, I have to tell ya'll this one.
We live on a dead end road, surrounded by wooded ravines that make our property very difficult get to except by our private road.
Friday evening I got home from work at about 5:20 and I noticed that our dog Luna was in her kennel. Since this is not the norm I asked my wife about it. She had to work that night and said that she kenneled the dog because Luna was goin nuts barking at something in the woods. She figured it was a coon or a skunk and asked me to let her out after I fed the horses and rabbits.
She left for work and I started doing the chores. About halfway through chores I let Luna out and she made a beeline straight for the woods just past the horse padock. She was barking like crazy and I yelled for her until she came back to me. I put her back in the kennel and finished feeding the horses. I noticed the horses weren't their usual selves. They refused to go in the loafing shed to eat and instead paced around snorting and blowing and trying to act as mean as they could. I knew they were really spooked. I've never seen them not go straight for their grain when I feed em.
The whole time this was happening all I could think of were coyotes. Last year we had one go nose to nose with Luna and I had to fire the 12 gauge in the air to get it to leave. They hadn't been back since but I figured with the snow on the ground they were getting desperate and wanted our rabbits.
After I finished chores I went in the house and got the shotgun. I found my 2 spotlights and both were very low on power. I went outside and let Luna out so she could show me where the critter was and she didn't waste any time. I followed her to the woods and then called her back to me. I shined my spotlight and saw a pair of eyes shining back at me. I thought to myself, wow, this thing is big! The eyes were too far apart for most animals I could think of and they must have been 4ft. off the ground. Then I saw a second pair. They barely moved back and forth a little like the were trying to see around the light. I must have been about 20-30ft. from them and they weren't going anywhere.
With Luna behind me I decided to fire into the air and run whatever they were off and down into the 30ft. deep ravine. I pumped the shotgun took the safety off and fired once in the air. I shined the spot expecting to see nothing and hear the leaves rustling. To my surprise the eyes were just about where they were before I fired. By this time my crappy undercharged spotlight was running out. I fired in the air again. This time whatever it was slowly retreated. I could hear the leaves rustling as it made it's way down into the ravine. I can tell you I wasn't about to follow em to see where they were going even if my spotlight hadn't run out. I knew they weren't deer because they run when Luna barks at em. I couldn't figure it out for the life of me. By this time the dog had run off and all I could do was yell for her to come home. I wasn't sure if she was chasing whatever it was or she just ran because she's getting gun shy. I called and called but she didn't come. My only choice was to call the nearest neighbor and borrow his spotlight.
I was going to get the light and drive the bronco around as much of the property as I could to try to find the dog.
I called the neighbor and couldn't believe how he answered the phone. He says, "hey, do you got any beef?" I say, "what the **** are you talking about?" He proceeds to tell me that there were two cows running loose in the woods that day! It turned out they were calves, we saw em today. They are running with a herd of deer evidently. I ended up finding Luna quite a ways from the house and everybody lived happily ever after. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
THE END
Kevin
PS The neighbor talked to the guy that owns the calves. They've been loose for 4 days and been as far as 3 miles away through the woods around here. I doubt that he'll catch em until they gain some weight and slow down a little maybe in the summer. Either that or someone will nail one in a car and he'll be in big trouble.
We live on a dead end road, surrounded by wooded ravines that make our property very difficult get to except by our private road.
Friday evening I got home from work at about 5:20 and I noticed that our dog Luna was in her kennel. Since this is not the norm I asked my wife about it. She had to work that night and said that she kenneled the dog because Luna was goin nuts barking at something in the woods. She figured it was a coon or a skunk and asked me to let her out after I fed the horses and rabbits.
She left for work and I started doing the chores. About halfway through chores I let Luna out and she made a beeline straight for the woods just past the horse padock. She was barking like crazy and I yelled for her until she came back to me. I put her back in the kennel and finished feeding the horses. I noticed the horses weren't their usual selves. They refused to go in the loafing shed to eat and instead paced around snorting and blowing and trying to act as mean as they could. I knew they were really spooked. I've never seen them not go straight for their grain when I feed em.
The whole time this was happening all I could think of were coyotes. Last year we had one go nose to nose with Luna and I had to fire the 12 gauge in the air to get it to leave. They hadn't been back since but I figured with the snow on the ground they were getting desperate and wanted our rabbits.
After I finished chores I went in the house and got the shotgun. I found my 2 spotlights and both were very low on power. I went outside and let Luna out so she could show me where the critter was and she didn't waste any time. I followed her to the woods and then called her back to me. I shined my spotlight and saw a pair of eyes shining back at me. I thought to myself, wow, this thing is big! The eyes were too far apart for most animals I could think of and they must have been 4ft. off the ground. Then I saw a second pair. They barely moved back and forth a little like the were trying to see around the light. I must have been about 20-30ft. from them and they weren't going anywhere.
With Luna behind me I decided to fire into the air and run whatever they were off and down into the 30ft. deep ravine. I pumped the shotgun took the safety off and fired once in the air. I shined the spot expecting to see nothing and hear the leaves rustling. To my surprise the eyes were just about where they were before I fired. By this time my crappy undercharged spotlight was running out. I fired in the air again. This time whatever it was slowly retreated. I could hear the leaves rustling as it made it's way down into the ravine. I can tell you I wasn't about to follow em to see where they were going even if my spotlight hadn't run out. I knew they weren't deer because they run when Luna barks at em. I couldn't figure it out for the life of me. By this time the dog had run off and all I could do was yell for her to come home. I wasn't sure if she was chasing whatever it was or she just ran because she's getting gun shy. I called and called but she didn't come. My only choice was to call the nearest neighbor and borrow his spotlight.
I was going to get the light and drive the bronco around as much of the property as I could to try to find the dog.
I called the neighbor and couldn't believe how he answered the phone. He says, "hey, do you got any beef?" I say, "what the **** are you talking about?" He proceeds to tell me that there were two cows running loose in the woods that day! It turned out they were calves, we saw em today. They are running with a herd of deer evidently. I ended up finding Luna quite a ways from the house and everybody lived happily ever after. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
THE END
Kevin
PS The neighbor talked to the guy that owns the calves. They've been loose for 4 days and been as far as 3 miles away through the woods around here. I doubt that he'll catch em until they gain some weight and slow down a little maybe in the summer. Either that or someone will nail one in a car and he'll be in big trouble.
